(TibetanReview.net, Sep05’26) – One of the world’s top press freedom organisations has on Sep 2 strongly condemned China for imposing sweeping restrictions on media professionals from accessing vital information on the Tibetan side of the border following the devastating glacier-avalanche triggered Tibet-Nepal flash floods of Aug 26 morning.
Expressing grave concern, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that no independent Tibetan media outlet or international news organisation had been granted access to the disaster-stricken Kyirong area of Tibet.
This “reflects a long-standing practice of the Chinese regime, which exercises some of the strictest control in the world over media professionals,” the group said.
In its report, titled as Floods in Nepal and Tibet: restrictions and disinformation are impeding vital news, the group noted that the Chinese authorities had only authorised state media to cover the floods in Tibetan areas, with reports highlighting Beijing’s achievements and successes in relief efforts rather than providing a comprehensive account of the scale and impact of the devastation.
Tibet has become a “de facto information black hole” in recent years under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s leadership, Aleksandra Bielakowska, Head of Advocacy, RSF Asia-Pacific, has said.
“No independent Tibetan media, nor any international media, are permitted to freely cover news from this autonomous region. The only outlets allowed to operate are those controlled by the state and its propaganda organs, which report on events in accordance with the guidelines approved by the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department. Under these circumstances, it is virtually impossible to gauge the true scale of the tragedy, as the regime seeks to whitewash its international image and stifle any information that might cast it in an unfavourable light,” Bielakowska has stated.
“I noticed a very high level of censorship and information control inside Tibet. I also tried to reach Tibetans in exile whose families are in the flood-affected areas. Many have been reluctant to share information because they fear that speaking publicly could put their families inside Tibet at risk,” Kalsang Jigme, editor-in-chief of the independent media outlet Tibet Radio, has told RSF.
Tibet Radio has said it independently confirmed the Tibetan death toll in Kyirong was at least 29 at a time when Chinese state media cited 16 deaths.
RSF has also highlighted widespread censorship on Chinese social media, particularly on the platform WeChat, where references to the floods have been censored or deleted by the authorities. It cited Chinese state media to note that at least 10 internet users had been punished for allegedly “spreading rumours” related to the disaster.
While the glacier-avalanche may have occurred on the Nepali side of the border, the flash flood it triggered first hit the Kyirong County’s border in Chinese ruled Tibet.