Tibet riots: China slams media coverage

Chinese officials in New York have accused the Western media of misleading the public about Tibetan protests last month, complaining of "distorted reports and coverage" in major outlets.

"The incident to a large degree has not been accurately covered or reported in the media here," Weilin Kuang, deputy consul-general of the Chinese consulate in New York, told reporters at a press conference.

"There have been some misleading reports and comments, there have been some distorted facts and wrong conclusions, wrong judgments," Kuang added.

Aside from a brief, tightly-managed government tour given to a group of journalists, foreign media has been banned from Tibet and some surrounding areas since the protests. The Chinese government has been widely criticized for keeping foreign media out of the Tibet region and restricting press freedom inside the country.

Officials from the Chinese consulate in New York on Thursday said that when security improved, journalists would be invited back. The Chinese government also announced that they hoped to reopen the region to tourists and media before May.

Kuang singled out CNN and British Broadcasting Corp, claiming that certain photos posted to the organizations' web sites had been cropped purposely to make the Chinese crackdown after the protests last month appear worse than it was.

"People are angry -- not only people in China, but also some Chinese communities here in this country are very angry about CNN about their coverage of Tibet, and also BBC," said Kuang.