How The New York Times’ journalistic failures on Falun Gong reveal a weak spot in our Republic’s armor.
It was a bold claim.
Just two days before Christmas, President Donald Trump declared on social media that The New York Times “is a serious threat to the National Security of our Nation,” accusing the paper of “lies and purposeful misrepresentations.”
To those who might write it off as overstatement or biased, I’d say: not so fast. As the director of a nongovernmental organization that’s tracked the NY Times’ reporting on key issues related to my organization’s work for more than 25 years, I can say with all due gravitas that the president is right.
The NY Times is culpable for a pattern of coverage that has undoubtedly exacerbated human suffering, cost numerous lives, and weakened America’s vigilance against the encroaching threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Since 1999, I have served as executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center—a New York-based nonprofit working to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
Rooted in ancient Buddhist traditions, Falun Gong includes meditation, gentle exercises, and moral teachings that espouse being genuine, compassionate, and resilient. These teachings resonated profoundly in 1990s China, drawing an estimated 70 million to 100 million adherents, according to official government figures at the time. The practice even received accolades from Chinese authorities, including awards for its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, for promoting health and ethical living.
In 1999, alarmed by Falun Gong’s independence and massive size, CCP leader Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide eradication campaign that continues today and involves mass detentions affecting millions, rampant torture, deaths by torture, and what some experts have termed a “cold genocide” through forced organ harvesting—killing tens of thousands annually to fuel a lucrative transplant industry.
The NY Times’ coverage— or lack thereof—of both the group and the CCP’s atrocities reveals not mere oversight but seemingly deliberate distortion that serves agendas far removed from the public good.
We’re talking about weaponized journalism; media power harnessed not to inform or protect but to amplify Beijing’s propaganda, which undermines our democratic resilience.
The evidence spans decades of selective silence, historical revisionism, outright bias, and glaring conflicts of interest. The details matter, so allow me to elaborate.
By Levi Browde
