RFA leads world in reporting on deadly ethnic violence in China’s Northwest
In the last week of August, Radio Free Asia’s exclusive reports on ethnic unrest continuing to erupt in China’s northwest shaped international coverage on the tensions involving the minority Uyghurs. Since July 2009, when deadly riots erupted after a demonstration, Chinese authorities have kept much of the region under constant lock down, making it almost inaccessible for outside journalists to enter or report on the situation there.
When recent incidents of violence occurred, including the shooting in June of demonstrators near Hotan City, RFA’s Uyghur Service – through its cultivated network of numerous in-region sources and local authorities – was able to break the news, providing accurate details missing from many accounts. The New York Times cited and linked to RFA’s reports prominently throughout a major piece on the aftermath of the tensions, followed by similar stories citing RFA in the Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Agencia EFE, The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Standard, and Los Angeles Times.
