More untrue stories told in Media- TheHuffingtonPost

[christine V]

Another supporter of CTA that could do any lies and harms just to cover the truth by posting on Media.

__

By: Tenzin Dorjee
Activist, Writer and Musician

6 Things You Should Know About the Anti-Dalai Lama Protesters
Posted: 11/05/2014 8:44 am EST Updated: 11/05/2014 8:59 am EST


Few leaders of our time have achieved a popularity and reverence more universal and enduring than the Dalai Lama. Through his tireless work to promote social justice, universal responsibility, secular ethics, interfaith harmony, and nonviolent principles, he has made a monumental contribution to alleviating human suffering and increasing, for lack of a better word, the Gross Global Happiness.

Naturally, it must have been deeply confusing for thousands of people that during his most recent tour of the United States, a mysterious group of protesters has been hounding the Dalai Lama at every stop, from Alabama to Princeton to Boston to New York.

Who are these protesters? Where do they come from? What do they want from the Dalai Lama? Who is benefiting from their protests?

Here are six quick facts you need to know about the anti-Dalai Lama protesters:

1. They are Geluk supremacists.
The protesters belong to a fringe group of Buddhist extremists who worship a deity called Shugden and pursue an ideology of Geluk supremacy. Tibetan Buddhism has five sects, namely Geluk, Sakya, Nyingma, Kagyu and Jhonang. Within the Geluk school, there is a subgroup whose propitiation of the Shugden deity has historically forbidden its members to read the scriptures of other sects and study with lamas of non-Geluk schools. This controversial ideology of Geluk supremacy, which fueled sectarian tensions among Tibetans for hundreds of years, is what the Dalai Lama set out to eradicate when he discouraged the worship of this deity. In keeping with his progressive and reform-driven policies, the Dalai Lama (who traditionally belongs to the Geluk school himself) has gone out of his way to study with various lamas from other traditions, urging that all sects must be accorded equal respect. These reformist measures of the Dalai Lama, aimed at promoting inter-sectarian harmony, has made him anathema to the Geluk supremacists.

2. They call the Dalai Lama a "dictator."
The protesters accuse the Dalai Lama of being "the worst dictator in the modern world." This accusation only exposes the distorted and deluded world they live in. The truth is, their own group, the New Kadampa Tradition, is run by a leader who bans his students from reading books by any author other than himself. The Western Shugden Society (WSS), a front of the New Kadampa Tradition and the group that has been orchestrating the most recent protests against the Dalai Lama, is the Buddhist equivalent of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an unaffiliated church known for its extremist ideologies. Read a first-hand account of how the New Kadampa Tradition church intimidates its members into attacking the Dalai Lama.

3. "The Dalai Lama is a Muslim!"
The protesters have accused the Dalai Lama of being a "Muslim." First of all, to use the word "Muslim" as an insult betrays a level of racism and Islamophobia that has no place in today's world. At any rate, the claim that the world's most famous Buddhist is secretly a Muslim is so ludicrous that it does not merit any serious response. They have also claimed that His Holiness is the "False Dalai Lama." If that's the case, then who is the real Dalai Lama? Is Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the leader of the Geluk supremacists, who allows only his own books and writings in his center, the real Dalai Lama? Or are they waiting for Beijing to find and recognize the real Dalai Lama?

4. The Geluk extremists are supported by the Chinese government.
In 1997, a highly respected Tibetan scholar, who criticized the worship of Shugden as a deviation from true Buddhism, was assassinated in Dharamsala, India, along with two of his students. The assassins escaped from India and went straight to China, who gave them safe haven. The Indian police linked the murders directly to the Shugden association and Interpol issued a Red Notice to China. For Beijing, the Shugden controversy presented an opportunity to undermine the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause. It decided to support the Geluk extremists to sow discord among Tibetans - this strategy fits perfectly into China's divide-and-rule policy. Read more stories that follow the money to China.

5. They are barking up the wrong tree.
These protesters are overwhelmingly white American and European men masquerading as Tibetan monks and victims. For these privileged citizens of Western countries to accuse the Dalai Lama, a homeless refugee with no army and no police force, of suppressing their religious freedom is not only absurd, it is just plain evil. That kind of deception, far more than the Dalai Lama's reformist policies, threatens the "pure Geluk tradition" that they claim to defend. These people have no connection whatsoever to any organization or institution controlled by the Dalai Lama; he could not suppress their freedom even if he wanted to. The only person who would be able to exercise control and coercion over them - and thus take away their religious freedom for real - is Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, whose mysterious organization they had joined without knowing what they were signing up for. Read testimonies from survivors of the New Kadampa Tradition.

6. The protesters aim to undermine the Tibetan cause and advance China's agenda.
There are many unsettling parallels between the language of the New Kadampa Tradition and that of the Chinese government. Both have accused the Dalai Lama of being a CIA stooge. Both have called him a Nazi. Both argue that pre-1959 Tibet was a "feudal serfdom". This group wants you to believe that the CIA saved the Dalai Lama; in all likelihood, they even want you to believe that China "liberated" the Tibetan people from the Dalai Lama. But the theory that "the Dalai Lama would never have been saved without the CIA" is pure fiction; it distorts history and steals the truth from the Tibetan warriors who risked their lives to escort the Dalai Lama from Lhasa to India. Therefore, the New Kadampa Tradition and the anti-Dalai Lama protesters are no longer just Geluk supremacists, but they are also the most useful instruments in the Chinese government's colossal master plan to obfuscate the Tibet issue and delegitimize the Tibetan struggle for freedom.

For a more detailed religious history of this cult, read the articles by Tibetologist Thierry Dodin and Professor Robert Thurman.

___________________

[christine V]

Link to the news above, look at the comments on people who believe what Tenzin Dorjee said http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tenzin-dorjee/6-things-to-know-about-th_b_6104716.html

[christine V]

Seems like the CTA have plot to go on Media and lies. They could just lies and accused !

___________

Post in South Coast Media Group
         
Dalai Lama's critics lack legitimacy
     
    Posted Nov. 7, 2014 @ 12:49 am

        This letter is in response to the Associated Press article of Nov. 1 about the Dalai Lama and the protesters organized by the International Shugden Community ("Protesters seek Dalai Lama’s attention"). The AP reporter, Philip Marcelo, in the interest of objectivity, left unclear the fact that these protesters are illegitimate and totally without credibility.

        The Dalai Lama, who spoke in Boston last weekend, is in fact the real Dalai Lama, the 14th in his line. I was shocked and saddened to see protesters outside the Fleet Center where he spoke.

        His Holiness and the Shugden faction actually belong to the same sect, the Gelug. The Dalai lama rejects this faction, not because they worship the deity Shugden, but because of their intolerance and refusal to recognize any other Buddhist sect. The Dalai Lama supports all religions that practice tolerance and reject violence, saying, "restricting a form of practice that restricts others' religious freedom is actually a protection of religious freedom."

        The Times of India reported that they suspect Chinese funding of this protest group. Several East Asian experts go beyond suspicion, saying they have evidence of Chinese involvement, that China is subsidizing construction of Shugden temples and monasteries, giving political and financial support to the Shugden protesters, and that the Shugden faction is suspected of murdering their enemies in China.

        The Chinese have long opposed the Dalai Lama because of his support for freedom worldwide, and his opposition to the occupation of Tibet. The foremost promoter of the Shugden faction is Lama Jampa Ngodrup, who was appointed by the Chinese Government.

        The Communist Chinese Government is officially atheist. What are they doing appointing a Lama? I want to set the record straight because I admire the Dalai Lama for his commitment to world peace and happiness. I also commend U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her support and introduction of His Holiness at the Fleet Center Saturday.

        The desire to be objective does not preclude incisive reporting. Good journalism requires analysis, and drawing conclusions if possible. This fraudulent protest group can be condemned objectively.

        Steven Bonney

- See more at: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20141106/OPINION/141109502/101228/NEWS0301#sthash.qhvB5gCZ.dpuf

[christine V]

Same old stories told by CTA supporters over the media. They could do anything just to stopped the real truth by going to the public

1) Accuse on Dorje Shugden followers are funded by China Government.

2) Told the press that There was no ban- They really think the world can be fool. They have signage all over Dharamsala to ban Dorje Shugden practitioner, yet they could say there was no ban!

3) Dorje Shugden followers are sectarian- who are the real culprit here

Seems CTA have new strategies to counter the protesters on NKT. Seems the voices are really causing disturbance to the CTA's ears.

______________


Carol Kuruvilla - [email protected]
Antonia Blumberg - [email protected]

The Dalai Lama Gives New Yorkers A Lesson On Wisdom As Opponents Protest Outside
Posted: 11/04/2014 9:25 am EST Updated: 11/06/2014 4:59 pm EST


NEW YORK -- As protesters milled on the sidewalk outside, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama took center stage at the Beacon Theater on Monday with a lesson on how to find wisdom and recognize "ultimate truths."

Surrounded by faithful monks, nuns and an audience of supporters, the Tibetan Buddhist leader urged his disciples to use reasoning when examining both scriptural texts and teachers. "Ultimate truths" can be evidenced in religious teaching, but can also be inferred through logic, he said.

"Anything that is violating norms of reason or is contradictory should not be accepted, even though it is coming from a high lama," the Dalai Lama said through an interpreter.

Tashi Khamshitsang, a member of the Tibetan Parliament who attended the teaching, explained it this way to The Huffington Post: "When you find a teacher, judge him by who he is, and once you are certain, then you can receive his teaching."

In the same vein, the exiled leader also spoke about distinguishing between provisional and definitive truths. Provisional teachings, he explained, are those teachings that masters use to nudge their disciples a little bit further along the path to wisdom, while definitive truths are more absolute.

The key is to determine whether the content of a particular scripture passage "stands to reason and validates experience," the Dalai Lama said, or whether there is another layer of truth still waiting to be uncovered. The Buddhist leader also applied that reasoning to the perceptions of individuals, which he said will always be subjective.

"We tend to think we are objective," the Dalai Lama said, "but our perception field is just a projection of our own mind."

No spiritual teaching can be taken "at face value," the Dalai Lama added -- a remark that may have been aimed as much at the swarms of protesters gathered outside the Beacon Theater as it was toward supporters inside the venue.

Tibet House US, which hosted Monday's event, identified the protesters as followers of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), a breakaway sect that worships a Tibetan deity called Dorje Shugden.

Tensions within Tibetan Buddhism have flared up in recent years with the rise of the NKT, whose adherents the Dalai Lama has asked "not to attend his formal religious teachings," according to his website. The Buddhist leader has cautioned that the NKT may be spiritually misguided and politically divisive, and his supporters have accused the Shugden following of acting on behalf of the Chinese government to create schisms within the Tibetan community in exile.

As a result, Shugden followers have in turn accused the Dalai Lama of religious discrimination and have protested the leader's visits to the United States. They picketed with signs and chants outside recent events in Princeton, Boston and New York.

"Considering the Dalai Lama travels the world on a platform of human rights and basic human values, that he's instigated this kind of segregation in his own community is outrageous," International Shugden Community spokesman Nicholas Pitts told The Huffington Post.

Suzanne Newcombe is a research officer who has studied the NKT at Inform, an organization based out of the London School of Economics that aims to provide balanced information on new and alternative religious movements. Newcombe said the protests were likely set up by individuals or by front organizations, rather than by the NKT directly.

"Individual members take it upon themselves to protest what they call 'gross injustices' being thrust on them because of the Dalai Lama's policy," Newcombe told HuffPost over the phone. "His advice against practicing Shugden became emphatic in 1996. Then there was a vote in the major Gelug monasteries not to allow the practice in 2007. But now independent Shugden monasteries have been set up around the world."

Newcombe suggested that while followers of the NKT may strive to reach enlightenment and "be good Buddhists," many who have left the movement report that NKT authorities did not allow them the space to develop their own faith.

Alexandra Ulrey, a public health researcher at Columbia University who has been interested in the Dalai Lama's teachings since she was in fourth grade, said she was surprised by the protests.

"Even though he's a religious figure, he's a scholar and a nerd," Ulrey said. "His emphasis on secular ethics, in particular, is what keeps him very relevant and appealing to a wide audience."

Robert Thurman, the president of Tibet House US who was onstage with the Dalai Lama at the Beacon, criticized the protesters in a Huffington Post column Monday, accusing them of misinterpreting the true nature of Buddhism and misleading the public with claims of religious oppression.

Thurman wrote that it was "tragic" that Western converts to Buddhism were being "drastically misinformed" by the NKT.

"They are not being given education in the higher trainings in ethics, meditation, and critical wisdom [...] and are being prevented from learning about themselves and life from the most important world teacher in this era, His Holiness the Dalai Lama," Thurman wrote.

Khamshitsang, a Dalai Lama supporter, said he has examined the leader's teachings and found them to be good and practical.

"Tibetans in Tibet are dying to see the Dalai Lama, and these people are accusing the Dalai Lama of [being] false," Khamshitsang told HuffPost. "Dalai Lama is the apostle of peace, nonviolence [...] What they're talking [about] doesn't stand the ground."

TheHuffingtonPost- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/dalai-lama-new-york_n_6097362.html

[Joo Won]

6 Things You Should Know About the Anti-Dorje Shugden People

1) They use violence to force people to abandon their practice. See here for the latest violence: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/news/attack-on-dorje-shugden-followers/

2) They lie that there is no BAN on practicing Dorje Shugden, they are free to follow their religion. But the fact is they use all sorts of extreme violence to harm Shugden practitioners. Proofs of existing of ban: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/definitive-proof-of-the-ban-and-discrimination-against-dorje-shugde/

3) Accusation of Shugden followers are funded by China government. See this video and question by young Tibetan to Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, on what they observe of Shugdenpas' financial situation and life: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/tibetan-youths-question-dorje-shugden-ban/

4) They lie about Dorje Shugden followers are sectarian. The Dalai Lama says that the practice of Dorje Shugden is sectarian and harms other traditions, but he is lying to the world. HH Dalai Lama might be the one who is sectarian, by ban all Shugden followers to appear on his teachings and initiations and even meet him as Tibetan political leader. Watch this video you will get the real answer:

The Reasons Why Dorje Shugden Worship is Not Sectarian	Small | Large

5) CTA is using this ban to divert Tibetans attention on they failed to bring Tibetans back to Tibet after soooo many years. And, by bullying, yields violence on Dorje Shugden followers they show Tibetans they are working very hard for the people and country. 

6) Especially CTA, they are so worry when Tibetans and Westerners calling HH Dalai Lama lying to the world and suppress Dorje Shugden followers who are the minority. And they follow anywhere and everywhere HH Dalai Lama goes and protest..For the past decades, only Westerners and Tibetan who yelled to China government suppress Tibetan the minority and asking for religious freedom. In depth analysis article on this: 
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/the-five-causes-that-will-bring-down-the-ban/

[Tenzin Malgyur]

It is true that everyone have the freedom of speech in the USA and they can say anything they wish. I hope more people will read of what His Holiness preaches and have the logic to seek out the truth for themselves. Have anyone ever wondered why the group of Westerners are present at every location that HHDL are at, chanting the same old song? Or what would they gain from their trolling His Holiness? I am also very curious why the group were accused of being sectarian when His Holiness openly forbids Shugden practitioners from attending his teachings.

[fruven]

Huffington Post is not independent as what you think of. Who are the protestors? Apparent Antonia, the journalist for the Huffington Post, wrote what Tibet House US said is factual. '...identified the protesters as followers of the New Kadampa Tradition'. The later she wrote Suzanne said '...likely set up by individuals or by front organizations, rather than by the NKT directly' without giving much detail. Antonia never mentioned NKT members are one of group participating in the protest. There are numerous Tibetans who participated in the protest as well.

At the end of the article it is written Professor Robert Thurman is the president of Tibet House US. However it was never mentioned Professor Robert Thurman recently has sought for Anonymous help on twitter to get information on Shugen group. Anonymous is well known to do computer hacking.

A journalist has written his analysis of this post. He raised a few points.

• What is quite revealing about the level of bias in this situation is that they don't mention at this critical point anything about Robert Thurman's connection to Tibet House. In terms of journalists best practice and full disclosure they should, but they choose not to. Instead they wait until the very end of article to mention, in passing, Thurman's connection.
• Using Thurman's definition they state that the protesters are the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT),  choosing to ignore the fact that the protests are organised by the International Shugden Community.
• To compound their basic failure to report the protests accurately they go on to create the impression that the discrimination is against NKT members, which is absurd. The NKT are a western Buddhist group, the discrimination and segregation exists within the Tibetan exile community, none of whom are members of the NKT.

This is the Huffington Post news in question.

Same old stories told by CTA supporters over the media. They could do anything just to stopped the real truth by going to the public

1) Accuse on Dorje Shugden followers are funded by China Government.

2) Told the press that There was no ban- They really think the world can be fool. They have signage all over Dharamsala to ban Dorje Shugden practitioner, yet they could say there was no ban!

3) Dorje Shugden followers are sectarian- who are the real culprit here

Seems CTA have new strategies to counter the protesters on NKT. Seems the voices are really causing disturbance to the CTA's ears.

______________


Carol Kuruvilla - [email protected]
Antonia Blumberg - [email protected]

The Dalai Lama Gives New Yorkers A Lesson On Wisdom As Opponents Protest Outside
Posted: 11/04/2014 9:25 am EST Updated: 11/06/2014 4:59 pm EST


NEW YORK -- As protesters milled on the sidewalk outside, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama took center stage at the Beacon Theater on Monday with a lesson on how to find wisdom and recognize "ultimate truths."

Surrounded by faithful monks, nuns and an audience of supporters, the Tibetan Buddhist leader urged his disciples to use reasoning when examining both scriptural texts and teachers. "Ultimate truths" can be evidenced in religious teaching, but can also be inferred through logic, he said.

"Anything that is violating norms of reason or is contradictory should not be accepted, even though it is coming from a high lama," the Dalai Lama said through an interpreter.

Tashi Khamshitsang, a member of the Tibetan Parliament who attended the teaching, explained it this way to The Huffington Post: "When you find a teacher, judge him by who he is, and once you are certain, then you can receive his teaching."

In the same vein, the exiled leader also spoke about distinguishing between provisional and definitive truths. Provisional teachings, he explained, are those teachings that masters use to nudge their disciples a little bit further along the path to wisdom, while definitive truths are more absolute.

The key is to determine whether the content of a particular scripture passage "stands to reason and validates experience," the Dalai Lama said, or whether there is another layer of truth still waiting to be uncovered. The Buddhist leader also applied that reasoning to the perceptions of individuals, which he said will always be subjective.

"We tend to think we are objective," the Dalai Lama said, "but our perception field is just a projection of our own mind."

No spiritual teaching can be taken "at face value," the Dalai Lama added -- a remark that may have been aimed as much at the swarms of protesters gathered outside the Beacon Theater as it was toward supporters inside the venue.

Tibet House US, which hosted Monday's event, identified the protesters as followers of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), a breakaway sect that worships a Tibetan deity called Dorje Shugden.

Tensions within Tibetan Buddhism have flared up in recent years with the rise of the NKT, whose adherents the Dalai Lama has asked "not to attend his formal religious teachings," according to his website. The Buddhist leader has cautioned that the NKT may be spiritually misguided and politically divisive, and his supporters have accused the Shugden following of acting on behalf of the Chinese government to create schisms within the Tibetan community in exile.

As a result, Shugden followers have in turn accused the Dalai Lama of religious discrimination and have protested the leader's visits to the United States. They picketed with signs and chants outside recent events in Princeton, Boston and New York.

"Considering the Dalai Lama travels the world on a platform of human rights and basic human values, that he's instigated this kind of segregation in his own community is outrageous," International Shugden Community spokesman Nicholas Pitts told The Huffington Post.

Suzanne Newcombe is a research officer who has studied the NKT at Inform, an organization based out of the London School of Economics that aims to provide balanced information on new and alternative religious movements. Newcombe said the protests were likely set up by individuals or by front organizations, rather than by the NKT directly.

"Individual members take it upon themselves to protest what they call 'gross injustices' being thrust on them because of the Dalai Lama's policy," Newcombe told HuffPost over the phone. "His advice against practicing Shugden became emphatic in 1996. Then there was a vote in the major Gelug monasteries not to allow the practice in 2007. But now independent Shugden monasteries have been set up around the world."

Newcombe suggested that while followers of the NKT may strive to reach enlightenment and "be good Buddhists," many who have left the movement report that NKT authorities did not allow them the space to develop their own faith.

Alexandra Ulrey, a public health researcher at Columbia University who has been interested in the Dalai Lama's teachings since she was in fourth grade, said she was surprised by the protests.

"Even though he's a religious figure, he's a scholar and a nerd," Ulrey said. "His emphasis on secular ethics, in particular, is what keeps him very relevant and appealing to a wide audience."

Robert Thurman, the president of Tibet House US who was onstage with the Dalai Lama at the Beacon, criticized the protesters in a Huffington Post column Monday, accusing them of misinterpreting the true nature of Buddhism and misleading the public with claims of religious oppression.

Thurman wrote that it was "tragic" that Western converts to Buddhism were being "drastically misinformed" by the NKT.

"They are not being given education in the higher trainings in ethics, meditation, and critical wisdom [...] and are being prevented from learning about themselves and life from the most important world teacher in this era, His Holiness the Dalai Lama," Thurman wrote.

Khamshitsang, a Dalai Lama supporter, said he has examined the leader's teachings and found them to be good and practical.

"Tibetans in Tibet are dying to see the Dalai Lama, and these people are accusing the Dalai Lama of [being] false," Khamshitsang told HuffPost. "Dalai Lama is the apostle of peace, nonviolence [...] What they're talking [about] doesn't stand the ground."

TheHuffingtonPost- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/04/dalai-lama-new-york_n_6097362.html

This is the analysis piece on the Huffington Post news article

Huffington Post - Independent or Biased?

An interesting aspect of covering this subject is observing how the different media outlets choose to cover both sides of the argument.

As anyone familiar with this website knows, I try to focus on the issues faced by Dorje Shugden Buddhists within the Tibetan exile community. I am only really interested in the protests from the point of view of raising the issues of discrimination and segregation that exist within this community.

Ideally within free and democratic societies the method of peaceful protest is designed to raise areas of concern so that they can be debated in public and hopefully an amicable compromise can be found. This depends on the media remaining as independent and free from bias in its reporting as possible.

Bearing that in mind I find it fascinating to see how different outlets approach reporting the protests and the issues they raise. You can often see common themes in the coverage and anomalies tend to stand out prominently.

In general the coverage of the issues by the media during the US 2014 fall tour by the Dalai Lama has been overwhelmingly balanced and positive. Reporters have taken the time to consider both sides of the arguments and only very rarely has there been an article that is biased to just one side.

One such bias occurred recently with the Huffington Post's coverage of the protests and the discrimination against Dorje Shugden Buddhists. It was such an extreme and blatant bias that I felt compelled to look a little closer at it.

 
Three journalists, two articles, one song-sheet

On Tuesday 4th November 2014 the Huffington Post Religion page was dominated by 2 stories, an article examining the Dalai Lama's teaching event and protests and an article by Robert Thurman. Thurman's piece is an op-ed, but HuffPost have a seeming inability to clearly label op-eds, instead leaving the reader to assume they are credible journalists writing independently. One thing I've learnt from my research is that Robert Thurman is never independent on the subject of the Dalai Lama.

I'll leave to one side Thurman's piece as he is currently embroiled in the ongoing #LamaGate saga, so I don't think for a moment he has anything unbiased to say on the subject. What's interesting is the article that covers the Dalai Lama's teaching and protests authored by Carol Kuruvilla and Antonia Blumberg.

Normally an article is authored by 2 journalists when the subject area is vast and requires additional examination to draw out the nuances of the subject matter accurately. It usually also aids the impartiality of the article. So when you see a piece written by 2 co-authors you expect a high degree of accuracy, fact checking and background information.


Sadly that wasn't the case.

About halfway through the article Kuruvilla and Blumberg turn their attention to the protests and define them in accordance with the definition given by Tibet House. It is interesting to note here that the president of Tibet House is Robert Thurman, who has had several run-ins with the protesters in the past and is very derogatory and openly hostile towards them.

So here we have an article authored by 2 journalists who take Robert Thurman's definition of the protesters at face value. All 3 of these journalists write for the Huffington Post, and all 3 are the authors of the only 2 articles that talk of the protests in the Huffington Post.

What is quite revealing about the level of bias in this situation is that they don't mention at this critical point anything about Robert Thurman's connection to Tibet House. In terms of journalists best practice and full disclosure they should, but they choose not to. Instead they wait until the very end of article to mention, in passing, Thurman's connection.

Using Thurman's definition they state that the protesters are the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), choosing to ignore the fact that the protests are organised by the International Shugden Community.

The reason for this is quite clear - the Dalai Lama's camp have been unable to refute the claims of discrimination and segregation within the Tibetan exile community, so try to distract the narrative away from this.

To compound their basic failure to report the protests accurately they go on to create the impression that the discrimination is against NKT members, which is absurd. The NKT are a western Buddhist group, the discrimination and segregation exists within the Tibetan exile community, none of whom are members of the NKT.

The authors then go on to introduce Suzanne Newcombe from Inform in the UK. Inform specialise in trying to provide independent information about new religious movements, and she has researched some of the negative experiences of people within the NKT.

Here we see the actual reason the article has defined the protesters as the NKT, it is so that they can now introduce a critique of the NKT. The intention seems to be that if you agree the NKT are bad, you will forget or dismiss the claims of the protesters.

Whether the NKT is good or bad, whether people have fantastic or terrible experiences with them has no bearing on this issue. This is a blatant attempt to undermine any claims of human rights issues by diverting the readers attention away from discrimination and segregation and instead focusing on the NKT's faults.

 

A catalogue of failures and mis-reporting

Failure to disclose Robert Thurman's relationship with Tibet House at the critical point in the article, failure to fact check and accurately report the correct organisation behind the protests, and a failure to accurately report who experiences discrimination and segregation are more than basic errors - they point to an intentional and co-ordinated bias of coverage.

It appears that this bias was decided at the very outset of gathering the information for the article. Rather than trying to remain open minded about the situation it seems that the authors wished to portray a narrative which presented the protests in as negative a way as possible, whilst trying to maintain an illusion of journalistic integrity.

Antonia Blumberg knew very well that the protest group was not the NKT, she was told this not just by the International Shugden Community, but also by Suzanne Newcombe at Inform.

Antonia asked Suzanne how the protests were related to the NKT, so she clearly knew that they were not organised by the NKT, but that NKT members participated in them. Antonia however decided not to tell the readers this fact, but instead to present Robert Thurman's definition of the protesters as if it were factual.

I reached out to Suzanne at Inform to ask for her comments on the article in relation to this view of bias in its portrayal. She said:

"I had a phone conversation with Antonia Blumberg in which she asked me to explain the context around the protests against the Dalai Lama and how they related to the New Kadampa Tradition. It was in this context - of explaining the reasons NKT-affiliated protesters have provided for their protests, and the public statements that the Dalai Lama has made about Shugden - that I made the comments.

"The quote used in the article puts together several parts of our conversation that were not originally linked and does not reflect the nuances of the situation as seen from different perspectives - as I explained it to the journalist."

Adding, "A key aspect of Inform providing accurate information about new, alternative and minority religious groups is placing these groups in a greater religious and cultural context in order to make their beliefs and practices more understandable. In a situation of disagreement, Inform's position is to explain and contextualise the beliefs and perspectives of both sides.

"The full explanation and contextualisation given to the journalist was not reflected in the final, very short article."

When you take into account the fact that Robert Thurman holds such a hatred for the protesters he is prepared to break the law to try and silence them, along with Suzanne's comments about how Antonia has mis-represented the interview she conducted with her it draws into question the credibility of the article.

When you also consider the inaccuracies, lack of disclosure at the correct point, and the similarity between the CTA's view and the authors view of the protests it leaves very little room for doubt about the claimed independence of the Huffington Post when covering this issue.

It seems as far as the Huffington Post is concerned they will distort and mis-represent the facts to protect the Dalai Lama from any possible criticism. Quite why they are prepared to go to such lengths is anyone's guess.

[christine V]

Good One! Thanks Fruven for the latest news on Huffington Post.  Seem the CTA have lost out to the truth and here they trying to use media to polute the readers to side them. I think CTA have forgotten that in this centuries nothing can be hide especially with the helps from Internet. 

CTA prepared to do anything to keep this ban on, because they gain the best benefit from this game.

CTA, readers are not blind! Don't treat us like a dull!

[Gabby Potter]

It's obvious that these people are actually making up stories because they nothing else better to say and what they can do now is only to make up stories, confuse the people and media and get attention. There are so many other things to do in life, there are so many topics to discuss about, why touch these sensitive topics and make up stories just to have someone to put the " blame " on? I mean like seriously man, get a life already.