Media

2004-03-01 18:00

Press Tibet's first newspaper, the lithographed Vernacular Tibetan News began publication in Lhasa in 1907. More recently, the Tibet Daily began publication in April 1956 to be followed by the Tibet Science and Technology News, Lhasa Evening News, Tibet Youth Daily, Xigaze News, Tibet Radio and Television Guide and Tibet legal System News Currently, 15 newspapers are officially published, along with 36 periodicals, notably Tibetan Literature and Tibetan Literature and Arts.

Important newspapers and periodicals are published in both Tibetan and Chinese editions. The folio format Tibet Daily has a daily press run of 20,000 in the Tibetan edition and 30,000 in the Chinese edition The Tibet branch of the Xinhua News Agency, China's national news service, is in Lhasa.

Organizations for members of the press include the Tibet Autonomous Region Journalists Association and the Tibet Autonomous Region Journalism Society Publishing In the old days, before the advent of modern publishing, books in Tibet were printed from woodblocks.

Many famous monasteries had facilities for cutting woodblocks and printing sutras and other works on medicine, almanacs and calendrical study and other subjects The Tibetan People's Publishing House was founded in the early 1970s.

Now, it publishes 60 to 70 titles yearly. Guided by its policy of publishing mainly in Tibetan and concentrating on popular works, the Tibetan People's Publishing: House has published a batch of popular science reading materials in Tibetan It has paid particular attention to preparing and publishing a number of famous older works and classics including Buddhist sutras, works on Tibetan medicine and Tibetan calendars, histories, biographies, local folk literature, works on folk arts and a nine-volume collection of historical and cultural records, the latter including A Catalogue to the Kanjur, Blue Annals, Red Annals, New Red Annals, Lineage of the Sakya Order and History of the Rang Clan.

It has published the biography of King Gesar in close on 30 Tibetan-language editions Its Compiler Four-Part Canon of Tibetan Medicine Wall Chart Series earned the publisher a First Chinese Book Award prize given in 1986 The Tibet Tibetan-Language Ancient Books Publishing House was set up in the late 1980s specifically to edit old Tibetan-language handwritten and woodblock printed books, checking them against authoritative texts in preparation for publication.

This publisher has already complied a large-scale collection of ancient Tibetan-language texts entitled Snowland Library, with more than 20,000 copies of over 40 titles already issued Radio and Television The Tibet Wired Radio Station was founded in 1953.

On lanuary 1 1959, it officially began broadcasting in Tibetan and Chinese under the name "Tibetan People's Radio." Today, nearly 300 ground satellite receiving stations and more than 130 television relay stations and translator stations throughout the region make up the beginnings of a radio and television network combining satellite transmissions, radio transmissions and wired broadcasts which will blanket all of Tibet There are currently two radio stations in the region, "Tibetan People's Radio" and "Shannan People's Radio" The stations have determined to broadcast primarily in Tibetan and to simultaneously develop domesticly and internationally directed broadcasts The Tibetan People's Radio broadcasts in ten frequency bands, six broadcasting in Tibetan.

There is a total of 24 hours and 15 minutes a day on all frequencies. The 45-minute "Broadcast for Tibetan Compatriots Outside of China," presented twice daily, consists of three segments: news, features, and literature and arts.

Tibet also has two television stations, the Tibet TV Station and the Lhasa TV Station. The Tibet TV Station broadcasts 16 hours of programming a day on three channels. Its self-produced news programmes can be transmitted outside of China by satellite.