(Clearwisdom.net)
At noon on December 21, 2001, around 40 Falun Gong practitioners from New York City held a press conference in front of the offices of China Press newspaper on 40th Street in Manhattan. Practitioners expressed their serious concern that China Press had published many articles regarding the "Fu Yibin Murder Case" echoing the false propaganda of Jiang Zemin's regime. These stories were contrived and broadcast worldwide by China's state-controlled media with the intent to defame Falun Gong.
Practitioners presented an open letter to China Press, insisting it stop slandering Falun Gong.
The letter stated that about one year ago, China Press propagated the falsehoods of the ugly "Tiananmen Immolation" incident staged by Jiang Zemin and his followers. Such articles incited hatred and caused disputes to arise within New York's Chinese community. A few Chinese deceived by such articles openly harassed Falun Gong practitioners, disrupting practice sites and various public activities. Practitioners' safety was threatened such that the local authorities felt the need to respond with police to protect them.
The open letter pointed out that the slanderous articles further poisoned overseas Chinese, already blinded to the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong. They fanned the flames of hatred, endangering Falun Gong practitioners and the peace in Chinese American communities. The articles attacked the freedom to cultivate Falun Gong, legally registered and freely practiced in the US. Accordingly, practitioners made the following requests to China Press:
1. Immediately stop publishing slanderous articles against Falun Dafa and its founder Mr. Li Hongzhi. Provide guarantees not to publish any future articles of this nature.
2. Provide newspaper space to allow practitioners to clarify the true facts of Falun Gong, in order to undo the harm done among overseas Chinese.
During the press conference, practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts many times and handed out Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials to passersby.
One representative from China Press accepted the open letter, saying that he would forward it together with the practitioners' requests to the appropriate parties.
The "Fu Yibin Murder Case" was fabricated by the Chinese state-controlled media for the purpose of slandering Falun Gong. It was reported on CCTV (Chinese National Central TV Station), the New York based media China Press, Ming Pao Daily News, and Sino-Vision(TV), all of which are controlled by the Chinese government to various degrees. All have caused a very bad effect among New York Chinese.
Although the Chinese media continues to harm the reputation of Falun Gong practitioners, the practitioners remain compassionate toward the editors. They explained to them the universal principle whereby good deeds bring good returns while evil is met with evil. The practitioners hoped for the editors' positive response and for as many Chinese people as possible to hold good thoughts in their hearts toward Falun Dafa.
In the past, practitioners have communicated with China Press and Ming Pao Daily News editors many times, using phone calls and face to face interviews to clarify the truth about Falun Gong, to ask them to apologize for their errors, to redeem Falun Gong practitioners' reputations and to ask the editors to publish truthful articles about Falun Gong. In response, Ming Pao Daily News published two articles from practitioners to clarify the truth.
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| Practitioner speaks in front of the China Press building | ||
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| China Press representative accepts the letter from practitioners | Curious passers-by | |
