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The Real Story of Shen Yun
What About the New York Times?
4 Key Concerns About Its Reporting on Shen Yun, Falun Gong
What About the New York Times?
4 Key Concerns
About Its Reporting on
Shen Yun, Falun Gong
The New York Times recently unleashed a barrage of attacks on Shen Yun—an American dance company established by Chinese artists whose faith is persecuted in China.
These articles are replete with inaccuracies. They falsely depict Falun Gong practitioners as hoodwinked zealots and portray Shen Yun as an abusive environment that treats performers as “expendable” while others benefit financially.
The paper’s portrayals are unrecognizable not only to current and former Shen Yun performers and most Falun Gong practitioners, but also to doctors, lawyers, and China specialists closely familiar with these communities. The timing and content of these reports raise some very serious questions.
Unmatched Dedication of Time & Resources
For the past 25 years, the Buddhist based spiritual practice called Falun Gong has faced rampant detention, torture, and killing in China. But the New York Times has remained largely silent and has never dedicated this much time, resources, or print space to the Falun Gong topic. Yet for these recent reports, the paper deployed two full-time reporters to investigate and conduct interviews with people all over the world for over a year, publishing ten articles in the span of a few months that are completely hostile towards the religious group.
Cherry-picked Interviewees, Hidden Conflicts of Interest
The articles rely heavily on a small, unrepresentative sample of disgruntled former performers whose comments are used to cast wide-ranging accusations. The reporting draws almost entirely on the accounts of seven individuals out of over 1,000 current and former Shen Yun performers. Moreover, the paper doesn’t disclose to readers their key interviewees’ ties to the Chinese regime. At least three of the six former Shen Yun performers photographed and featured in an August 2024 article, for example, have ties to the CCP-run Beijing Dance Academy and have raveled to China to work with the institute. Several also have links to a Beijing-backed YouTuber who has threatened violence against Shen Yun. The Times’ omission of such obvious conflicts of interest reflects a serious breach of journalistic ethics.
Deliberately Dark Narrative, Blatant Religious Bias
Email records indicate journalists explicitly pursued negative stories. They omitted lengthy communications with former Shen Yun performers that contradicted their shadowy narrative. The thousands of performers, family, and supporting staff with positive experiences were not given a voice. Doctors who have treated Shen Yun performers and other Falun Gong practitioners and can attest to the quality of treatment received were not interviewed. Meanwhile, the Times sensationalized Falun Gong beliefs that are common among many religious traditions and depicted common Asian cultural practices (like bowing to one’s teacher) in biased and demeaning ways.
Timing & Substance: Eerily Helping Beijing’s Endgame
This barrage of articles comes amidst a new, insidious campaign by the CCP to eliminate Falun Gong and Shen Yun globally. Leaked documents from top CCP meetings set forth the following methods and goals: Use China-friendly scholars and journalists to be the voice for the CCP, use disinformation and lawfare as key strategies to prompt investigations by U.S. agencies, and turn American society against Falun Gong and Shen Yun.
The New York Times reporting, as selective and biased as it is, triggers the spread of misinformation in American media and around the world while adding weight to lawfare efforts, eerily matching the CCP’s plan…
So why is the New York Times doing this? Why is the so-called ‘paper of record’ suddenly focused on Shen Yun amidst a global push by the Chinese regime to destroy the company, and “eliminate Falun Gong globally?”
The New York Times'
History
of Covering Falun Gong
The New York Times' History of Covering Falun Gong
1999 — Persecution of Falun Gong Begins
Echoing CCP Propaganda
when Framing Falun Gong Story
The Times’ coverage has favored Chinese government sources when reporting on the brutal campaign against Falun Gong in China. The paper has uncritically repeated and seemingly internalized key aspects of the regime’s propaganda, and this has persisted even when the claims contradicted the Times’ own early reporting and emerging research by human rights groups.
Disturbing Meeting with Architect of Falun Gong Persecution
While the persecution raged across China and other media outlets were publishing groundbreaking articles exposing the widespread detention, torture, and killing of Falun Gong practitioners, the Times’ publisher traveled to Beijing to meet with the then-leader of the CCP (who started the campaign against Falun Gong) in an apparent attempt to broker business deals.
2001 – Height of Persecution
Deafening Silence on
Persecution of Falun Gong
For the past 20 years, the Times has been exceptionally silent on atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners and has published no news story focused on rights abuses facing Falun Gong practitioners in China since 2016, even as these violations continue on a large scale. The paper has also ignored major reports by human rights groups.
2003 …
2006 • Organ Harvesting Investigations Begin
Burying Reports on
Forced Organ Harvesting
For almost two decades, the paper ignored credible reports on the widespread killing of Falun Gong detainees to forcibly harvest their organs, including the conclusions of the 2019 London China Tribunal, which was widely covered by other media outlets. At least one former Times journalist reported being barred by Times editors from pursuing a story about forced organ harvesting.
On a War Path,
Aligned with the CCP
Originating at the highest levels of the Chinese government, a mandate was given to the Ministries of Public Security and State Security in 2022 to utilize lawfare and disinformation to “eliminate Falun Gong globally.” The plan called for utilizing social media influencers to bait Western media outlets. Shortly after, the Times launched an unprecedented, multi-year “investigation” into Shen Yun and Falun Gong.
2023–Today
BY THE WAY
What’s Wrong with The Times?
In a scathing resignation letter, former Times editor Bari Weiss argues that the Times twists facts to fit ideological narratives: “The paper of record is, more and more, the record of those living in a distant galaxy, one whose concerns are profoundly removed from the lives of most people.” She also argued that the Times skips rigorous fact-checking to avoid ideological conflict: “Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher…?”
1999 – Persecution of Falun Gong Begins
Echoing CCP Propaganda
when Framing Falun Gong Story
The Times’ coverage has favored Chinese government sources when reporting on the brutal campaign against Falun Gong in China. The paper has uncritically repeated and seemingly internalized key aspects of the regime’s propaganda, and this has persisted even when the claims contradicted the Times’ own early reporting and emerging research by human rights groups.
2001 – Height of Persecution
Disturbing Meeting with Architect of Falun Gong Persecution
While the persecution raged across China and other media outlets were publishing groundbreaking articles exposing the widespread detention, torture, and killing of Falun Gong practitioners, the Times’ publisher traveled to Beijing to meet with the then-leader of the CCP (who started the campaign against Falun Gong) in an apparent attempt to broker business deals.
2003 …
For the past 20 years, the Times has been exceptionally silent on atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners and has published no news story focused on rights abuses facing Falun Gong practitioners in China since 2016, even as these violations continue on a large scale. The paper has also ignored major reports by human rights groups.
2006 – Investigation of Organ Harvesting Begins
Burying Reports on
Forced Organ Harvesting
For almost two decades, the paper ignored credible reports on the widespread killing of Falun Gong detainees to forcibly harvest their organs, including the conclusions of the 2019 London China Tribunal, which was widely covered by other media outlets. At least one former Times journalist reported being barred by Times editors from pursuing a story about forced organ harvesting.
2023 – Today
On a War Path,
Aligned with the CCP
Originating at the highest levels of the Chinese government, a mandate was given to the Ministries of Public Security and State Security in 2022 to utilize lawfare and disinformation to “eliminate Falun Gong globally.” The plan called for utilizing social media influencers to bait Western media outlets. Shortly after, the Times launched an unprecedented, multi-year “investigation” into Shen Yun and Falun Gong.
BY THE WAY
What’s Wrong with
The Times?
In a scathing resignation letter, former Times editor Bari Weiss argues that the Times twists facts to fit ideological narratives: “The paper of record is, more and more, the record of those living in a distant galaxy, one whose concerns are profoundly removed from the lives of most people.” She also argued that the Times skips rigorous fact-checking to avoid ideological conflict: “Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher…?”
