Dissecting An Unfair and Unbalanced Report
The starting point for this piece is at Breaking Through The Internet Blocking In Mainland China. In that essay, Jiao Guobiao praised the FLG media for "saying bad things about the Communist Party" so as to balance out the "good things about the Communist Party" being said by mainland Chinese media.
Great?
This is not the way that I personally look at it. On one hand, I don't like it when I am told that nobody ever goes to jail in China for exercising speech rights in China. On the other hand, I don't like it when I am told that there are 6,000 FLG followers locked away in a Shenyang military hospital ready to have their body organs taken out for sale. The average of these two pictures does not give me a fair and balanced picture of China.
However, the purpose here is not to figure out a mathematical formula to balance out the "good things" and "bad things" to come up with the perfectly neutral and objective truth. That would have been a fool's task.
Rather I want to explore the imbalance in news criticisms. On one hand, it seems that the "good news" from mainland Chinese media are scrutinized carefully and criticized to death by people inside and outside mainland China. On the other hand, it seems that the "bad news" from FLG media are often just ignored or uncommented upon by others (that is, I am ignoring here what goes on within the FLG media themselves).
Why? There are probably two types of people out there. The first type of people are those who believe that the FLG media are irredeemably mendacious and there is no point in wasting another precious moment of their lives thinking about them anymore. The second type of people are those who are wary of the FLG media but regard them as allies in the fight for freedom and democracy in China. Until the moment of liberation arrives, one does not criticize one's allies.
So here, I am going to do a dissecting exercise about what a FLG "negative report" looks like. I began by trying to read up on the background of the incident at the White House front lawn (Hu Jintao At The White House) when FLG follower Wang Wenyi was shouting about the body organ thefts taking place at the Shenyang military hospital. That was big news everywhere, but I wondered how many people actually pursued that story to any depth. So I googled the news item and I was brought to this DJY/ET page titled Military Doctor Reveals Process of CCP's Organ Harvesting from FLG Practitioners (May 1, 2006) attributed to the anonymous doctor at the Shenyang military hospital. Here are the paragraphs of interest:
3. Why such a Big Discrepancy between Publicly Announced Figures and Reality?
Many people pay a lot of attention to the transplant statistics announced by the government. Actually, "underground" organ transplants are many times that of the number publicized by the government. For example, if the government says that there are 30,000 cases a year, then the real number is about 110,000. There is an abundance of organ sources, and this is another reason why the prices for organ transplants have decreased. Many hospitals under the jurisdiction of the military, while reporting some transplants to the central government and the public, are actually conducting a large number of organ transplants in secret. The real number is much higher than government statistics. As I said before, in the eyes of these people [who are doing the operations], the people whose organs are being removed are no longer regarded as human, but animals. When doing it for the first or second time, some of them feel shaky and nervous. But after thousands of operations, everything is changed. They become numb about extracting organs from live people and cremating live people.
Since 2000, more than 85% of the world's live organ transplants have been done in China. This number is from a document within the Military Commission. A few people were promoted to generals for the "accomplishments" in this area.
At the bottom of that page, one can click to read the original article in Chinese. Here are the original paragraphs of interest.
A comparison of the Chinese- and English-language versions shows that the English translation has omitted a section. In the following, I have translated the missing section and put it in bold red.
3. Why such a Big Discrepancy between Publicly Announced Figures and Reality?
Many people pay a lot of attention to the transplant statistics announced by the government. Actually, "underground" organ transplants are many times that of the number publicized by the government. For example, if the government says that there are 30,000 cases a year, then the real number is about 110,000. There is an abundance of organ sources, and this is another reason why the prices for organ transplants have decreased. Many hospitals under the jurisdiction of the military, while reporting some transplants to the central government and the public, are actually conducting a large number of organ transplants in secret. The real number is much higher than government statistics. As I said before, in the eyes of these people [who are doing the operations], the people whose organs are being removed are no longer regarded as human, but animals. When doing it for the first or second time, some of them feel shaky and nervous. But after thousands of operations, everything is changed. They become numb about extracting organs from live people and cremating live people.Everybody knows that China exports many products, but among the export products of China, there is also a large exporting of live bodies. The so-called exporting of live bodies comes about when overseas forces take the people who fit the requirements and sell them overseas like merchandise. The organ transplants takes place overseas. Afterwards, the bodies of the donors are destroyed in the same way (note: China has overseas organizations which specialize in handling the corpses of the live organ donors, and many overseas Chinese embassies participate in this). Within the category of exports related to human bodies, China leads the world in total value. All of these exported live bodies have faked documents indicating consent. The details of the process are not know. It is known that about 1,000 bodies were exported in year 2005.
China has formed a huge organ trading network with the world and China is the center of the international organ trade. Since 2000, more than 85% of the world's live organ transplants have been done in China. This number is from a document within the Military Commission. A few people were promoted to generals for the "accomplishments" in this area.
Wow! Live Chinese persons are being exported overseas for transplant operations and their bodies are then disposed of by special squads inside the Chinese embassies! That missing paragraph would have been sensational news all over the world. Unfortunately, it is so sensational that the English-reading world is unlikely to believe that such a global operation exists without ever being detected (as in, Do you think the FBI does not have spies inside the Chinese embassy or otherwise not conduct surveillance on the embassy staff?), so it is best to hide it in order to protect the credibility of the anonymous Shenyang military doctor. Meanwhile, according to Jiao Guobiao, it is important for the people in mainland China to receive these types of "bad news" in order to balance things out.
I belong to the first type of people who no longer want to waste a moment in life scrutinizing FLG news reports. The target of this essay is really about the second type of people who apparently know about this but choose to either ignore or rationalize it for strategic reasons. The problem with this approach is that nobody respects or trusts you anymore.
16 April 2006
U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alleged Concentration Camp in China
Repression of Falun Gong, reports of organ harvesting still worry officials
U.S. representatives have found no evidence to support allegations that a site in northeast China has been used as a concentration camp to jail Falun Gong practitioners and harvest their organs, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Officers and staff from the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site on two separate occasions, the State Department said in a written response to a question taken at the April 14 daily press briefing.
"In these visits the officers were allowed to tour the entire facility and grounds and found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital," the response said.
Independent of these specific allegations, the United States remains concerned over China’s repression of Falun Gong practitioners and by reports of organ harvesting, the State Department said. The United States has raised both issues in its discussions with the Chinese government and in its annual report on human rights practices around the world. (See related article.)
According to the State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2005, Falun Gong blends aspects of Taoism, Buddhism and the meditation techniques and physical exercises of qigong -- a traditional Chinese exercise discipline -- with the teachings of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi. Despite the spiritual content of some of Li's teachings, Falun Gong does not consider itself a religion and has no clergy or places of worship.Following is the State Department response to the taken question:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
April 14, 2006
Taken Question from 04-14-06 Daily Press Briefing
China: Reports of Concentration Camp in Northeast China
Question: What information can you provide regarding a reported concentration camp in China where Falun Gong practitioners were jailed and their organs harvested?
Answer: We are aware of the allegations and have taken these charges seriously. The Department and our Embassy in Beijing, as well as our Consulate General in Shenyang, have actively sought to determine the facts of the matter. Officers and staff from our Embassy in Beijing and Consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site mentioned in these reports on two separate occasions. In these visits the officers were allowed to tour the entire facility and grounds and found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital.
We have raised these reports with the Chinese government and urged it to investigate these allegations. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson has publicly denied there is any basis for the allegations.
Independent of these specific allegations, we remain concerned over China’s repression of Falun Gong practitioners. We are also concerned by reports of organ harvesting. We have raised these concerns both in our annual Human Rights Report and in discussions with the Chinese government, both in Washington and in Beijing.
