Geoffrey York of the Globe and Mail takes an official press tour of Tibet, and offers an honest assessment:

But an official press tour can be a humiliating experience. Our itinerary was filled with weirdly irrelevant events, including a handicrafts exhibition, a visit to a tourist village, and a press conference to announce a performance of traditional dance. The man with the megaphone was constantly barking at us, hectoring us to move faster. The schedule was packed with activity from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., to keep us busy and distracted from the real news.
Every moment was pre-programmed. To ensure that we didn’t miss anything, we were given unsolicited wake-up calls at 6:15 a.m., urging us out of bed and into the program.

At least somebody has learned the lessons of Walter Duranty.