Sometimes TV doesn’t mind fiction getting in the way of truth to keep viewers watching a less than interesting story. An example was Murder In The Snow on BBC2, about the murder of Tibetan pilgrims or refugees who were shot by Chinese soldiers in the Himalayas in September 2006. It became a world news story as a large group of international climbers witnessed the brutality and some filmed this on handheld personal cameras. At one point the number killed was exaggerated and the actual footage wasn’t easy to distinguish from the recreated filming.
It was obvious that these so-called pilgrims were migrants and refugees although that didn’t excuse the mindless killing. Yet, despite the confusion of the facts released by the mountaineers, and some were obviously shocked, many other continued their ascent of the mountain as the weather improved. What price a good story?
