Ninth Tibetan, a Nun, Immolates Herself in Anti-China Protest

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/world/asia/ninth-tibetan-a-nun-immolates-herself-in-anti-china-protest.html

>>BEIJING — A Tibetan nun killed herself Monday by setting herself on fire in a Tibetan town in western China while calling for religious freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, according to a statement by an advocacy group based in London.

The nun, Tenzin Wangmo, 20, was the ninth Tibetan to commit self-immolation since March, the fifth of those to die, and the first Tibetan woman to kill herself in this way, said the group, Free Tibet. The self-immolations have all taken place in restive Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province. All the previous acts involved monks or former monks; the most recent one took place on Saturday, when a 19-year-old former monk from Kirti Monastery set himself on fire but lived.>>

Nine people setting themselves on fire and nary a mention in the Australian media?

Why?

Why does this receive so little coverage in Australia?

because no-one's found a way to make money out of it yet !

why?
ok to begin its insane to kill yourself
then allow others to say why...its just madness

next it involves china
as if media mention will change their minds
or make our pollies grow a pair...[oh sorry forgot she cant]

anyhow im glasd the media has shown the grownup atitude that MAY be emerging in palestein...[better known as new israel]..ie the prisoner swap..for that con-scripted soul-dier..

thats a thing i thought mr netyahoo
could never bring himself to do

but then again that moved the press fo-cuss
from the street protests against the 1 %..that runs israel too

[noting that psssweek attempt
by mrs clinton to divide iran/south arabia failed]
didnt even get much fox cover-age...

anyhow if the deli lambada did it
that would wake up the sleeping me-diea

even that..still wouldnt change anything
china choses to do..though

not till the globe goes bust

One Under God.
Yeah I noticed that too,300,000 protesters take to the streets of Tel Aviv to demonstrate against the government's economic policies and not a peep was heard from our controlled media.
I only heard about it because someone e-mailed me the reports from Russia Today.
Google "Israel protests 2011" then click on the pages from Australia button, the Jewishnews and Indymedia sites covered it but as far as I can see none of the mainstream sites gave it much attention.
Yet the Gilad Shalit handover was given a 3 minute segment at the top of the bulletin on SBS World news last night.

Amazing

A thread about Chinese oppression in Tibet morphs into a thread about Israel.

Exhibit A for Israel Obsession Disorder (IOD).

Get over yourselves.

BTW, protests in Israel are quote common. Have been for as long as I can remember and I'm 66.

But I am astounded that nine Tibetans setting fire to themselves does not make the news here. I would have thought that is a much bigger story than, say, an exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel.

My apologies in advance, stevenlmeyer, for appearing to further the diversion of the topic into matters Israeli. That my example happened to be such was pure coincidence, I assure you.

On topic (hopefully): Is it failure to report certain issues, or is it that reports made and published are being suppressed?

Vexnews, a news service that posts links on Twitter to already published online items worldwide, posted this tweet http://twitter.com/#!/vexnews/status/126201112486363136 at 6:41 PM AEDST yesterday, 18 October 2011. Clicking on the link in it, http://t.co/Etl5phLr , yielded a '404 notice', 'page not found'. See: http://twitpic.com/72bwt8

One would think there would have had to have been an article in existence online in the first case for Vexnews to have read and attempted to link to it.

So did Vexnews make a typo in the link it provided, was the original online news item page taken down for some reason by the (UK) Telegraph newspaper, or was the link originally posted on Twitter by Vexnews subsequently altered (by some agency other than Vexnews) in some small respect such as to make it yield a '404 notice'?

If a capability exists to do the last-mentioned, it could be used as a form of covert, at least partial, if not quite censorship of news, suppression of its spread.

I did note recently, in an online discussion about Twitter hashtags, claims by some posters following an 'Occupy Wall Street' hashtag that despite a large number of posts to it, that particular topic was not showing up as a trending topic on Twitter. This engendered the suspicion that Twitter may be the source of, or subject to, interference with tweets. FWIW, these posters did seem to have hard information as to respective hashtag traffic volumes upon which to base their suspicions.

Things are so transient online. First you see them. Then you don't. Thats why I take screenshots and post them as twitpics.

look steven
i like you very much

but you named the title

WHY DOES THIS RECIEVE SO LITTLE COVERAGE...in australia
not the futility of burning nuns

so i reply the topic mate
commenting on what cant get up as its own topic
what people are too afraid to talk about..thus dont get coverage

systematicly dont allow coverage
[noting as a write..those new aussie jests are going to be retro fitted...[so they have that special ability to disrupt free communication]

also we cant talk about much other stuff
nuns burning themselves isnt going to change china
because thats not news worthy to those serving the beast

mate pick more narrow headings
if you want to limit comment to burning nuns
then call it nun burning 101..why am i needing to inform you?

ps this isnt abnout israel
its about keeping us in the dark
so the two party demonic autiocracy
can silence those it dont want to hear

thats why i stopped trying to write to the editor
and stopped blogging on bbc/abc and sbs..who auto correct

ie CEN-SORE
to serve a certain adgenda

mate we love each other
or at least i really respect you

but if it was a burning jew
or a burning xtian nun

it would be on the news non stop

you know how much the 99% are resisting
in part resisting the global priest hoods
you know that other topic we cant diss cuss

even in these times of if it bleeds it leads

steven
Are you suggesting a media blackout on all things anti-China due to economic interests? If so, and I am not sure that is your implication, I doubt this would influence the majority of journalists in this country. It might influence the government commenting on the events but the media?

It probably has more to do with distractions of other domestic political events, trivial as some of them are. We could blame the pressures of the 24 hour news cycle but I reckon it is more to do with what the media think people are most interested. The media is sales driven, not news driven, and they will stick the most 'saleable' stories on the front page. Tibet may be lucky to get a mention in the International section.

It is a shame there is not more media coverage of these sad events. Perhaps your post will provide some impetus in that regard.

Steve,
I think Pelican is right.

The media editors decide what they think will interest their readers most.

This morning there was an article by a commentator in smh about the SIEV X, which took up about 1000 words.

That is 10 years ago, but apparently smh thinks it is still newsworthy. There was some debarcle about the NBN the other day in Queensland, but nothing heard since.

Hi Steven,

It is a shame that this did not receive much
news coverage in this country. However our
political scene has been the focus of everyone's
attention recently with the passing of the carbon
tax legislation in parliament, the rowdy
demonstraters in the public gallery, the asylum seeker
problems amongst other issues. News programs do
tend to feature stories that draw large
audiences - even if this means omitting issues that are
more sober but perhaps more significant also.
Fictional portrayals, too, often overrepresent some
categories of the population and underrepresent others.

Steve,

To be brutally honest, news is interesting if it is different. Yet another self immolation with the same message does carry the same impact.

I agree Steven, but the Israeli protests give context to the discussion, with the possible exception of the London rallies they were the biggest "social justice" events of the year yet they were given minimal coverage.
Some things which a normal person might regard as kind of a big story aren't making headlines even though we have 24 hour multimedia news coverage in practically every home in the country.
Why? We can only speculate but I'd suggest it's because they were the real deal and maybe Israeli activists are not as tame and compliant as those in the West and those placards lettered in Hebrew might have had borne messages that were less than "complimentary".
Was it Frank Lowy who said, "I never criticise Israel unless I'm actually in Israel, then I speak my mind"?
We have the Dalai Lama appearing on Masterchef yet no word on these immolations, you're completely correct, it smells bad but
maybe we're reading too much into this, there is a code of conduct pertaining to reports on suicide, that might be the only factor at play here.

It is a disgrace we do not hear about such stories, although Dateline (SBS)is probably the most likely to expose such a story.

More likely to read about such stories in the Guardian, or simply by surfing the net.

Dear stevenlmeyer,

Probably the government does not want stories that reflect badly on China printed. A few years ago Australia was supporting the blockade on Bougainville by maintaining the PNG patrol boats built by ASI many of whose employees lived in Kim Beazley's electoral district. Kim Beazley as Minister for Defense had pushed the Pacific Patrol Boat (PPB) project. The Australian printed a big story on the blockade. The story mentioned neither the condemnation of the blockade as a violation of international law nor the estimation of over 10,000 lives that had been lost due to the blockade preventing medical supplies from getting through. I called up Ian Cameron, the reporter whose name was on the story, to ask about the omission. He said he mentioned the lives lost, but the editor decided not to publish that part of his story. I don't know why it wasn't published, but I suspect the Australian government lets the mainstream press know what they don’t want printed. We have no official censorship, but I think the unofficial censorship is quite effective.

Steven we are mates with China, full stop.

Addendum:
“NEITHER Prime Minister Julia Gillard nor Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd will meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to Federal Parliament today ...”

i agree with david
unofficial censore ship is rife

that and commercial 'inconfidence'..info
and then the spin merchants and advertisers intrsts

and lest we forget..rupert would hope to get into china
at some stage...if not no doudt his half chinese kids will

OK,

I shall put in my tuppeny ha’porth.

To quote Massimo Pigliucci:

>>…many, perhaps most, people don’t actually want to be informed, and even less so challenged in their beliefs and worldview. Rather, they want to see a champion defending their preconceived view of the world, a sort of ideological knight in shining armor. Blatantly partisan outlets such as Fox News (on the right), Air America (on the left), and the countless number of Evangelical Christian radio stations are obvious examples of this…>>

The same is true in Australia with the Murdoch newspapers taking the part of Fox and the ABC taking the part of Air America.

An extreme example of how people can get stuck in a kind of mental rut and see EVERYTHING through the lens of their obsession is provided by a well-known OLO poster who seems convinced that every post I make here is part of some nefarious Israeli propaganda plot. It never seems to occur to him that I may be genuinely interested in the topics of my post and am motivated by simple desire to share my (non-Middle-Eastern) passions.

A freedom struggle in Tibet does not play into the preconceived ideas of most Australians. Therefore there is no percentage in giving it much coverage. There are no emotional resonances to the story.

Well China is far away.

What is less understandable is the way that, say, riots in far away Egypt get more media coverage than the steady movement of our biggest and most powerful neighbour towards religious extremism. In the end, which is going to have a more profound affect on Australia?

...Immolation was a favourite protest method of the Vietnamese Buddhist monks during the indo-Chinese war of the 60,s. Very effective it was too in gaining sympathy for the cause as I remember!

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/ is a source for the activities of religious extremists in the US. They issue frequent bulletins which one can subscribe to. One big difference between the US and Australia is that the religious extremists such as Fred Nile in Australia are not influential in the major Australian political parties. In the US they have a big influence on the Republican Party.

One Under God,
And Kevin Rudd's future half Chinese grandchildren, these guys always look out for THEIR posterity first.

Davidf,
Yes and no, to what extent are the likes of John Howard influenced by British Israelism?
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/britishisraelhiddenhand10jul05.shtml

Steven may object but what I'm pointing out is that China and Israel indirectly distort mainstream news reporting, they have their own "gravitational force" so to speak.
It's not that lobbyists for either state are haunting the newsrooms (then again how many journalists are activists?) but due to "national interest" and political correctness a certain style of reporting is applied on issues pertaining to those two entities.
The "National Interest" is really irrelevant to journalism, it's only "Vested Interests" ie the state, an organ of the elites which promotes political correctness and self censorship.
The interests of the Nation aren't diminished by free and open reporting,rather it enhances the democratic process, only the state and it's "Vested Interests" stand to suffer.

Dear Jay Of Melbourne,

You wrote:

"Davidf,
Yes and no, to what extent are the likes of John Howard influenced by British Israelism?
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/britishisraelhiddenhand10jul05.shtml"

What I read sounded like something written by a believer in conspiracy theories. I don't know what the likes of John Howard are. However, although I did not favour John Howard I think he is too intelligent a man to go for the nonsense your reference cited.

I quoted Massimo Pigliucci above:

>>…many, perhaps most, people don’t actually want to be informed, and even less so challenged in their beliefs and worldview. Rather, they want to see a champion defending their preconceived view of the world, a sort of ideological knight in shining armor. Blatantly partisan outlets such as Fox News (on the right), Air America (on the left), and the countless number of Evangelical Christian radio stations are obvious examples of this…>>

In addition to "blatantly partisan outlets such as Fox News..." we have seen a proliferation of conspiracy theory websites. The misnamed "educate yourself" website appears to be a prime example. Even a cursory reading shows that its aim is not to "educate" but to reinforce batty beliefs.

i agree with the forrest
taking screen shots...think why we need that
why dont that recieve more coverage..indeed..why so many 404'..errors

thing is steven..we had a guy emoliate
himself right here in brissie..[think he even died]
that was only a few weeks/month ago..[and no mention was made,..in the media]

please feel free to post a screen shot
if you think im wrong

anyhow..you might note in the news today
re tunesia voting..THAT BEGAN WITH ONE GUY emoliating himself too

yes that whole green arab spring thing..began
with someone burning themself to 'death'..

had the guys story..
[who burnt himself in front of the high court]
made the news..or refered to his web site...
or heaven forbid..the police given full complete facts

the next self imoliation
might not be needed

but instead we got them thug's with guns
shutting down a 5 day old protest..[peacefull protest]
in malborn..and snydnee...and the media's complicity..ensures we get no more than a few snippets[in the main by ignorants CHOSEN..specificly..cause THEY had nothing to say

so the people stayed away
now they are too AFRAID to speak out
here we are oppressed most sorely..and the media destraction[re blanket coverage of hrh..stands supreeem..

[wonder what gastly govt stuff
quietly was non news today..because it was released
while all eyes and all media..was watching the queen]

bah
some..[the 1%..get too much media service
the rest..the 99%..get the wrist lock and a knee up the butt

and the media report says all is well
them protesting are ignorant as well

news today reports 10 burned nuns now
they dared to ask
why the deli lanbada..
dont tell them to stop,,!

how pleased is he
with his nuns..dying for nothing but flesh matters?

realise the spirit..is the only important
dont get lost in this flesh/mortal experience

never refuse the gift of life
respect the gift of life

dont meditate your mind into numbness
[non thinking/non being..is impossable]
as insane as judgment day..or a day of reserction..as the nuns now know..they arnt dead..only wasted their flesh life gift needlessly

their death..didnt change a thing
i blame the deli lambarda
as fool..for allowing the foolish

you can fool some of the people..all the time
but in the end are held to account for that you failed to do