-Caveat Lector- http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/reports/cnn20/china0208.htm l China might charge CNN journalists with murder By Julie Chao Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer SELF-IMMOLATION Five people described as members of the Falun Gong spiritual group set themselves afire in Tiananmen Square on Jan. 23, a dramatic act of protest on the eve of China's most joyous holiday, Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. Beijing -- In its intensifying campaign to discredit the banned Falun Gong sect, China has seized on a new target, saying that several American journalists, including two from CNN, are being investigated on possible murder charges related to the self-immolation of Falun Gong practitioners at Tiananmen Square last month. In an article headlined, "Witnessing a mother and child self-immolate and doing nothing. Exactly what was the role of Western journalists?" the Yangcheng Evening News said unidentified police officials in Beijing told the paper they had evidence showing a few foreign reporters had advance notice a dramatic Falun Gong event would take place at the square on Jan. 23. The article said that legal actions could be taken on the murder charge of "instigating and abetting a suicide" if it is confirmed the reporters participated in the planning of the incident. The only foreign reporters who witnessed the incident were a producer and cameraman from CNN. CNN has said it received no advance warning of any incident at Tiananmen Square that day. Foreign reporters regularly monitor the square for Falun Gong demonstrations, which have occurred almost daily since China banned the group and denounced it as an "evil cult" almost two years ago. Reporters are frequently detained and questioned, their film confiscated. "There has been a history of Falun Gong protests in Tiananmen Square during holiday periods, and so it was a logical place to be on the day before Chinese New Year," said Eason Jordan, CNNÕs chief news executive and president of newsgathering. "Our crew was routinely checking the square over the course of the day." The Foreign Ministry said it knew nothing of any police investigation of foreign reporters. A spokesman at the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said he had heard of the investigation but couldn't comment. China's formidable propaganda machinery has used the self- immolations, in which one woman died and her 12-year-old daughter was badly burned, in a massive campaign to turn the public against Falun Gong and its exiled leader, Li Hongzhi, who lives in New York. It has portrayed Li as the heinous ringleader, his followers as confused or insane and the group's leaders as colluding with foreign anti-China influences. Falun Gong spokespeople in the United States paint themselves in the opposite extreme -- a benign exercise group with no political agenda. Although previous reports in the Chinese media had mentioned the presence of Western reporters at the self-immolations, this is the first time, two weeks after the incident, it has suggested they may have had a role in the burnings. "If they knew in advance these people planned to burn themselves, and saw children, yet didn't do anything to stop them, these reporters are void of humanity," said the article the Yangcheng Evening News, a Guangzhou-based paper. "If it is confirmed they directly engaged in the planning, and directed the practitioners to self-immolate at a certain time or a certain place in order to let them film, then the crime of intentional murder can be used to investigate their criminal responsibility." News of the police investigation first appeared in the Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, on Sunday. CNN issued a statement Sunday in response to the "erroneous allegations." "CNN did not receive any advance notice of the incident which occurred in Tiananmen Square on the afternoon of January 23rd," the statement said. "CNN's journalists have responsibly provided fair, accurate and comprehensive coverage of events in China and around the world for many years. As an independent news organization, CNN remains impartial and committed to balanced and responsible reporting and abides by no political agenda." -- How can the federal government be prevented from usurping powers that the Constitution doesn't grant to it? It's an alarming fact that few Americans ask this question anymore. Our ultimate defense against the federal government is the right of secession. --Joseph Sobran <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. 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