Fire up Google and you’ll find that one of the most widely cited (and highest) death toll counts is 2,600, allegedly given by the Chinese Red Cross. Let’s say this clearly, upfront: 10,000 people did not die at Tiananmen in the crackdown, either on the Square or in the surrounding streets. Here’s the thing about objectivity in journalism though: it means nothing when what you’ve reported isn’t true.
#CRACKDOWN CHINESE ESPIONAGE MESS FREE#
These articles are, to varying extents, rewrites of this HK01 piece (link in Chinese) published last Wednesday (Hong Kong Free Press had it first in English, on Thursday) - and they are all “objective” reporting insofar that, yes, Alan Donald sent a cable citing a figure from an anonymous official. Some will even list the more “horrific” details, such as, “APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make ‘pie’ and remains collected by bulldozer.” The “10,000 killed” statistic came via Donald’s “close friend” in the State Council, which is the Chinese cabinet, the articles will duly add. The articles will all say that the secret diplomatic cable was sent by Britain’s ambassador to China, Alan Donald, from Beijing to London on June 5, 1989. In the past two days, some variation of that lede has appeared in multiple Western media outlets, from BBC to AFP.
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