James Fallows is sneaky at Tiananmen
James Fallows of The Atlantic was in Beijing today, observing the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square confrontation between human rights protesters and the Chinese government. Security was airtight, but that doesn’t mean reporters were completely incapacitated: As reported yesterday, CNN is still blacked out whenever words like “In China today….” or “Twenty years ago ...
James Fallows of The Atlantic was in Beijing today, observing the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square confrontation between human rights protesters and the Chinese government. Security was airtight, but that doesn't mean reporters were completely incapacitated:
As reported yesterday, CNN is still blacked out whenever words like "In China today...." or "Twenty years ago in Bei...." come across the airwaves. Whereas BBC TV is airing uncensored footage of tanks in the square twenty years ago and repeatedly using the phrase "Tiananmen massacre." And just as I type, the admirable Quentin Somerville of the BBC is talking, live from Beijing, about the "ruthlessness at the heart of the Communist government." (And just this second, in a Borges-worthy moment, Somerville said that international coverage was being blacked out across China -- so I got to see him saying that I was not able to see him. Still, the general point is true.)"
James Fallows of The Atlantic was in Beijing today, observing the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square confrontation between human rights protesters and the Chinese government. Security was airtight, but that doesn’t mean reporters were completely incapacitated:
As reported yesterday, CNN is still blacked out whenever words like “In China today….” or “Twenty years ago in Bei….” come across the airwaves. Whereas BBC TV is airing uncensored footage of tanks in the square twenty years ago and repeatedly using the phrase “Tiananmen massacre.” And just as I type, the admirable Quentin Somerville of the BBC is talking, live from Beijing, about the “ruthlessness at the heart of the Communist government.” (And just this second, in a Borges-worthy moment, Somerville said that international coverage was being blacked out across China — so I got to see him saying that I was not able to see him. Still, the general point is true.)”
Yesterday, David Rothkopf described his own experience as an observer of June 4, 1989.
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