Grumbles from China Central Television Employees

In the summer of 2002, a supervisor from my work unit and I went to a program office at CCTV [China Central Television, a state controlled media] to do some business. Before we entered the room, we could hear people shouting loudly, "Why are we doing a program that denigrates Falun Gong? We really don't want to do that! It influences our audience ratings too much! What's the good in denigrating Falun Gong? Don't they just do exercises to improve their physical condition and health? Their Master is already abroad and doesn't fight with Jiang's¹ regime. What's the disagreement? The regime is fighting with the public. Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners are all good people, and it's very hard to find them doing anything bad. You're forcing us to a fake program to denigrate Falun Gong, to frame Falun Gong by claiming they kill people? How can we do that kind of thing? We have no choice but to scrape it together! What is being broadcast are all fake films anyway. This will be just another failed political movement at the whim of Party elite. Those who suffer will all be common people!"

We entered the room during their shouting match and sat silently on a sofa. When they discovered us they immediately said, "Don't disclose what you have heard, otherwise it will be a disaster for us."

The photographs taken of the incident where the police again violently assaulted and arrested Falun Gong practitioners at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on this year's National Day show quite a few people witnessing the violence. The number of people observing this was much larger than the number of police; however, nobody at the scene would stand up to say even one word to stop the police who were violently assaulting and arresting the Falun Gong practitioners. The public has been too deeply deceived and their minds are poisoned.

Notes:

1. Referring to Jiang Zemin the former President of China.