Shakespeare once said, "Guile needs a disguise, truth needs sunshine."The Falun Gong media seems to be a strange existence that abhors "sunshine". They are more used to disguising themselves and trying to influence the "weather vane" of public opinion through clever planning and mass false news. As for the news media, they are seen by the Falun Gong as a tool of interest, or a "doll" that can be manipulated at will.
Fake street ads in the United States
In order to influence and even control public opinion, Falun Gong media often artificially launch or create some public events for news hype.
Falun Gong members pose as Tsou in a parade in New York
The Falun Gong media is hoping to create the illusion that people all over the world support Falun Gong. Falun Gong members play the role of "Tsou", while the Falun Gong media is responsible for news speculation. After the incident, the Falun Gong media issued a false and cheap apology, but this does not mean that the Falun Gong can completely get rid of legal risks. In order to influence the "wind direction" of controlling public opinion, the fake news of Falun Gong media is bound to continue, and the cost and price must be paid.
A compliment or attack from a chameleon
It is surprising that the Falun Gong media, when creating false news, also has the characteristic of frequently changing its reporting position and even contradicting itself, like a "chameleon". They will determine the "wind direction" of the story according to their interests. As a result, the Falun Gong media can make wild praise or fierce attacks on the same figure, even US President Donald Trump has not escaped such "benefits".
Facebook AD archive statistics (part)
For the same target, Falun Gong media reports can show the complete opposite "wind direction" at different time. Ironically, the chameleon has no credibility at all, but it's registered on Facebook as “Honest Newspaper”. For any news report that is linked to interests, the Falun Gong media can make a U-turn at any time, which can be described as a chameleon interested in politics. As for whether a person is a swan or a monster and should go to heaven or hell, it depends on the interest or will of Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong media.
Three secrets of the doll's house
The Falun Gong has no intention of adhering to the ethics of the news media. What they really care about are their interests. This involves three little-known "secrets" of the Falun Gong media's "doll's house" :
First, some scholars found that the motive of Falun Gong's media was to control public opinion.
In an October 2008 interview with RADIO－CANADA, David Ownby, a professor at the University of Montreal, said the Falun Gong cult was trying to "bypass journalists and the media and go directly to the public."
David Ownby
In 2010, Rick Alan Ross, the founder and executive chairman of the Ross Institute in New Jersey and a leading expert on religious studies, also pointed out that Falun Gong's aim in establishing cult-like media like the epoch times and the New Tang TV station was to "control the sources of information." In other words, the essence of Falun Gong media is just an "advertising company" run by a cult.
Rick Alan Ross
Second, the Falun Gong media insiders exposed the "secret rules".
On October 31, 2019, Ben Hurley, a former Falun Gong media journalist in Australia, revealed via the blog "We Media" (Medium.com) that the epoch times had made a secret "editing rule" at the beginning of its establishment. For public figures who sympathize with or support Falun Gong, "They will report them in a positive way and avoid negative coverage even if they are involved in a scandal." By contrast, for those who oppose the Falun Gong cult, "The language of the report is particularly neutral. If it is a news story, they will edit the original text to remove the positive content and leave only neutral or negative content." That is to say, whether the news reports are true or not is out of the consideration of the Falun Gong media.
Third, the Falun Gong media's bottomless falsification has its "theoretical" roots.
In 2005, Li Hongzhi said in a speech inside the Falun Gong cult: "The reputation of the media has nothing to do with it. The media is the media and it is not a truth." His subtext is that "The Falun Gong media reports do not need to be objective, impartial, or follow the truth. As long as it is in the interests of the Falun Gong, the Falun Gong media can report whatever they like." This is the root of the Falun Gong media's arbitrary fabrication of fake news.
The media, in the Falun Gong's eyes, is like a "doll" for self-performance and profit. All the behaviors of the Falun Gong media are based on their own needs to decide how to plan fake news to control public opinion. Therefore, there is no bottom line for the Falun Gong media to fabricate false news, nor will there be any restriction of professional ethics.