While the CSN was initially a go-to organization for U.S. mainstream news media (MSM) to cite, CSN and MSM parted company in a dispute over the casualty count from the June 4 massacre. MSM originally reported 3,000 dead. On June 22, 1989, referred to "the Chinese army's assault on the demonstrators in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an operation in which U.S. intelligence sources estimated "3,000 people were killed."" That casualty count, originally reported as above, was subsequently changed by the news media. CSN reported that it was in the interest of China's propaganda minister to reduce the casualty count by an order of magnitude, resulting in later reports that "hundreds" were killed at Tiananmen Square. In November, 1989, CSN editor James W. Hawkins MD wrote, "It appears as if Mr. Yuan Mu State Council spokesman has gotten his way and when we read reports on the AP wire we are told exactly what Mr. Mu ["sic"] wants us to read."