(Minghui.org) Truth, accuracy, and objectivity are the cornerstones of journalistic ethics. But a media outlet’s perspective may shift when it is influenced by material interests, such as those offered by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One can observe this change in The New York Times by examining its coverage of the persecution of Falun Gong over the years.
The New York Times was one of the first newspapers to cover the peaceful appeal by Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing on April 25, 1999. According to its report on April 27, 1999, titled “In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protesters,” the practitioners were quiet and peaceful, and “…the Government’s estimate of 70 million adherents represents a large group in a nation of 1.2 billion.”
When Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference at the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) on October 7, 1999, The New York Times reported on it. According to Erol Avdovic, president of the UNCA who invited practitioners to the event, a Chinese delegation spokesperson to the United Nations asked to postpone or cancel the press conference, but his request was rejected. Since its establishment in 1948, the UNCA has promoted freedom of speech, something the CCP most fears. In China, where the CCP defames Falun Gong, people only hear slander of the practice. Showing the truth in a timely manner is extremely important for the public’s right to know, and to uphold Falun Gong practitioners’ human rights.
On January 21, 2000, The New York Times published a comprehensive report on the detention of more than 50 Falun Gong practitioners in Zhoukoudian Psychiatric Hospital. Yang Yang, a spokesman for a police station near the hospital who was interviewed by AFP, said these practitioners were not patients; rather, they were kept there to receive “re-education.” The New York Times report exposed the CCP’s sinister intention to use psychiatric hospitals to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
In 2001, The New York Times cited an investigative report stating that the Chinese government used political means to suppress Falun Gong practitioners and dissidents by sending them to psychiatric hospitals. Similar cases rapidly came to light and attracted the attention and criticism of international human rights organizations.
In February 2000, The New York Times reported that the U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report for 1999 focused on China. In addition, it highlighted that after the Clinton administration decided to condemn China’s human rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Conference in Geneva on March 6, 2000, China attempted to avoid criticism through frequent diplomatic and conventional means.
On September 21, 2005, The New York Times published a report on judicial injustice in China, including widespread torture and the disregard for human life. According to the article, instead of protecting the people’s rights, the law in China had become a source of terror.
For several years, The New York Times tracked and reported positively on Falun Gong. It provided U.S. Congressional reports on the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and the serious violations of practitioners’ human rights. It also shared with the world factual information about the persecution of Chinese citizens who believe in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The CCP disliked these reports.
Dramatic Changes
In 2006, a group of talented Falun Gong practitioners in the U.S. founded Shen Yun Performing Arts in New York, aiming to revive China’s 5,000-year-old culture. Shen Yun’s presentation of China’s traditional culture apparently irritated the CCP.
Since Shen Yun Performing Arts is based in the U.S., the CCP cannot directly suppress it or shut it down, so it deployed its usual tactics of bribing overseas media outlets, officials, and thugs using the Chinese consulate to interfere directly, and creating trouble for Shen Yun in all aspects, with the help of CCP agents through harassment, violent intimidation, false accusations, and sabotaging tour buses. In its attempts to stop Shen Yun, the CCP gradually expanded its criminal activities.
In 2008, The New York Times changed its tone sharply when it reported on Shen Yun performances. However, the one-sided and false reporting–reminiscent of CCP media–was untenable in the United States, where people have access to opposing views and are not as easily misled by the media.
In fact, The New York Times’ slanted reports piqued Americans’ curiosity and drove many readers to see Shen Yun. Angus, a doctor in New Jersey, said after watching a Shen Yun performance that he liked the show very much, and said The New York Times article was not credible. He said that the singing, dancing, choreography, and stories in the show were all very good, and that the performances were much better than the article portrayed.
The New York Times’ article allowed the public to see the CCP’s influence, and exposed its dealings with the Party behind the scenes. Although there were positive reports on Falun Gong in the following years, once one adopts the CCP’s worldview, it’s difficult to escape. In 2014, The New York Times gave Chinese businessman Chen Guangbiao a platform on which to smear Falun Gong. Under the pretext of acquiring The New York Times, Chen used a press conference in New York to re-hype the self-immolation hoax that happened 13 years before. The self-immolation incident was staged by the CCP to defame Falun Gong and justify the persecution.
A little research into Falun Gong shows that it explicitly prohibits suicide, and teaches people to be kind and to cherish life. In contrast, the CCP has little regard for human life and has killed tens of millions of Chinese people during its political campaigns. However, in the face of incentives offered by the CCP, The New York Times turned its back on ethical standards and sold its conscience.
Why did the CCP businessman pretend to acquire The New York Times instead of some other media outlet? The New York Times may have already been heavily influenced by the CCP, making it easier for the regime to use the paper as a propaganda weapon.
On July 7, 2020, The New York Times once again served as a CCP mouthpiece by criticizing software developed by Falun Gong practitioners to allow people in China to bypass the CCP’s Internet firewall. By quoting Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN Beijing Bureau Chief, the article downplayed the role the software played. This argument is inconsistent with the facts. If the software was so ineffective, then why had the CCP spent huge sums of money to build an Internet firewall? Why did the CCP spend so much money to censor the Internet and WeChat in China, and attempt to delete reports that exposed the true situation in China? The CCP’s actions show the important role software tools have in bypassing its censorship.
Unprecedented Infiltration
At the end of 2020, the CCP expanded its 19th National Congress coverage, media and social media training while sponsoring the trips of five major media outlets, including The New York Times, to China. Those familiar with the CCP’s tactics know that this “China Trip” was a form of bribery and manipulation. Blinded by self-interest, The New York Times forgot about human rights.
In 2024, The New York Times published eight articles in six months that slandered Shen Yun and Falun Gong. Do these reports align with its claimed editorial standards of being “impartial” and “without fear or favor”?
It may not be easy for those blinded by material interests to understand spiritual practices. Falun Gong practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and they have been able to endure more than two decades of persecution and persist in their faith despite the CCP’s terror tactics.
Most Chinese have aligned themselves with the CCP because of its inducement, threats, and violent suppression. Heads of state and important political, economic, and cultural institutions in the international community have also been unable to stop the CCP’s infiltration, subversion, united front, unrestricted warfare, and other evil means.
The New York Times became one of the top newspapers in the U.S. because the original owner followed the news reporting principles set when the paper was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1896, “to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved.”
But who owns The New York Times today? Who caused this newspaper to abandon the principles of unbiased reporting, accept the spirit of communism, and risk losing public trust?
Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are universal values. Falun Gong’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, explained that those who conform to these values are good people, while those who deviate from them are not. Each person is judging the facts for themselves and choosing which path to take. Those who continue to do evil–including by helping the CCP persecute the innocent–will be held accountable for their actions by the divine.
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Category: News Commentary
