I just read a Reuters FACTBOX regarding the Dalai Lama’s receiving the Congressional Gold Medal this coming Friday. The article can be found here. I think this is an excellent example of how the media skews things by attempting to compress information.

The first fact is

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s god-king, fled on horseback after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and now lives in exile in northern India. China accuses him of seeking independence for Tibet. The 72-year-old spiritual leader says he only wants greater autonomy for the region.

which is incorrect on a few levels. First of all, referring to the Dalai Lama as a “god-king” is fairly misleading. In the Buddhist tradition, he is a bodhisattva of compassion, and not a “god”. His position is administrative, yes, but he is more a religious figure who happens to be traditionally a head of state than a “god-king” in the sense of other Western civilizations (ancient Egypt, for example).

The second fact

Within Tibet, simply having the Dalai Lama’s picture can be grounds for imprisonment. Critics say Buddhist monks and nuns loyal to the Dalai Lama have been jailed and tortured.

smiles on China’s intervention in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition too much. The tenth Panchen Lama died in 1989. On a par with the Dalai Lama, this figure is replaced in the Gelugpa tradition, the Panchen Lama is partially responsible for the search for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and vice versa. The Dalai Lama, in exile, named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh Panchen Lama. He was promptly exiled and the Chinese government appointed their own Panchen Lama, thereby giving them “influence” over appointing the next Dalai Lama. This is a transparent power play to remove the influence of the Dalai Lama in exile upon the death of the current one.

Finally,

The central government has invested billions of dollars in improving Tibet’s infrastructure, including a new railway across the snowy plateau that links Beijing and Lhasa.

This almost downplays the poor treatment the Chinese government has heaped on Tibet, which is essentially a twenty-first century colony. Starting with the Great Leap Forward and on, 1.2 million Tibetans have died under the rule of the Chinese government, which Beijing of course denies.

I just wanted to point out how wording can have a large impact on how people read an article. Shame on you, Reuters.