The Persecution of the Falun Gong by China and Western Media

FromThe Epoch Times, epochtimes.com, Opinion section, December 6-12, 2007, page A47, a disturbing article on the CBC giving more credence to the Chinese government than to Amnesty International, the United Nations and Human Rights Watch in re-editing a documentary to give what the Chinese government had to say about the Falon Gong than to the Falon Gong themselves or the human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

What planet is CBC on that they are not aware of the Chinese government's human rights record in its treatment of ethnic and other groups and on human rights defenders and freedom of speech? Do they think China has cleaned up its record of human rights abuses since its brutal put down of dissenters in Tiananmen Square?

The CBC is not the only media to give more the Chinese government more credence than the Falun Gong. This is so ugly. It is like reporting about the Holocaust primarily from the viewpoint of the Nazis.

I wonder whether the media bias has to do with right-wing conservatives controlling more media than they ought and not wanting to harm trade relations.

Or do too many journalists not have enough comprehension that where human rights are concerned, the perpetrator of the abuse cannot be trusted to tell the whole story. Amnesty International's and Human Rights Watch's whole purpose of being is to shine a light on the dark places in the world where there are human rights abuses. If Amnesty says there are abuses and people are in jail because governments do not allow freedom of association and speech and press, are television or print journalists so stupid or lazy that they cannot see what the world's conscience is telling them? Unfortunately, there must be some of this at work and we have seen it happen before on an entirely different issue.

Global warming skeptics gave media the runaround for at least a decade - long after scientists knew and had already expressed their grave concerns about climate change.
Jounalists never educated themselves enough to know there was only one credible side to this story. There are all kinds of stories about global warming now, particularly in print media in almost every section of the paper - business, news, living, houses, cars - I even saw one in sports. But at least a decade of educating the public was wasted.

The media blindness (or the interfering by and blindness of media management) to this particular record of human rights abuses is tantamount to complicity in it. If Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say there is persecution or torture or human rights abuses, no one but a fool or someone or some organization corrupted by business or power or other self-interest would say otherwise. But maybe they are just following the federal government's lead, as they don't support human rights at home or abroad either.

WHY SUCH MEDIA RELUCTANCE TO REPORT ON THE PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG?

By Michael Mahonen
Special to The Epoch Times

The CBC's recent re-editing of director Peter Rowe's documentary "Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong: resulted in numerous international media reports that were highly critical of the decision. While this criticism is valid, the CBC should be both appreciated for at least airing an edited version as well as criticized for sweeping away some evidence that director Rowe had delivered to their doorstop.

In fact, the vast majority of media, including some who criticized CBC, have reported very little about the persecution of Falun Gong, even though the persecution has been investigated and confirmed by Amnesty International, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, the U.S. Department of State, Human Rights Watch and others.

While the Chinese Communist regime (CCP) launched the persecution of Falun Gong in the early morning hours of July 20, 1999, practitioners were literally dragged out of their beds and bussed to sports stadiums, many of which were filled over capacity. The occurred on a mass scale across China. It was ferocious, unexpected and shocked practitioners. The CCP's own survey in late 1998 has estimated 70-100 million Chinese were practicing Falun Gong. The planning for such a large scale, organized attack had to be months in the making.

Of course the accompanying avalanche of propaganda against Falun Gong was also well planned in advance. It targeted not only the citizens in China, but the international community as well, since the CCP was well aware of the negative effects from the international community after the massacre of students on Tiananment Square in 1989. This time the propaganda and justification for their actions were planned carefully.

Names such as "evil cult" were spread by the CCP to an international community, which knew next to nothing about Falun Gong at the time. Falun Gong practitioners didn't have the chance to contemplate what was happening before the international community was provided with this strong first impression and sole source of infromation by CCP propaganda.

Western media, having little other information to go on, initially helped to stigmatize Falun Gong by repeating unsubstantiated propaganda by the CCP. These first impressions have left an enduring on the minds of many, including those in the media.

However, when Falun Gong practitioners snapped out of their initial shock and began to provide alternate information to the media, the ink given to the Falun Gong side was grossly minimized in relation to the information from the CCP that was initially reported. This trend has continued to today.

In a thorough, in-depth article published in Compassion Magazine(editor: please createhyperlink for the following link: http://wwfaluninfo.net/Compassion6/Compassion_Edition6.pdf), Leeshai Lemish examined 1,879 media articles written about the persecution of Falun Gong that appeared in the leading newspapers and wire services of the English speaking world such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, AP and Reuters. CCP sources were "cited as the main sources of news in the headline or opening paragraphs of articles about Falun Gong four times as often as Falun Gong sources and three times as often as rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In other words, for every article with a headline like: 'Falun Gong Woman Says She was Tortured,' four articles had a headline like: 'China Sentences Sect Member."

In another study of 1,308 AP articles, those in which Falun Gong reported practitioners dying from torture in custody, Mr. Lemish found that the CCP was given the opportunity to directly respond 50.2 percent of the time. When the CCP made major accusations toward Falun Gong, such as claiming practitioners died from refusing medical treatment or suicide, Falun Gong was given a chance to respond only 17.9 percent of the time.

Imbalance continues today
In an article by the Canadian Press, head of news for CBC, John Cruickshank, made a telling comment regarding the Red Wall controversy, "The Falun Gong - they want it all their way. They wanted it basically to be their show. Peter Rowe used an awful lot of Falun Gong footage, and just at a certain point we got uncomfortable with the degree to which we were basically putting their show on to television without there being a reflection about what was actually credible."

This program was made by Peter Rowe, a non-practitioner. In what way is it Falun Gong's show? Due to the fierce restrictions in China, there are only two types of footage I've seen taken by Falun Gong. One is of torture victims on the verge of death, reminiscent of emaciated Holocaust victims, including the case of Ms. Gao Rongrong, the lower half of whose face was charred and covered with large scabs from multiple burns by electric batons.

The other type of footage is taken on Tiananmen Square showing practitioners among large crowds of people being violently attacked by Chinese police while holding banners and calling for an end to the persecution. Red Wall included some of this latter footage, with on-screen labels stating it was footage taken by Falun Gong. The practitioners who took the footage risked their personal safety and even death to show the world what is happening. Yet somehow this is dimished to Falun Gong wanting it 'all their way."

This isn't a competition for airtime, or an endeavor for attention, or an unsubstantiated claim of political struggle as the CCCP states when it serves their propaganda aims of the moment. Before the perseuction began, Falun Gong had nothing at all to say about the CCP.

This is a full on, brutal persecution of innocent people - including the elderly and children - on a mass scale that has been verified by the top international bodies mentioned above. People are dying as I type these words and will be dying as I type these words, and will be dying when they're read.

In the CP article, Mr. Cruickshank stated in reference to CBC personnel in Beijing "Our guys are good... They had seen an early version of the script and they were horrified by it - they said that what was being treated as truth in this show was not accepted by any credible organization." There are many valid points of evidence presented in Red Wall, even in the CBC's edited version. To what exactly is Mr. Cruickshank referring? This blanket statement insinuates uncertainty over the program as a whole. To say that no credible organization accepts what is presented in Red Wall is grossly inaccurate and irresponsible.

What his guys in Beijing should be horrified by is the persecution itself, for which they have not produced a single substantial report since it began over eight years ago. Granted, this must be taken in context, considering that covering the persecution of Falun Gong is one of the most- if not the most - difficult, obstructed, guarded and dangerous journalistic endeavors in China. This is what makes the footage shot by Falun Gong practitioners so valuable. Yet is is utilized as a point of contention and to draw suspicion against those who risked their lives to shoot it and then send it out of China.

If the unspecified rationale from CBC's guys in Beijing is solid enough to elicit a reaction so strong as to re-edit a previously approved program produced by a veteran, trusted director, one must ask where these guys in Beijing suddenly turned for such conclusive information on the persecution of Falun Gong, considering they've produced nothing in the past.

One must also question why, for eight years, the CBC has all but totally ignored first-hand accounts of persecution sent out of China at great risk by the victims themselves. Certainly if their guys in Beijing can so quickly invalidate the initial version of Red Wall with such all-inclusive certainty, they must be able to substantiate or deny at least some of these reports from the actual victims. Why such one-sided certainty and effort to dismiss evidence of persecution, while ignoring reports of the persecution for so many years?

The intent here is not to solely criticize CBC, as there has been neglect on this issue by almost all major media. But CBC had a rare and valuable opportunity delivered to their doorstep. However, they not only swept away some of the most vital evidence, but dminished the urgency of the matter by accusing the abused party - which provided some of the most compelling footage in the program at the risk of their own lives (free of charge!) - of some petty attempt to have the program "be their show."

This disturbing lack of clarity must be addressed directly when the stakes are so high.

In a National Post article, CBC splokesman, Jeff Keay said, "We wanted to have a credible and solid piece of work out there, because I suspect, at the end of the day, we will have the Chinese government upset with us and we will have some Falun Gong members upset with us."

Beijing denies the persecution outright, despite the masses of evidence compiled by human rights organizations that prove otherwise. Beijing denies abusing practitioners, torturing practitioners, killing practitioners, and all other abuses which have been confirmed. Beijing is upset any time the persecution is exposed. They are the persecuting party. CBC should not be concerned about what Beijing thinks whatsoever. Of course Beijing will be upset.

David Matas, co-author of a report on the illicit harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners' organs, said in the same National Post article, "The notion that CBC would pay any attention to Chinese concerns is evidence they've lost all perspective," and continued, "The CBC becoming a vehicle of Chinese government propaganda - even under the notion that it's balanced coverage - is not responsible journalism."

Considering the CBC's fastidious and controversial extraction of actual evidence of persecution from the program, it is curious that they retained the numerous denials and accusations made by the Chinese Embassy spokesman who did not even attempt to provide any substantiating evidence whatsoever.

CBC extracted evidence revealing the two most damning events undertaken by the CCP: organ harvesting and the so-called self-immolation.

The immolation is the single most crucial event that turned perception of Falun Gong around in the minds of people in China as well as many around the world. The footage was played constantly on China's state controlled media, complete with follow up reports and masses of commentary by CCP appointed experts. To some, the incident brought to mind a quote atributed to Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, peeople will eventually come to believe it."

The footage was also played in Western media, the shocking images leaving a deep impression on viewers. The response allowed Falun Gong was a one line denial that the immolators were not Falun Gong practitioners.

Practitioners in China deconstructed the video footage in the report, finding many inconsistencies, uncertainties and contradictions. This led to the production of a video, which when made available to the public, caused the CCP to edit footage out of their initial report before re-broadcasting it further.

Although many points of contradiction, evidence and inconsistencies were raised in the deconstruction video and presented to international media, it was met with virtual silence. Broadcasts of the immolation had already made a deep impression in the minds of views and readers, but the other side was not given a voice. This voice was once more diminished in the CBC version of Red Wall. I urge all readers to view the deconstruction of the so-called self-immolation and judge for themselves: www.falsefire.com

With more and more third parties confirming the facts of persecution in China and calling for an end to the atrocities, including Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhishen (who has been detained for a second time, current whereabouts and well being unknown), defecting Chinese consular official Chen Youglin, defecting Chinese policeman Hao Fengjun, high ranking CCP officials Wang Ahaojun and Jia Jia, along with an increasing number of other brave individuals speaking out in China against the persecution of Falun Gong, Western media would be hard pressed to further justify its silence.

There are many signs of the imminent collapse of the CCP. When that time arrives there will be no more stifling of voices from the many friends and relatives of Falun Gong practitioners who are also suffering through various forms of persecution and who have witnessed immense suffering of their loved ones. The small percentage of police officers and CCP officials of conscience will also speak out.

The voices of the persecuted Falun Gong practitioners themselves will no longer be ignored as documentation of abuses will be compiled. At this point there will be no need for media to fulfill its responsibility of revealing this massive atrocity. But people will be demanding to know why they hadn't.