Unfortunately, it appears this was a trap from the beginning, and most media walked right into it.
The press conference featured the two women repeating Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda denigrating Falun Gong. Yet, questions from the attending media focused on Chen’s stated attempt to purchase The New York Times, with virtually no attention paid to the content of the press conference itself. Clearly, Chen’s overture to The New York Times was effective in filling the seats.
Over the following 24 hours, several major media outlets published articles about this press event. Many of them repeating Beijing’s rhetoric that Falun Gong practitioners were responsible for the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident from 2001. Some articles even carried Beijing’s core propaganda lie: that Falun Gong is a dangerous or fringe group, implying a rationale for the 14 years of suppression and abuse the group has faced in China.
The manner in which this press event was conducted, and how it was subsequently covered, raises serious questions for journalists and editors in the West. Mainly: Is it sufficient to report, without significant investigation, statements made during such events, especially in cases where the individuals involved demonstrate a clear intention to use the Western press to publicize falsehoods perpetuated by a foreign, communist regime—falsehoods that are enabling the killing of innocent people?
If Chen were truly concerned with helping victims in China, why does he not assist Tibetan self-immolation victims who have set themselves on fire to protest abuse and corruption in Tibet? Why does he not pay for the medical expenses for Falun Gong practitioners who have been left disabled from horrific torture while in police custody?
Perhaps most importantly, why were these questions not asked by journalists, and investigated more thoroughly in the resulting articles? At the press event itself, the only questions asked by most media concerned Chen’s overture to The New York Times (even when most informed China watchers widely regard the overture as a publicity stunt). Why?
To be clear: there is still great journalism about China, and such journalism is both a noble endeavor and an invaluable service to the public. The coverage of Chen’s press event, however, is not it.
We understand the stakes are stacked against media organizations … budgets are shrinking, staff is limited, and the subject matter is becoming ever more complex, especially when dealing with agents of a communist regime—a regime whose rise to power and maintenance of power has hinged on the control of media. Yet, we cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to play Western media like this. It appeases, if not assists, tyranny.