A number of people have been fiercely debating on whether CNN’s coverage of the Tibet riots distorted the truth or not. They built two websites: http://www.anti-cnn.com/ and http://anti-anti-cnn.com/ to make their arguments. CNN published an official statement responding to the allegation of distorted reporting Friday. From CNN.com:
CNN has been singled out for criticism for our coverage of events in Tibet through an anti-CNN.com Web site and elsewhere. We have provided comprehensive coverage of all sides of this story, but two specific allegations relate to pro-Tibetan bias. We would like to take this chance to respond to them:
Allegation 1: CNN intentionally cropped an image in order to remove Tibetan protesters throwing stones at Chinese trucks.
CNN refutes all allegations by bloggers that it distorts its coverage of the events in Tibet to portray either side in a more favorable light. We have consistently and repeatedly shown all sides of this story. The one image in question was used wholly appropriately in the specific editorial context and there could be no confusion regarding what it was showing, not least because it was captioned: “Tibetans throw stones at army vehicles on a street in the capital Lhasa.” The picture gallery included in Tibet stories includes the image.
