The differing reports on the chaotic Olympic torch relay published by the media in China indicate the country’s confusion over how to respond to the worldwide protests against it. While one headline reads, ‘Warm reception in cold London’, another says ‘Chinese outraged over torch relay disruption.’  It is quite apparent that the Communist Party propaganda apparatus has had to go through a tough week.

 

Since the worldwide response to China’s Olympic torch relay has been shameful, it looks like it has decided that media reports at home be lessened to a minimum. Reporting about the torch relay in London, the state-owned China Daily said that there were no deterrent to thousands of Londoners and that the Chinese working or studying here packed the streets and cheered the torch on its way around the city. The report on the demonstrators was reduced to just a line.

 

In contrast the Chinese media gave greater coverage to the relay disruption attempts in Paris. It described protestors as a small number of people who challenged the safety, security and passage of the torch. Some media methods of the Chinese were even faintly suggestive of the Cultural Revolution, when publicity mediums were used to whip up the public outcry over an issue of their choice.