I learned a lot from that debate as well.

I'll try, but I can only answer from my personal experiences and readings.

(1) Is it as bad as some media outlets suggest?
It depends on what media outlets you are talking about. I don't usually follow European media, so I can't say much there. Here in the U.S., I found most media live by predominantly reporting negative news (not necessarily on China-related issues, but domestic and other international issues as well). Feel-good stories don't sell papers well, particularly those not about their audience, and they certainly don't help your chance of getting Pulitzer's. Throw in the fact that there are plenty of special interests groups behind the supposedly neutral and objective media (see also: Human Rights and Media Manipulation), it is not that surprising to see a disproportionally large amount of articles reporting human rights problems in China. NPR and PBS usually are much better than CNN and FoxNews, and they are also preferred by some of my well-educated American friends. That being said, I would say that nearly all stories (of human rights violations in China) were probably true regardless of the media that reported them, except for, of course, those extremely anti-Chinese newspapers. The problem is, however, the perception that they created for their audience. Imagine for a person who has never being to a foreign country, and all he can see on the TV programs are L.A. riots, KKK and local government corruptions in the U.S., IRA in GB, Corsica Island in France, neo-Nazis in Germany...

Now, the human rights problem in China can be roughly lumped into two categories, one is happening in the central government level, where the laws and policies are made, the other is happening in the local level, where these policies are executed. I would continue next time, it's way past my bedtime here already.

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What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. --CHL

I said repetitively that there are cultural differences here. In China, a developing country, basic human rights are the rights to feed themselves, feed their parents and other senior family members, improving living conditions, such as air conditioning, automobiles. Speech Freedom based on Western Individualism has never been for thousands of years, and is not considered "basic human rights" in China.

In China, it is ACCEPTABLE that a small group of people's interests being sacrificed for the benefits of the majority, as long as the selection process is relatively fair. China is a developing country, and China DOES NOT have the luxury to guarantee that each one of the 1.3 billion people ALL have air conditioning and automobiles. Some people are going to be LESS TALENTED and relatively poor. When they are poor, they have less resources to further compete with others.

EVERY MAJOR COUNTRY, when they were changing from POOR to RICH, ALL rely on the sacrifice of other people. Britain and France exploited the massive people in the colonies to get rich. America relied on Native Indian Extinction and Black Slaves. Japan, Russia and Germany have massive military aggressions. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore were all in dictatorships and have human rights abuses when they were getting rich.

British Hong Kong constantly suppressed left wing journalists in 1960s. Taiwan had serious suppressions between different groups. Singapore still has legal torture to punish those who are not disciplined.

For any developing country that is developing their economy and society, sporadic "human right abuses" defined by western standards are necessary evils. Actually, NO MAJOR COUNTRY can go from an agricultural society to a fully developed society without "human right abuses". Every major rich country partially relied on the "human right abuses" to get from poor to rich. I don't see it reasonable to ask China to do something that no other country ever achieved in the history.

LOL so what outlet do you trust and how do you know it can be trusted?