NEW YORK—Anyone who reads the Chinese-language press that carries the articles of the Xinhua News Agency will have a grossly distorted picture of what has been happening in Flushing. This should not be surprising. The title of a report about the agency by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) is "Xinhua: The World's Biggest Propaganda Agency."
The Chinese consulate has orchestrated Chinese spies and communist supporters to violently attack Falun Gong practitioners. Since the incidents in Flushing began on May 17, the New York police have arrested 12 Chinese people for their actions harassing or attacking Falun Gong practitioners. Yet Xinhua never has mentioned these facts.
The agency claimed that Falun Gong practitioners angered the local Chinese community in Flushing by disrupting an activity for providing donations for earthquake relief. But the existence of this activity could not be confirmed by the Chinese state-controlled media. In fact, the Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing never disrupted any efforts for earthquake relief.
Ever since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power in 1949, the Xinhua news agency has remained the heart of the censorship and disinformation system. According to RWB, Xinhua is totally subordinate to the CCP and its regime.
Xinhua journalists are supposed to publish news that serves the needs of leaders rather than the public. The Hong Kong press revealed in 2004 that one directive Xinhua followed said that the regional committee of the CCP should be consulted before publication of any information about a corrupt cadre.
RWB's report says that recruits who wish to report for Xinhua need to show their loyalty to the Party. According to RWB, there is "a natural preference for politicized students, members of the CCP Youth League, student leaders or presidents of communist organisations."
Nepotism is the most reliable method for getting taken on by Xinhua. The agency holds a yearly training session for new recruits consisting of "civil and ideological teaching."
One journalist recalls that during these seminars, "leading Xinhua staffers talk about politics, the rules, the laws governing China, Jiang Zemin's theory of the 'Three Represents,' and of course about Xinhua, the mouthpiece of the government." According to this journalist, another staffer spoke at the seminar of the importance of the political nature of Xinhua, instead of how to write an article or how to get information.
According to RWB most journalists do not have any direct connection to the Internet. Websites related to sensitive subjects such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, Dalai Lama or the activities of Falun Gong are inaccessible to most Chinese.
Xinhua produces two types of news, that is, one that is intended for the general public and the other for regime leaders. The general public receives only superficial and distorted news.
RWB says that Xinhua gives priority to publishing news produced by the Propaganda Department, nowadays called the Publicity Department, which comes under the CCP Central Committee. The various ministries can also send Xinhua news that is picked up and sent to the country's various media.
RWB says that the Propaganda Department "controls Xinhua, defining the orientation and subjects of reporting." A Belgian student analysed the content of the French pages on the Xinhua website. Eighty percent of the stories on Chinese news gave a positive view of the situation in China. Most of the stories were based on the activities of the officials.
In the first months of the SARS epidemic, Xinhua, in line with the Chinese authorities, denied the existence of SARS in China.
When the agency reported on the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein was not identified as a dictator. Fidel Castro is also not described as a dictator in Xinhua's reports. Countries such as Burma and Sudan with which China has good relations are all treated well by Xinhua. North Korea also receives favourable treatment.
The CCP has a long history of suppression of groups that it does not like or that are not in line with the CCP's ideology. Only a few years after the CCP came to power the Christians faced persecution. When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred in 1989 in which hundreds of students were killed, the CCP's state-controlled media denied any massacre took place and said troops had to be used to preserve "social stability."
Xinhua has frequently featured lies and distortions about Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Xinhua always describes The Dalai Lama as a man who wants to break China apart. The agency has never mentioned that he has received the Nobel Peace Prize and has frequently requested to start a dialogue with the communist Chinese leadership.
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