China Extinguishes Reporters at Tibet Torch Run
China is a bit touchy about honest, free media reporting from Tibet. Yesterday, the quasi-communists tightened travel to the country on media outlets planning to cover the Olympic torch's ascension of Mt. Everest, located in Tibet. Today, Chinese officials suddenly demanded early payments for travel from media outlets wishing to cover the event billed by China as "the brightest point in the torch relay." Unprepared to meet such awkward, hasty demands, many media outlets scrambled to cough up the cash. However, even that wasn't good enough. Apparently...
The situation descended into farce when the Olympic official tasked with collecting payments refused to accept the fees from organisations including AFP and other international news agencies as he headed to the airport to purchase the tickets.
"I'm sorry, it is too late. I am going to the airport now," said Xu Xianhui, a Beijing Games media official.
It was not immediately clear if the refusal to accept payment was part of an official government decision to keep reporters out of Tibet.
If it wasn't so tragic it would be hilarious.


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