The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Tightly Controlled Media and Its Role in the Staged "Tiananmen Square Self Immolation Incident"

The strict control by the CCP concerning freedom of the Chinese media is without equal. This is the result of its accumulated experience from "years of the revolutionary struggle." At the beginning of the "liberation," CCP senior statesman Chen Yun talked about the reason why the CCP had been able to defeat its superior enemy Kuomintang's and achieve "victory." Kuomintang did not control the media. This allowed the communist party to publish and distribute its newspapers and mold public opinion. Therefore, to retain and strengthen its political power, the CCP will under no circumstances let go of its hold on the media. It understands clearly how to control and keep a tight grip on public opinion.

Under the CCP's tight control, China's populace will not be told the truth. Even the leaders' speeches cannot be published as presented by the media. Therefore, at times, the leaders can express their personal views only through foreign reporters, because foreign media reporters can present the facts truthfully. There has been much written by the foreign press that shows the truth of the above contention.

In 1989, just before Zhao Ziyang left office, he told Gorbachev during a meeting in Tanzania: Even as the party's General Secretary, he did not hold real power at any one time. If these words were spoken to local Chinese reporters, they would not have been published, and the public would have been kept in the dark.

The media published many leaders' speeches only after they had been reworded. When former Premier Zhu Rongji visited China Central Television's (CCTV) "Focal Point Interview" program, he said: "I am also someone who is an object watched over by you!" These words were not reported to the public by the next day's media reports. This incident was only disclosed many years later.

After April 25, 1999, Jiang disregarded the strong opposition by other leaders and initiated the persecution of Falun Gong. The state controlled media also demonized Falun Gong. Jiang then slandered Falun Gong when he met with a French reporter from Le Figaro. Following his slanderous remarks, China's government controlled media escalated its slander and rumour-mongering.

The tight control over freedom of the press by the CCP is especially evident in the reining in of a reporter's ability to report freely. Reporters' travel is quite restricted. Foreign reporters on assignment in China are monitored around the clock, and their phones are often tapped.

One of my friends who works at CCTV told me after the staged "Self Immolation Incident", "This was not an incident out of the blue, because even if CCTV's reporters wish to interview someone at Tiananmen, they have to get permission from the Chinese Propaganda Department 24 hours or three days before the actual interview. But, in the picture on TV, he saw a person with a specialised camera on his shoulder. This means that they had without a doubt received permission to film before the incident. Also in the TV footage, the cameraman taped what Wang Jindong said and it must have been from a close distance because it was so clear. During such a chaotic situation, the cameraman could have not done that without tacit understanding and perfect coordination (between the cameraman and Wang Jindong)."

During the "Self Immolation Incident" on Tiananmen Square, I happened to be also on Tiananmen Square helping practitioners from other places to unfurl banners. The police were on high alert, yet police was also stationed far from the square, surrounding the area. Plainclothes policemen and guards arrested most practitioners long before they reached the square, and only a few practitioners reached the square. The participants of the "Self Immolation" reached the square as a group, which is very unlikely unless they had special "passes" from the police.

Many people have discovered the truth of the staged "Self Immolation Incident." Many people actually learned the truth because of the incident itself. Today, when information technologies are so advanced, tight control over freedom of the press can only result in losing popularity -- people have lost their trust in the CCP. The CCP came into power by spreading rumours and lies, and now it will soon lose it because of spreading rumours and lies.