A Phoney News Report in the Making: A Director Smashes Tomatoes

In order to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners and to mislead people, the Jiang-Luo regime has gone all out to produce phoney news reports. Early on, they fabricated the so-called "1400 suicide cases," and last year they staged the tragic "Tiananmen self-immolation." Later in 2001, they even broadcasted a bloody murder by a mentally ill man in an attempt to slander Falun Gong. They have gone too far with their lies.

I did hear one true story. One day in the fall of 1999, a TV crew showed up at Shulinzi Village in Xinchengzi District, Shenyang City of Liaoning Province. With the help of local officials, they found a former Falun Gong practice site assistant. They asked him to play a role in a phoney news report. When he refused, they threatened, "If you refuse to cooperate, we will take you to jail. If you agree, we will keep you and your family out of trouble."

After a brief rehearsal, they came to a tomato garden outside of the village. In front of many villagers, the "actor" said reluctantly, "Since I started to practice Falun Gong, my field became full of weeds." He pointed to the tomato plants and said, "Look, all those tomatoes are rotten." The director threw some tomatoes into the field and smashed them with his feet. He then asked his TV cameraman to zoom in on those smashed tomatoes. After witnessing such a ridiculous lie and comical performance, audiences burst out laughing. Some said, "I would never have believed this unless I saw it with my own eyes. The news reports about Falun Gong are all lies. We will never believe them again." This phoney news report became a big joke for many people at their dinner table.

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/2/17/18827.html
Chinese version available at: http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2002/2/11/24732.html