By Phurbu Thinley,
Phayul Correspondent
Dharamshala, August 4 – A team of 15 Indian Press representatives from different parts of India, who were on a 3 day visit to Dharamsala, today had had an informal interactive evening tea session with the fellow Tibetan media members at Pema Thang Restaurant and later followed by dinner at Hotel Tibet.
The Indian press team, earlier on Thursday, met with the Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdong Rinpoche, The Tibetan Prime Minister in Exile and the Chairman of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies and, Tibetan Non-Governmental representatives later in the evening.
The three day long visit, beginning 03 August till 05 August, by the Indian press team has been arranged and coordinated by the Delhi-based India-Tibet Coordination Office (ITCO).
The press delegations comprising 14 newspapers covering news in English, Hindia and other regional languages; including Times of India, Indian Express, Navbharat Times, Punjab Kesri, India Today, Divya Shakti, Kannada Prabha Daily and others were among the visitors.
The visit is expected to create more awareness on the issue of Tibet within Indian media.
Mr. Tsering Dorjee of ITCO, in his introductory speech, mentioned that the issue of Tibet and the grass root story of exiled Tibetan community in India are very much new to most of the Indian press team who are presently on the tour visit.
While the President of the Association of Tibetan Journalists, Mr. Lobsang Wangyal, feels that there is less coverage of Tibetan issues within the Indian media; the Indian press representatives, on the other hand, however, offered possible guidelines to the Tibetan journalists on ways to make Tibetan issues find more mention in the Indian media.
Among the Indian Journalists present was, Mr. Vijay Kranti, a long-term pro-Tibetan Journalist, who made Photo Presentation titled- INSIDE THE COLONY, a collection of pictures taken during his 2000 and 2004 visits inside Tibet, which clearly depict the poor state of Tibetan people’s life inside Tibet under almost 50 years of the Communist Chinese administration..
Although the freedom of press, including freedom of speech and expression; has been guaranteed under Article 12 of The Charter of Tibetans in-Exile under the Provision, OTHER FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, which are subject to a minimal legal and other reasonable restrictions, Mr. Lobsang spoke on the need of a standard Press Bill in conformity with the Tibetan Charter to avoid unnecessary legal complications within Tibetan Media.
The Association of Tibetan Journalists, presently consisting of about 34 registered members, is already ready with a draft resolution for a possible Press Bill and, will soon put forward the resolution before the Tibetan Parliamentary session after thorough study and review.
