Press Releases and Media Reports
TV and Radio | Publications | Press Releases
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Baltimore Sun: China recovers from SARS via media's patriotic song
2003-05-26"For years, daring newspapers have tested the limits to see how much they can get away with, but state news media operate under the constant threat of censorship, discipline, suspension or being shut down if their coverage goes too far. A Guangdong-based weekly, 21st Century World Herald, was ordered to suspend publication in March after printing a signed commentary that advocated political reform and criticized former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. It has yet to resume publishing. Top editors at two other publications, Beijing's China News Weekly and Guangdong-based Southern Weekend, were reassigned this year after offending top officials with their political coverage." -
Radio France Internationale Interviews Falun Gong Practitioner Regarding World Falun Dafa Day and the Trial of Jiang Zemin
2003-05-25"When Jiang visited the US, Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. Jiang was charged with committing three crimes. The first one was crimes against humanity by brutally persecuting Falun Gong. The other two are torture and genocide. We practitioners sued Jiang because he intends to eradicate millions of Falun Gong practitioners by any possible means, including lies and violence." -
EFGIC: Investigation Uncovers More Lies in Chinese Regimes Story of Tragic Self-Immolation Incident
2003-05-25'If you look at the pieces of this puzzle, says Mr. Jaw, the protective clothing worn by the self-immolators, the fire extinguishers and video cameras that were immediately on-hand, the glaring loopholes in subsequent CCTV coverage of the incident theres really only one conclusion: The police on Tiananmen Square that day knew what was going to happen. They were ready and had a camera man on-hand to film the whole thing.' -
Press Statement of World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong Regarding the Tiananmen "Self-Immolation"
2003-05-24Since its establishment, WOIPFG has received reports from various sources regarding the self-immolation incident. According to reliable information from inside the Chinese government and the Police Bureau, the "self-immolation" was staged to frame Falun Gong. The incident occurred after 18 months of Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong, which was consuming huge amounts of state resources. At the time, Jiang was isolated and there was increasing criticism of him inside inner Party circles. Jiang was the primary beneficiary of the incident. -
Online Journalism Review: Chinese Learn True Scope of SARS From the Internet
2003-05-24"The turning point came for me in early April," he said. "I felt the media were lying, and that they were intentionally suppressing news about SARS. I saw the April 7 press conference by Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, and I thought his lies were really outrageous. Because we work with the Internet, we have long felt that news in mainstream media is routinely manipulated. They just tell you want they want you to think." -
Radio Free Asia: Interviewing European Practitioners about Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day in Europe
2003-05-24What are the purposes of holding these activities? One is that we can tell everyone about the goodness and the beauty of Falun Gong. Another is that we all know that the Jiang Zemin regimes persecution of Falun Gong is completely based on lies. One important way to stop this persecution is to tell people, in a peaceful way, what Falun Gong really is and about the lies that the Jiang regime have been using, so that all the Chinese people and western people can understand what is actually happening. -
Reuters: Chinese doctor gagged for revealing SARS cover-up
2003-05-23"He began working at the military hospital in 1957, but was branded a "counter-revolutionary" in 1968 at the height of the Cultural Revolution. He was banished to feed horses at a military-run ranch in the northwestern province of Qinghai. In 1999, the 10th anniversary of the army crackdown on student-led democracy demonstrations, Jiang accused authorities of lying when they claimed not a single protester was killed on Tiananmen Square. Jiang said then several protesters he treated died of gunshot wounds." -
SCMP (South China Morning Post): Ambushes on the information highway
2003-05-23By sending messages to various internet forums, researchers were able to determine that certain pornographic or politically sensitive terms, such as "June 4" (the date of the Tiananmen Square crackdown), "human rights", "Taiwan independence" and " Falun Gong" are banned. Messages containing these words are automatically screened out. Messages that do not contain banned words normally appear but, if their content is considered sensitive, they are soon removed. -
EFGIC: Father and Son Falun Gong Practitioners Die from Torture in Chinese Labour Camp
2003-05-22"Eyewitnesses say the elder Mr. Zhang was physically dragged to meals because he had lost the ability to walk after prolonged torture and abuse. Mr. Zhang defecated pus and blood, his body was covered with scabies, and he became dangerously thin, these eyewitnesses say. On January 2nd, 2003 Mr. Zhang was beaten to death. At the time of his fathers death, Qifa was also in critical condition. The skin all over his body was discolored and covered with scars, boils and bruises. His legs were so badly injured he could not walk. He also had difficulty breathing." -
Human Rights Watch Press Release: Hong Kong Should Reject Subversion Bill
2003-05-22"The clock is ticking on civil liberties in Hong Kong," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch. "If enacted in its present form, this bill will introduce Chinese legal standards through the back door and could forever erode the civil liberties and civil society that today distinguish Hong Kong from China." -
RFI (Radio France Internationale): Hong Kong Branch of WOIPFG Established
2003-05-22'According to the Falun Dafa Information Centre, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong founded a branch in Hong Kong on the 16th of May. Today, Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in front of a Chinese Embassy in the United States to protest about the unreasonable detention of Falun Gong practitioner Charles Li, a US citizen who has been arrested in China. They also appealed for his rescue.' -
BBC: Chinese censor online chat
2003-05-22"Messages critical of the Chinese Government either never appear or are purged from popular chat rooms, a study by the free speech pressure group has revealed. The study also found that Chinese law enforcement agencies regularly track down and even jail the authors of the critical messages. Reporters Without Borders estimates that China employs 30,000 people to watch what its people are doing online." -
FDI: Fourth Annual World Falun Dafa Day Festivities Held in over 30 Cities around the World
2003-05-19Between May 11 and May 13, practitioners and supporters of Falun Gong joined their communities in over 30 cities around the world to celebrate the fourth annual World Falun Dafa Day an event marking the day Falun Dafa was first taught publicly by founder Mr. Li Hongzhi on May 13, 1992. -
RFI (Radio France Internationale): The Self-immolation on Tiananmen Square was Plotted by a Chinese Official
2003-05-18On the morning of the May 15 2003, RFI broadcast the following report about the staged self-immolation incident on Tiananmen Square in 2001. The report outlines the irrefutable evidence that this event was actually planned by members of the Jiang regime in order to turn Chinese people against Falun Gong. This has already been veriied by the United Nations. -
EFGIC: Man Detained for Exposing Persecution of Falun Gong on Chinese State-Run T.V. Dies in Police Custody
2003-05-17The persecution of Falun Gong in China has largely been sustained through an anti-Falun Gong propaganda campaign built on lies and deception. Jiang Zemins paramount fear is that this will be exposed, so those who make an attempt to expose it receive a swift and often brutal response... - Peter Jauhal, Spokesperson for the European Falun Gong Information Centre.