Epoch Times: CBC Airs Falun Gong Documentary With Edits

By Jason Loftus and Joan Delaney

Epoch Times Toronto and Victoria Staff

Nov 21, 2007 

CBC Newsworld aired a highly anticipated documentary on the persecution of Falun Gong Tuesday night following a media storm over the controversial pulling of the film two weeks ago.

CBC admitted that it pulled Beyond the Red Wall: The Persecution of Falun Gong , five hours before it was to air on Nov. 6 after being contacted by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa. CBC denied it was giving in to Chinese pressure. Some segments of the film dealing with reports of organ harvesting against Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese authorities were removed, as well as some of the strongest statements regarding the Beijing Olympics. CBC holds the rights to broadcast those Games in Canada.

However, human rights lawyer Clive Ansley, who appears in Red Wall , says that while the impact of the film was "blunted to some extent" by omitting these segments, it was still "very hard-hitting."

"It's probably the first exposure most people have ever had to this issue, and think most Canadians will be shocked and will have heard things they haven't heard before." Ansley says he regrets the CBC "took things out that would have added to the film," including his quote comparing the Beijing Olympics to Hitler's 1936 Berlin Games. "That particular quotation was innocuous really except that it was one of the most upsetting things to Beijing because it dealt with the Olympics."

The Epoch Times learned Monday that CBC reporters in Beijing had also been pestered about the documentary, which details the harsh persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners at the hands of the Chinese authorities. The edited version of Red Wall aired on CBC Newsworld's documentary program The Lens. The program bills itself as a platform for independent documentaries with independent perspectives.

However, although the documentary was still highly critical of the persecution of Falun Gong, CBC editors appear to have made a number of changes to the original version of the film circulated to media weeks ago. That version of the film had been approved by CBC editors and lawyers, and has already been shown in French Canada, New Zealand and Spain. Lucy Zhou, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC), says that while FDAC is pleased the CBC aired a film that will help Canadians understand the realities of the persecution, the group regrets the "watering down" of certain segments.

"We are disappointed the CBC made cuts in three important areas: the self immolation, the organ harvesting, and the message that the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist."

"We still hope the CBC will have the courage-in spite of intimidation from the Chinese Communist Party-to air the producer's independent work one day," says Zhou. More details to follow.