United States: Falun Gong Practitioners in San Francisco Protest Singtao Daily for Publishing Misleading Report

On June 10th, two Falun Gong practitioners, who were peacefully clarifying the truth of the practice in San Francisco's Chinatown, were attacked and assaulted. Police officers who responded to a 911 call came to the site.

After their investigation, they filed a report charging the main suspect with “misdemeanor battery.” On June 1th1, however, the Singtao Daily published a report which severely deviated from the facts. On June 15th, several Falun Gong practitioners went to the headquarters of the newspaper's US West division to protest the report. The two Falun Gong practitioners who were assaulted during this incident commented, “Singtao Daily fabricated a news report to cover up the fact that we were physically assaulted and the perpetrator was likely backed by the Chinese Communist regime.”

Falun Gong practitioners protest at Singtao Daily newspaper over misleading report

The practitioners requested to meet director Liu Shigong and chief editor Liang Jianfeng to clarify facts about the incident, but their request was declined.

Derek, one of the two practitioners who was attacked, said, “In the beginning, Liu Shigong came out and said that they would not talk with us. After a while, a woman came out and said that she was the HR manager. She refused to have a meeting with us, claiming that we did not have an appointment. When we gave her an appointment request letter, she refused to accept it. She later told us, ‘Our director and chief editor are both on vacation.'”

Sherry Zhang, a representative from the San Francisco Falun Dafa group, appealed to the public to take careful note the incident, in which Singtao Daily violated journalistic standards to fabricate a report. She said, “We will report this to the FBI and request that the US government investigate the true intent of this newspaper. We will also request an investigation of the reporter, Huang Weijiang, who wrote the report.”

The Singtao report was entitled “Senior Blocked by [Practitioners]” and did not mention the fact that the old man assaulted the practitioners, who then called 911 for help. Several practitioners circled around the man to constrain him so that he would not escape.

Huang Weijiang, the Singtao reporter, watched a video of the incident and knew the purpose of the practitioners’ response to prevent the perpetrator from escaping. However, he appeared to have no interest in the facts, and used loaded language to mislead readers.

San Francisco police officers who arrived at the site investigated the case by reviewing the video and holding onsite interviews. They then handed the two practitioners booklets which explained what victims of domestic violence should do to protect themselves, and also charged the perpetrator (surname Wu) with “misdemeanor battery.” To a reporter, all these are important facts which are readily verifiable; however Huang had no interest in reporting them.

Huang’s report stated, “According to several eye witnesses, a senior Chinese immigrant, Mr. Wu, was arguing with several Falun Gong members and then had some physical contact.” This description gave readers an impression that the two sides were quarreling and pushing each other. However, as shown in several cellphone videos, Wu cursed at the practitioners and later assaulted them.

Dozens of practitioners came to the Singtao Daily headquarters to support the two victims. They requested that the paper correct their report.

Singtao Daily has published many biased reports against Falun Gong practitioners in North America. In Canada and New York, local practitioners have sued the paper for violating human rights and slander. A 2011 Jamestown Foundation report once cited a number of Chinese language media in the US, including Singtao, as being directly or indirectly controlled by the Chinese Communist regime.

The practitioners stressed that their sole intention was to let people know the truth about Falun Gong, "We came to Chinatown with one simple goal, we hope that our fellow Chinese immigrants will learn the truth about Falun Gong, and thus recognise the lies fabricated against us. Please take the time to talk with one of us and learn why we have used our own time and money to come to Chinatown persistently for the past 13 years. Please learn the facts about the largest persecution happening in China and give yourself an opportunity to make an objective judgment."