POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2020
The
Power of Falun Gong
30
mins 37 secs
©2020
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
GPO
Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
They’re
a familiar sight in suburban parks around the world - people from seemingly
all walks of life exercising and meditating according to the teachings of
Falun Gong. Founded
in China in the 1990s, the group’s practice aims to heal body and mind and
has attracted millions of followers. The
movement first gained global attention when its members became the target of
ruthless persecution by the Chinese Communist Party, triggering widespread
sympathy and support in the West. The
Falun Gong’s creed is Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, but former
practitioners now speaking out are accusing it of practising dangerous and
divisive teachings. This
joint ABC Foreign
Correspondent-Background Briefing investigation shines a
spotlight on this global movement, revealing how Falun Gong has morphed from
a fringe quasi-religious group into a powerful player in America’s conservative
media landscape, working to ensure another term for Trump so he can continue
his war of words with China. Background
Briefing’s podcast series also
investigates the movement’s Australian operations, uncovering powerful
political collaborators closer to home. From
Australia, to Taiwan, to Los Angeles and the movement’s “Dragon Springs”
headquarters in upstate New York, Foreign
Correspondent’s Eric Campbell and Background Briefing’s Hagar
Cohen explore the opaque world of the Falun Gong and its mysterious leader
Master Li Hongzhi. This
investigation reveals how the group has harnessed social media, spending
millions through made-up groups and fake identities to promote Donald Trump
and his anti-Beijing policies. “This
is a matter of cosmic importance to them that Trump gets re-elected”, says one member of nearly ten years, who has now left
the Falun Gong. Another
former insider says the movement promotes intolerant teachings which are
racist and homophobic. “I’m
mixed race. I am quite possibly just homosexual. And those are the two kinds
of people that are purportedly causing the end of the world,” says ex-devotee Anna, now in her 20s and living on the
US west coast. As a
child, “Anna” was taken by her mother to Falun Gong’s US headquarters, ‘Dragon
Springs’, a sprawling but secretive 160-hectare compound in New York State. It was,
she says, a world of strange beliefs and intolerance. “The
leader of Falun Gong claims that race-mixing in humans is part of an alien
plot to drive humanity further from the gods.” Background
Briefing follows Sydney
resident Shani May as she tries to find out the truth about her mother’s
relationship with the Falun Gong. Following
the death of her famous jazz singer father Ricky May, her mother Colleen
sought solace with the group. Soon Colleen stopped taking her blood pressure
tablets, putting her faith in Falun Gong to cure her. Three years ago,
Colleen died, aged 75. “If it
wasn’t for Falun Gong, she’d still be with us”, declares Shani. Former
followers allege there’s a cult-like abhorrence of modern medicine that’s
claimed lives. “In
Falun Gong the teachings are, you don’t acknowledge illnesses”, says one ex-devotee. According
to Shani May, whose mother Colleen became so deeply involved with her beliefs
that she lost touch with family and friends, “They're manipulating and they do it slowly…And as time
goes on, you get further and further down the rabbit hole and they don't let
you come back out.” |
|
Aerial.
Sydney city park |
Music |
00:00 |
Falun
Gong practitioners exercising in park |
|
00:08 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: You see them in parks in
most big cities; people exercising and meditating to the teachings of Falun
Gong. Practitioners say it heals body and mind. Well, you've probably heard
of |
00:20 |
Campbell
to camera in park. Super: |
Falun Gong as a persecuted spiritual movement. And
it really is, the Chinese Communist Party has done terrible things to it. But
you probably haven't heard that Falun Gong has also become one of the most
determined backers of Donald Trump. |
00:39 |
Falun
Gong practitioners exercising in park |
In recent years it's morphed from being a fringe
quasi-religion to being a big player in America's conservative media
establishment. |
00:54 |
Campbell
to camera in park |
So what is going on at Falun Gong? |
01:04 |
Karishma driving, approaching gate |
In this joint investigation with ABC Radio's Background Briefing, we're taking you
around the world to find out. |
01:08 |
|
Karishma Vyas: "We just want to ask you if
Master Li is here?" |
01:16 |
Security
guard on phone |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In New York state we'll
visit the base of its reclusive leader, Master Li, |
01:23 |
Master
Li exercising |
a former government clerk who believes aliens walk
the Earth. BEN HURLEY: They see him |
01:28 |
Hurley
100% |
as a god, they see him as the creator of the
universe. |
01:34 |
Anna
standing on cliff edge |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We'll hear from a former
follower who blames him for ruining her life. |
01:37 |
Anna
100% |
ANNA: It tore
my family apart. |
01:44 |
Aerial.
Sydney. Falun Gong members exercising in park |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In Sydney, we'll meet a
woman who believes Falun Gong's aversion to modern medicine caused her
mother's death. SHANI MAY: If they get them in long enough,
they're gone. |
01:46 |
Shani
May 100% |
I didn't realise how far down the rabbit hole Mum
was. |
01:58 |
Epoch
Times Facebook advertisement |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: And we'll investigate how
media outlets set up by Falun Gong practitioners have spent millions to
bolster Donald Trump. Epoch Times advertisement: "Over the last two
and half years we've been reporting on the Trump administration honestly and
without any false narratives." |
02:01 |
Aerial.
New York state, Shawangunk Mountains.
Title: |
Music |
02:17 |
Driving
shots through mountains |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Two hours' drive from New
York City, ringed by the forests of the Shawangunk Mountains, is the
headquarters of Falun Gong. ANNA: You
have to go a little bit off road, up this gravelly path that's very steep,
and then you get to this beautiful lake area with hills around and these Tang
Dynasty temples. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: One former follower, who
wants to be known only as 'Anna', started coming here as a child after her
parents joined the movement. |
02:30 |
Anna
100% |
ANNA: It
wasn't like being in place of spiritual bliss for me. It was more like being
in a place of judgement, |
03:09 |
Aerials
over Dragon Springs |
because part of the practice is Master Li can read
everyone's mind at all times. I grew up |
03:17 |
Anna
100% |
with this notion that my thoughts were always
being monitored. |
03:25 |
Photo.
Anna as child at table |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: With a Chinese mother and
a European father, she soon learned she was different from the other
children. |
03:31 |
Anna
100% |
ANNA: The
leader of Falun Gong claims that race mixing in humans is part of an alien
plot to drive humanity further from the gods. |
03:39 |
Photo.
Anna as child |
My mother read that part of the texts to me when I
was about 11, which was a lot to take in. |
03:53 |
Anna
100% |
To hear that coming from not only the religion or
practice that you're believing in, but from your own mother, it was very
damaging. |
04:04 |
Archival.
Falun Gong members practicing Qigong |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Falun Gong, also known as
Falun Dafa, started in China in 1992. It was based on traditional meditation
and breathing exercises called Qigong. |
04:19 |
|
But its founder, Li Hongzhi, added a supernatural
layer. It would prepare people to return home to heavenly kingdoms where they
had once dwelled. It would even teach practitioners to levitate. |
04:34 |
|
By the end of the 1990s, he had tens of millions
of followers in China. |
04:54 |
Archival.
China. Arrest of Falun Gong members |
The communist leadership saw that as a threat to
its own grip on power and banned the movement. |
04:58 |
Archival.
Campbell re-education camp story excerpt. Super: |
I began covering Falun Gong almost 20 years ago,
when I was the ABC's China Correspondent. In my first week, I was among a
handful of journalists taken to a re-education camp for Falun Gong members.
Tens of thousands of practitioners had been locked up indefinitely to force
them to renounce the movement. |
05:06 |
|
CAMP COMMANDANT:
Once they are freed from Li Hongzhi's mental control, they take on a
new appearance and face life with a positive attitude. They are grateful to
the government. |
05:32 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Chinese Communist
Party had branded Falun Gong an evil cult, but it was behaving like a cult
itself, demanding robotic obedience. |
05:43 |
|
Women:
"Falun Gong is a cult"… "Falun Gong is a cult"…
"Falun Gong is a cult". |
05:55 |
Archival.
Li in park, USA |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Li Hongzhi had moved to
the United States five years earlier and was building Falun Gong into an
international movement. |
06:06 |
Archival.
Li, New York clip. Super: |
LI HONGZHI:
I only teach people to be good, to be free of disease and do
exercises, to reach higher moral standards. I make people's hearts better. |
06:19 |
Deerpark
GVs |
Music |
06:28 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Master Li set up a
retreat in Deerpark, a ring of rural hamlets in New York State. |
06:32 |
Grace
at home making coffee |
Grace Woodard's family has lived in the area for
generations. She says locals at first welcomed the new arrivals. |
06:41 |
Grace
100% |
GRACE WOODARD:
They had a public presentation with a diorama of the temples, and
rather beautifully done, of what was going to be built at Dragon Springs. |
06:53 |
Mailboxes |
People thought, this is interesting. |
07:06 |
Aerial.
Deerpark. |
Music |
07:10 |
Grace
driving to Dragon Springs |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: For two decades, the
Falun Gong complex has been steadily expanding, even building a school and a
dance and music college. |
07:17 |
|
GRACE WOODARD:
This is all theirs off to the right. |
07:27 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Outside the complex,
practitioners have been buying up houses and land. GRACE WOODARD:
And this whole area they wanted to put their shopping mall in. All
along here. |
07:30 |
Grace
pulls up and greets Frank |
Grace:
"Hey Frank!" Frank: "Hey Grace, how are you." Grace:
"Pretty good." ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Grace and her friend
Frank Ketcham are in a residents' action group called Deerpark Rural
Alliance, set up in opposition to Dragon Springs' expansion. |
07:50 |
Grace
and Frank, driving through forest |
Music |
08:08 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: They regularly trek
through the State forest to try to work out what's going on in the compound. |
08:13 |
Frank
and Grace walk forest |
Frank:
"It's going to be quite a hike for you Grace." Grace:
"It would be great if I'd had both my hips done but I
haven't." |
08:21 |
|
Frank: "If the bear comes, all I got to do is
run faster than you." |
08:31 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: As they near the lookout,
they pass a surveillance camera. |
08:38 |
Surveillance
camera in tree |
Grace:
"Is it a camera?" Frank:
"Yeah." Grace: "Well hello, the local communists are
here." |
08:44 |
View
of Dragon Springs from Frank's property |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Frank's property overlooks
Dragon Springs and he's been documenting the building works. |
08:52 |
Frank
in forest |
FRANK KETCHAM: It just got out of control when
they started building the schools. |
09:00 |
Photos
of buildings at Dragon Springs |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Their Alliance has
accused Falun Gong of violating environmental and building codes. |
09:04 |
Frank
in forest overlooking Dragon Springs buildings |
FRANK KETCHAM:
An eight-storey building that was never approved and doesn't have fire
protection. |
09:11 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Falun Gong in turn has
sued the local authority. |
09:14 |
|
FRANK KETCHAM:
You know, their concern is all the time that all they're doing is
trying to save people in China from being persecuted – no matter what they do
here is all for the people in China that are being persecuted. And I don't
see that as a reason to ignore local building codes, local laws and
environmental laws, that are made to protect the people in those buildings
and protect the environment. |
09:19 |
Grace
in forest |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: One of their concerns is
that Dragon Springs won´t let them inside to see what they're building. GRACE WOODARD:
There's no transparency. They're doing their own thing. |
09:51 |
Grace
100% |
It's like the Forbidden City, only certain people
can go in. |
10:02 |
Karishma
approaches Dragon Springs compound |
KARISHMA VYAS:
It looks like this is the entrance right here. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We sent our New York
producer Karishma Vyas to visit the Dragon Springs compound. Karishma: "Hello, good morning sir. |
10:14 |
|
We just want to ask you if Master Li is here. We
are looking for an interview with Master Li. Is he available?" |
10:30 |
|
Guard:
"Master Li doesn't live here." Karishma: "Okay. He doesn't live here. Is the spokesperson, Mr Jonathan Lee,
available? ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Jonathan Lee is the Vice
President of Dragon Springs. Guard:
"Let me make a call." Karishma:
"Okay, thank you." |
10:42 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS:
Looks like the security guards really don't know what to do with us. |
11:04 |
Police
car arrives |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: As they waited, security
called the local police. Karishma: "There's a police car… Hi. Good
morning. I didn't realise you'd been called for us but am happy to explain
what we're doing." |
11:08 |
Town
GVs |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Jonathan Lee agreed to be
interviewed in a nearby town at a store owned by a practitioner. |
11:28 |
Karishma
and Lee enter store |
Karishma: "Shall I go in?" ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He says the high security
is to stop the Chinese embassy infiltrating. |
11:40 |
Lee
100% |
JONATHAN LEE:
We have seen embassy cars that's roaming around in the early days when
we started. We see embassy cars. We block them and then called the police.
But now they are smarter. They are always having people in and out. |
11:50 |
View
of Dragon Springs from forest |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He says Dragon Springs follows all planning
and environmental rules and provides a haven for refugees from China. JONATHAN LEE:
It's all ordinary people who practice Falun Gong, they want to have a
sanctuary, especially people |
12:07 |
Lee
100% |
who was persecuted, and the kids - their parents
has died. |
12:23 |
View
of Dragon Springs from forest |
Music |
12:27 |
Anna
walks and sits looking out over cliffs |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Anna is now 25. For her,
Dragon Springs was never a sanctuary. Looking back, she says her mother
became more distant the more time she spent with Falun Gong. |
12:35 |
|
ANNA: Part
of the whole premise of the practice is getting rid of your human attachments
in order to attain salvation. I think |
12:50 |
Anna
100% |
a lot of parents in the practice sort of conflate
human attachment with just a basic parental love. |
12:56 |
Ocean
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Her mother´s dream was
for Anna to become a |
13:06 |
Shun
Yen dancers training |
Shen Yun dancer. This is a professional troupe
based in the compound and promoted heavily on Falun Gong´s social media. |
13:09 |
Shen Yun promotional video: |
Shen Yun promotional video: "This season take
an incredible journey through 5,000 years of culture, with Shen Yun…" ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Before COVID, it toured
the world constantly, raising the movement's global profile. ANNA: She thought that it would, it was the
highest honour and that it would guarantee me getting into heaven
essentially. But I was |
13:18 |
Anna
100% |
not a very good dancer. I wasn't every interested
in dancing to begin with. |
13:43 |
Anna
knitting |
There was one day where the ballet teacher came up
to me and she placed me in front of the mirror. She lifted up my shirt, |
13:50 |
Anna
100% |
grabbed my stomach, shook it, and then turned to
the other kids in the class - there were several of them - and said, "Do
you see this, everyone, this is an example of how a woman should not
look." |
14:01 |
Anna
knitting |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: At the age of 13, she was
hospitalised with severe anorexia. She says her mother rejected the
hospital's treatment plan. |
14:19 |
Anna
100% |
ANNA: They
wanted to include medication. And she refused, because Falun Gong has a
principle where you're absolutely not allowed to have any kind of medical
treatment. It means you're a bad practitioner. It means you do not fully
trust Master Li. |
14:32 |
View
of Dragon Springs |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Anna remembers the last
time she went to Dragon Springs. She says her mother brought her to Master Li
to exorcise her demons. ANNA: So it was very hot, very humid. And I
remember waiting in that room and they said, okay, Master is coming. |
14:51 |
Anna
100% |
He looked right into my eyes and just started
waving his hands around my head and chanting something. And then, I remember
looking into his eyes and thinking you are just another regular pathetic man.
|
15:14 |
Driving
shots |
On the way back, driving south, my mother said to
me 'Now you're all better. You're normal now. Now I love you.' I looked out
the window the whole time and I just - it was like seeing everything about
the practice just crumble before my eyes. I could not believe it anymore. |
15:39 |
Sydney
aerial |
Music |
16:12 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Sixteen thousand
kilometres away, in Sydney Australia, another family feels torn apart by
Falun Gong. |
16:16 |
Shani
at home playing with Ellery |
Shani May watched her mother Colleen drift away
from them after joining the movement. She had to pressure Colleen to visit
her grandson Ellery in hospital after he developed a tumour. SHANI MAY:
I always thought of grandmas |
16:25 |
Shani
100% |
as being at hospital and being there for you all
the time. And the old Mum would have been there straightaway. |
16:42 |
Ellery
in hospital |
So she arrived. He was in bed, he wasn't really
well. She stayed for an hour, |
16:48 |
Shani
100% |
although the whole hour, she kept looking at her
watch and I kept saying stop looking at your watch and just be here with us.
But her mind was somewhere else. |
16:54 |
Shani
and Eric watch performance footage of Ricky May |
|
17:05 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Shani's father was the
famous jazz singer Ricky May. |
17:10 |
May
family photos |
They had grown up a tight knit family. Colleen was
a glamorous dancer. They travelled the world together until Ricky died of
heart attack in 1988. |
17:17 |
Performance
footage of Ricky May |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Years later, Colleen
found solace in Falun Gong. |
17:31 |
Falun
Gong practitioners in park |
SHANI MAY:
She saw them in the park that she passed one day and she came home and
she said I've met these lovely people in the park, and they do meditation
once a week and I'm going to go down and do that with them. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: What seemed to be
harmless soon took over her life as she became obsessed with studying Master
Li's teachings |
17:38 |
Photo.
Colleen at protest |
and organising protests against the Chinese
government. |
17:56 |
Shani
100% |
SHANI MAY:
As time grew on, there was something to do every day of the week. And
then it was a couple of nights a week, |
18:00 |
Photo.
Colleen, Falun Gong event |
then it was weekends. So it really took over. |
18:06 |
Shani
and Eric look at Colleen's diaries |
"It's amazing – she put everything in
diaries." |
18:11 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Shani's frustration
turned to despair when Colleen fell ill but refused to see doctors or take
medicine. |
18:14 |
|
SHANI MAY:
I tell her, you're not well you have to go see a doctor and she kind
of brushes it off as I've just got a sore throat. Yet she knew she wasn't
well – 'Body aching, coughing, throat sore.' ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Colleen wrote in her
diaries that she would cleanse and meditate. |
18:22 |
|
SHANI MAY:
She'd literally just drink water. 'First day up, for a while since
Sunday. Four days in bed. Have had a huge cleanse.' |
18:38 |
Shani
100% |
She was put on medication for high blood pressure
and when she joined Falun Gong slowly she started not taking medication. As
in, if she had a headache she wouldn't take Panadol, she'd go do exercises, |
18:47 |
Falun
Gong members exercising in park |
if she had a sore leg or a sore back then she'd
lie down. And because of that, then she decided that she didn't need the
blood pressure tablets. |
19:03 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Jonathan Lee denies Falun
Gong tells people to avoid hospitals or to stop taking medicine. JONATHAN LEE:
I haven't been to a doctor for 10 years. |
19:13 |
Lee
100% |
My health has changed quite a bit. If I have a
fall or something, maybe I'll go to the hospital. It's nothing preventing me
from going to a hospital, but in the meantime because of Falun Gong, I don't
need to go to a hospital. |
19:24 |
Falun
Gong members exercising |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He insists Falun Gong is a force for good,
devoted to the three principles of truth, compassion and forbearance. JONATHAN LEE:
Don't tell lies. Always tell the truth. Whatever you perceive to be
truth, |
19:39 |
Lee
100% |
Shan is compassionate. You treat people
compassionately, you treat people nicely, because Falun Gong believe that
reincarnation, there is always somebody watching you, so compassionately
treating this world. |
19:56 |
Beach
scene. Taiwan |
Music |
20:14 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In Taiwan, we hear a
different story. |
20:20 |
Ben
walks to beach |
Ben Hurley was a Falun Gong practitioner for 12
years. He's now left the movement and works there as a freelance business
journalist. He says he was attracted to Falun Gong during a difficult period
in his youth. Contrary to Jonathan Lee, he claims Falun Gong does discourage
people from taking medicine. |
20:26 |
Ben
skype interview |
BEN HURLEY:
In Falun Gong the teachings are, you don't acknowledge illnesses.
There's plausible deniability because Li has a range of teachings in their
way that says if you're sick go to the hospital but then there are always
parts of a disclaimer sort of a way, and the thrust of the teaching is that
Master Li can cure all of your illnesses and you just have to believe in him. |
20:47 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So people are dying
because of Master Li? |
21:12 |
|
BEN HURLEY:
Absolutely. They are dying because of the teachings of Master Li, they
are dying because of his dangerous teachings and because of their belief,
their belief to the point of being willing to die for those teachings. |
21:16 |
Ben
walking on beach with dog |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Ben Hurley knew Colleen
May as a fellow practitioner in Sydney. He witnessed people telling her not
to get medical treatment. |
21:32 |
Ben
skype interview |
BEN HURLEY:
It definitely was a group of people just encouraging her just to
strengthen her belief and she'd be able to get through this. |
21:41 |
Photos.
Colleen in hospital |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Three years ago, at the
age of 75, Colleen died from strokes and seizures caused by high blood
pressure. |
21:50 |
Photo.
Younger Colleen |
SHANI MAY:
If it wasn't for Falun Gong, she'd still be with us. It would have
taken two tablets a day |
22:02 |
Shani
100% |
and she'd still be with us, 'til, I believe in her
90s, easily. |
22:09 |
Colleen
and Ricky May's grave |
She was healthy. I would always joke to people
saying that Mum's going to outlive me. |
22:14 |
Falun
Gong demonstration in Sydney |
|
22:19 |
Lucy
making speech at demonstration |
Lucy:
"21 years ago, July 20th, 1999, Chinese Communist Party start the
persecution of Falun Gong in China…" |
22:26 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Lucy Zhao is president of
the Falun Dafa Association of Australia. I asked her if she felt any
responsibility for Colleen May's death. |
22:34 |
Lucy
100% |
LUCY ZHAO:
Colleen actually is a good friend of mine. I feel very sad for her
family. Her health improved after she practiced Falun Gong. So whether she
actually continued to take medication or not is her personal choice.
Personally, I didn't tell her or pressure her not to take medicine. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Some people did.
According to people we've spoken to, they said do not take medicine, put your
trust in Master Li and the teachings. |
22:44 |
|
LUCY ZHAO:
That's probably the personal interpretation of those practitioners
close to her. But personally I didn't. |
23:13 |
Falun
Gong protest |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Falun Gong is no longer
just a spiritual movement. |
23:24 |
Manhattan
GVs |
Manhattan is the headquarters of a growing media
empire aligned to Falun Gong. Called Epoch Media Group, |
23:32 |
Epoch
Times street hoarding |
it runs the conservative newspaper chain, the
Epoch Times |
23:42 |
American
Thought Leaders excerpt |
which has now expanded into a popular online news
channel. Epoch Times Interviewer: “So we are here at Trump Tower in New York
City with Lara Trump." Lara Trump:
"Yes. Hello." Epoch Times Interviewer: “Wonderful to have you on
American Thought Leaders." Lara Trump:
“Thank you, I am excited to be here." |
23:46 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Jonathan Lee says many practitioners
support Trump's hard-line stance on China. JONATHAN LEE:
Because Trump is very hard on China |
24:01 |
Lee
100% |
in terms of Falun Gong persecution. They think
Trump is a hope for us to eventually be able to survive in China. |
24:09 |
Ben
skype interview |
BEN HURLEY:
This is a matter of cosmic importance for them that I think Trump gets
re-elected. |
24:21 |
Epoch News excerpt |
Epoch News newsreader: "Thanks for tuning into the Epoch News
folks. I'm Angela Anderson." |
24:26 |
Ben
watching Epoch News on laptop |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: That support is reflected
in The Epoch Times' coverage of the Trump presidency. |
24:29 |
Epoch News excerpt |
Epoch News newsreader: "The economy is growing at a rate
deemed impossible under the Obama administration." ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Epoch Times insists
it is neither owned nor operated by Falun Gong. But Ben Hurley, who worked on
the Australian edition, believes they're one and the same. BEN HURLEY:
It's a bald-faced lie. |
24:34 |
Ben
skype interview |
It is a Falun Gong newspaper. Everyone that works
there is a Falun Gong practitioner, they have a few people, a few token
non-Falun Gong practitioners they get in, that they point to every time, but
those people are outside the fortress. They're not a part of the
organisation. |
24:54 |
Ben
watching Epoch News on laptop |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He thinks Master Li has
directed the group's media to go all out for Trump. BEN HURLEY:
Seeing Trump's |
25:09 |
Ben
skype interview |
aggressive stance with China and his openness to
socially conservative beliefs which Li shares, he has just decided to push
the button and get the whole movement on board with Trump. |
25:15 |
Epoch
Times Facebook pages |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Much of that support has
been given on social media. Epoch Times ad:
"What we know they did was use false information to frame it as
Trump colluding with Russia…" |
25:28 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Epoch Times spent
close to two million dollars on a Facebook advertising campaign that praised
Trump and demonised his enemies. |
25:38 |
|
Epoch Times ad:
"…details how the Obama administration conspired against Donald
Trump in the 2016 race..." |
25:48 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But it wasn't always
clear who was behind the ads with many pushed through made up groups like
Pure American Journalism or Honest Paper. |
25:53 |
|
Honest Paper ad:
"Now that we know Trump didn't collude with Russia, now that that's
been conclusively determined…" |
26:04 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In August last year,
Facebook banned the Epoch Times from purchasing any further advertising. |
26:09 |
Los
Angeles GV |
Music |
26:16 |
Alex
at computer |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In Los Angeles, Alex
Kasprak has been investigating the campaign for the fact-checking website
Snopes. ALEX KASPRAK: Essentially, they were creating a
number of Facebook groups or pages that didn't disclose they were part of the
Epoch Times publishing group, |
26:22 |
Alex
100% |
but still promoted their content through these
third party-seeming channels. That's just against, I mean, it's a clear
violation, letter of the law of their policy. You cannot do that. |
26:40 |
Alex
at computer |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Epoch Times denied
deceptive conduct, claiming it was obvious they were behind the ads. |
26:52 |
Facebook
page Epoch Times |
But in December, Facebook took action again,
against a network it linked to the Epoch Media Group. |
27:00 |
Facebook
Page The Beauty of Life |
BL or The Beauty of Life had been posting
testimonials from supposed Trump supporters who didn't exist – they were just
stock photos taken off the internet. ALEX KASPRAK:
It was so lazy. |
27:08 |
|
There was a picture of Helen Mirren, the actress,
being sold as an American Trump supporter. It's just like, we all know who
Helen Mirren is, you're not fooling anybody. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: After Snopes exposed the
use of other people's photos, BL doubled down, using software to generate
artificial photos. |
27:21 |
Alex
100% |
ALEX KASPRAK:
It sounds like the right play, but the technology is not there
yet. |
27:44 |
Artificially
generated photos on BL Facebook page |
So sometimes these things will come out with a
hole, no eyes, or black eyes. So there was some of these deformed faces, just
really sort of dystopian looking stuff. And that was sort of their final
hurrah, |
27:49 |
Alex
100% |
I would say, was when they were just making a
hundred fake profiles a day and throwing them into these BL groups. |
28:00 |
Facebook
document |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Facebook estimates that
BL spent more than $9 million US on ads reaching 55 million accounts. |
28:06 |
Alex
at computer |
Alex Kasprak found the network had been run out of
Vietnam by former Epoch Times employees. But Epoch Media Group denies any
involvement, saying it had cut ties to Vietnam Epoch Times the year before.
Falun Gong |
28:18 |
Jonathan
Lee |
still insists it is apolitical. |
28:33 |
Lee
100% |
JONATHAN LEE:
Falun Gong never really have a particular, from an organisation point
of view, when you used Falun Gong as organisation, do not have a policy that,
"Oh, master said you go and vote for him." That person will vote
for them, no we don't believe that. We are not really like that. |
28:36 |
|
Music |
28:57 |
Anna
walks to cliff |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Master Li has not been
filmed in public for years. But Anna has watched in dismay as his movement
grows ever stronger. ANNA: When
I found out that the group was supporting Donald Trump, that was very
shocking. |
29:02 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: She has left the
movement. She´s estranged from her mother, but she still fears the power of
Master Li. |
29:23 |
|
ANNA: This
group is not fading into obscurity. It has a lot more power than I thought,
and that is very concerning to me, especially when I think about how many
other people are probably going to become indoctrinated. |
29:32 |
Anna
looking out over ocean |
And how many children and families are going to be
affected by this. |
29:49 |
Anna
taking photos |
Music |
29:57 |
Credits
[see below] |
|
30:10 |
Out
point |
|
30:37 |
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