A Chinese News Reporter's Confession

I am a news reporter in southern China. I have been working as a reporter for many years. In July of 1999, a series of news reports which slandered Falun Gong shocked many people. The news was aired on TV for a whole month. Many people believed the reports. However, I maintained a neutral stance because I knew how some news is fabricated, since I was a news reporter with years of experience. I decided that I would not choose sides unless I obtained the actual sources of the news.

Soon the year 2001 came. The Tiananmen self-immolation incident was broadcast on TV repeatedly over the Chinese New Year period. What I saw on TV totally changed my point of view. The horrible pictures stunned me and stirred my emotions. I started to participate in the anti Falun Gong propaganda team. At that time, my supervisor assigned me several news projects. Another colleague and I interviewed seniors who were doing morning exercises here and there, reporting their attitudes toward the Tiananmen self-immolation incident.

Time passed quickly, and in 2004, several friends of mine brought me some media from their trip to Hong Kong. They told me that the self-immolation incident was staged. Authorities will ill intentions had arranged the whole thing. They explained six suspicious points about the broadcast and "news" coverage of the incident. Listening to them, I analysed the incident myself. Finally, I came to understand the truth. I, a news reporter with over ten years of experience, had been fooled.

I deeply regret my own falsified news reports. How could I face the people who have been misled by them? For over a year, I have been thinking about how I should repent for this mistake. Over ten years of media experience have allowed me to realise that there is no freedom of press under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The public cannot possibly learn the truth. Recalling the CCP's repressive political movements over the past several decades, it is not uncommon for yesterday's president to become tomorrow's "traitor to the Party, traitor to China and the thief among workers." Everything is done to satisfy the person currently in power. I know that my heart will not be at peace unless I resign from the Party. With the help of a friend, I added my signature to the website where people can go to resign from the CCP.

At last, I hope that my late confession can repent for something. In addition, I hope that those people who were misled by my reports will quickly learn the truth.