Author: Han, Hong
Abstract: Ladakh Akhbar is the earliest known Tibetan newspaper in history. It was founded in Leh, Ladakh, Kashmir in 1904 and stopped publishing in 1907,with a total of 41 issues. When the newspaper was founded, it coincided with the second invasion of Tibet by the British army, and made a more detailed and continuous report on the British invasion led by Young husband. Through the content analysis, this paper found that on the one hand, the newspaper stood in the position of the British and Indian governments, and was consistent with the British and Indian authorities in terms of responsibility attribution, position and attitude; on the other hand, it embedded its own agenda and demands in content selection, theme display and suggestions. The report tendency of Ladakh Akhbar on the second British invasion of Tibet is quite different from the critical and reflective attitude of some local Indian media at the same time, which reflects the audience orientation, political attitude and religious position of the founder Moravian missionaries. This study shows that the Western colonialists covet the Himalayan region and China’s Tibet, not only in political games and military invasion, but also in ideological infiltration based on newspapers. They interweave with each other and jointly complete the construction of the colonial system in the Himalayas in the early 20th century.
