Quote from the Timor-Leste development and resources watchdog La'o Hamutuk over the recent news agency 'false report' on a demonstration over Australian duplicity over the Timor Sea disputed oil and gas industry:
Why are the world's media so eager to report lies about violence committed by people from Timor-Leste, but so reluctant -- in the past and still today -- to report truthfully on those who commit violence against them?
This was from a recent article posted by the NGO on its blog over allegations of fabrication by a news agency stringer and condemning media reluctance to correct the facts.
PRESUMPTION OF VIOLENCE
ANALYSIS: ON Thursday, 5 December, about 20 students and activists peacefully protested across the street from the Australian Embassy in Dili to urge Australia to respect Timor-Leste's sovereignty and rights to its undersea oil and gas.
In their statement (original Tetum), they urged Australia to "stop stealing and occupying the Timor Sea, but show your good will as a large nation which follows democratic principles to accept a maritime boundary based on international legal principles.
They were gradually joined by about 20-30 parents and children from the nearby community. The nonviolent and nonthreatening demonstration was assisted by four Timor-Leste National Police (PNTL) officers who kept the protesters and the traffic separate.
After about an hour, the PNTL "Task Force" arrived and, without talking with anyone, immediately fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
An article from the daily Diario Nacional [see link on La'o Hamutuk] describes the excessive force used by police without provocation.
Unfortunately, a Timorese stringer for Agence France-Press (AFP) falsely reported that "About 100 protesters in East Timor have thrown rocks at the Australian embassy," a slander eagerly propagated by media in Australia and around the world.
As Mark Twain wrote long before the internet was conceived, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
On Friday morning, December 6, we asked AFP to issue a retraction, telling them "We are disappointed that this news report criminalises the nonviolent acts of Timorese people to ask for our sovereignty and dignity.
And we are disappointed that the media in Australia and elsewhere so readily propagate a false report without a single confirmation, photo or byline."
AFP took 11 hours and police confirmation that the protest was peaceful before they retracted the slander.
Their revised article was more accurate, but more than 24 hours after it was issued, Google found it on the internet only 17 times, while the original one still showed up more than 2000 times.
Australian ABC radio (audio) also corrected the false stoning report, creating a new controversy by contrasting the facts with police claims that no tear gas was used.
On Friday afternoon, about 100 people joined a three-hour nonviolent demonstration across from the Embassy, with full cooperation of the police.
Two representatives were invited into the Australian Embassy to give their statement to Ambassador Miles Armitage, who told them he respected their right to demonstrate and would communicate their concerns to Canberra.
Although this demonstration was covered by Timor-Leste television (RTTL) and Tempo Semanal, it was largely ignored by the international media, perhaps because all parties behaved peacefully and responsibly.
Friday marked the 38th anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of Timor-Leste, beginning a quarter-century of illegal military occupation which killed more than 100,000 Timorese people.
The Indonesian military's horrendous violence, abetted by Australia and the United States, was rarely covered by international media and most people around the world were oblivious to it until the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre.
Why are the world's media so eager to report lies about violence committed by people from Timor-Leste, but so reluctant -- in the past and still today -- to report truthfully on those who commit violence against them?
- La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis) is a 12-year-old NGO based in Dili and has a strong reputation for its accuracy and research methodology. The Cafe Pacific publisher recently spent three weeks there on a development communication project. The article has been republished with permission.
- Earlier report - Australia condemned over 'stolen' oil, gas
- La'o Hamutuk's background files on the Timor Sea oil and gas issues
- Crikey on the issue of 'presumption of violence'
- Global Voices on the Timor Sea spying, oil and gas controversy
David Robie
