CONTROLLING NEWS
This won’t blow you over in shock, but the Chinese have a way of controlling what you know.
Take today’s China Daily. On its cover is a picture of long jumper Irving Saladino, the first athlete from Panama ever to win a gold medal.
It’s a nice story. It is also the morning after Liu Xiang, the most popular athlete in China’s history and its most important of these Games, dropped out of the 110-meter hurdles due to injury.
Liu was relegated to Page 7 and a quarter-page story. There is no mention of Liu’s injury on the cover, only plugs for inside pieces on women’s gymnastics and the 3000-meter steeplechase.
This is the same country that during the Olympics has received 77 requests to stage protests against China’s occupation in Tibet at areas specifically designed for such demonstration by the government.
Requests approved: Zero.
