''The Epoch Times'' is a
far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the
Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
. The newspaper, based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates
New Tang Dynasty
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...
(NTD) Television.
''The Epoch Times'' has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
.
''The Epoch Times'' opposes the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
,
promotes far-right politicians in Europe,
and has championed former President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
in the U.S.;
a 2019 report by
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
advertising after the Trump campaign.
''The Epoch Times'' frequently promotes other Falun Gong-affiliated groups, such as the performing arts company
Shen Yun
Shen Yun Performing Arts (, "divine rhythm arts troupe") is a United States-based non-profit performing arts and entertainment company that tours internationally, producing dance performances and symphony concerts. It is operated by the Falun G ...
.
The Epoch Media Group's news sites and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channels have spread
misinformation
Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It differs from disinformation, which is ''deliberately'' deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn ...
and
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
, such as
QAnon
QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...
and
anti-vaccine misinformation,
and
false claims of fraud in the
2020 United States presidential election.
History and relation to Falun Gong
''The Epoch Times'' was founded in 2000 by John Tang and other
Chinese Americans affiliated with the
Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
new religious movement.
Tang was a graduate student in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
at the time; he began the newspaper in his basement.
The founders said they were responding to censorship inside China and a lack of international understanding about the Chinese government's repression of Falun Gong.
By 2003, ''The Epoch Times'' website and group of newspapers had grown into one of the largest Chinese-language news sites and newspaper groups outside China, with local editions in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and major Western European countries.
[ Zhao, Yuezhi, "Falun Gong, Identity, and the Struggle over Meaning Inside and Outside China", pp. 209–223 in ''Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World'', edited by Nick Couldry and James Curran (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003)] The first English edition launched online in September 2003, followed by the first print edition in 2004.
Nick Couldry and James Curran wrote in 2003 that the paper represents a "major step in the evolution of Falun Gong-related alternative media", and may be part of a ''de facto'' media alliance with democracy activists in exile. In 2003 sociologist
Yuezhi Zhao
Yuezhi Zhao (; 1965) is a Canadian sociologist. She is a Canada Research Chair in Communication and Media Studies and the founder of the Global Media Monitoring Laboratory at Simon Fraser University. Her research takes an interdisciplinary appro ...
wrote that the paper "displays an indisputable ideological and organizational affinity with Falun Gong" and that it strongly emphasizes negative portrayals of the Chinese government and positive portrayals of Falun Gong. Per Zhao, ''Epoch'' portrays itself as neutral, independent, and public-interest oriented.
In 2005, the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'' reported that "three new U.S.-based, Chinese-language media outlets that provide provocative reporting about the Communist Party, government oppression and social unrest in China (namely ''The Epoch Times'',
Sound of Hope
Sound of Hope (SOH) is an international Chinese-language radio network. Along with New Tang Dynasty Television and ''The Epoch Times'', it is part of a network of media organizations established by practitioners of the Falun Gong new religious ...
, and NTDTV) have ties to the Falun Gong spiritual movement." When interviewed, executives at each outlet claimed they did not represent the Falun Gong movement as a whole.
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
reporter
Nahal Toosi wrote in 2006 that it is "technically inaccurate" to say that Falun Gong owns ''The Epoch Times,'' though many of the paper's staffers are Falun Gong practitioners.
Toosi noted "many observers" have said Falun Gong uses the newspaper for its public relations campaigns, and the paper is connected with the group and carries sympathetic coverage of it.
The English ''Epoch Times'' chair Stephen Gregory has denied that ''The Epoch Times'' is directly connected to Falun Gong.
Independent reporters in the U.S. have confirmed the connection.
In 2008, David Ownby, director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...
and the author of ''
Falun Gong and the Future of China'', said Falun Gong practitioners set up the newspaper with their own money.
He described ''The Epoch Times'' as wishing to be taken seriously as a global newspaper rather than being judged on the basis of its strong association with Falun Gong.
[ - Registration required][ - Registration required.] He wrote: "''Epoch Times'' is a newspaper with a mission, that of reporting on issues bearing on
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
throughout the world, which allows for considerable focus on China and Falun Gong."
[Ownby 2008, p. 221.]
Canadian scholar Clement Tong wrote
''The Epoch Times'' "operates as a mouthpiece for" Falun Gong without an official statement of affiliation with the movement.
In 2009,
Li Hongzhi
Li Hongzhi (, born 1951/2) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or ''Falun Dafa'', a United States-based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and ...
, the founder of Falun Gong, appeared at the newspaper's headquarters in Manhattan and called for the expansion of ''The Epoch Times'' to "become regular media."
Li has called ''The Epoch Times'' "our media", along with the NTD digital production company and the Shen Yun dance troupe.
Two former employees said that top editors traveled to meet with Li at Falun Gong's compound,
Dragon Springs
Dragon Springs, also known as The Mountain, is a compound in Deerpark, New York, US that serves as the headquarters of the global Falun Gong religious movement and the Shen Yun performance arts troupe. Falun Gong founder and leader Li Hongzhi li ...
, where he weighed in on editorial and strategic decisions; ''The Epoch Times'' denied that a meeting took place.
Former ''Epoch Times'' employees have noted Falun Gong practitioners' involvement in the management and editorial process.
Three anonymous former employees said ''Epoch Times'' workers were encouraged to attend weekly "Fa study" sessions outside work hours to study Li's teachings.
Former employees have said that criticizing ''The Epoch Times'' amounts to disobeying Li.
''The Epoch Times'' runs frequent promotional stories about the related
Shen Yun
Shen Yun Performing Arts (, "divine rhythm arts troupe") is a United States-based non-profit performing arts and entertainment company that tours internationally, producing dance performances and symphony concerts. It is operated by the Falun G ...
dance troupe. ''The New Yorker'' review of Shen Yun called ''The Epoch Times'' "the world's foremost purveyor of Shen Yun content."
In a 2018 report, conservative think tank the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, an ...
wrote, "the space for truly independent Chinese-language media in the United States has shrunk to a few media outlets supported by the adherents of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect in China, and a small publication and website called ''
Vision Times
''Kanzhongguo'' (), also known as ''Vision Times'', is a Falun Gong-affiliated Chinese language weekly newspaper. It was founded in 2001 as a website, www.secretchina.com. In 2006, it began publishing weekly print versions in major U.S. cities an ...
''", the report noting that the latter is also associated with Falun Gong.
In a 2019 report,
Reporters Without Borders wrote, "Aside from the ''Epoch Times'' newspaper and New Tang Dynasty Television, which are run by the Falun Gong, a religious movement persecuted in China, and ''
China Digital Times
China Digital Times (CDT; ) is a US-based 501(c)(3) organization that runs a bilingual news website covering China. The site focuses on news items which are blocked, deleted or suppressed by China's state censors.
History
The website was started ...
'', a website founded by a leading US-based critic of the regime, the United States now has few truly independent diaspora media."
In 2019, an
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
investigative report suggested ''The Epoch Times'' political coverage may be affected by Falun Gong believers' anticipation of a judgment day in which communists are sent to hell and Falun Gong's allies are spared. Former ''Epoch Times'' employees told NBC News that Donald Trump is viewed as a key anti-communist ally,
allegedly hastening that judgment day.
In 2020,
Vox identified ''
China Uncensored'' and NTD as affiliates of ''The Epoch Times'', as part of a multilingual "media empire".
Finances
According to
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
, "little is publicly known about the precise ownership, origins or influences of ''The Epoch Times''", and it is loosely organized into several regional
tax-free nonprofits, under the umbrella of the Epoch Media Group, together with
New Tang Dynasty Television
New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language ...
.
The newspaper's revenue has increased rapidly in recent years, from $3.8 million in 2016 to $8.1 million in 2017 (with spending of $7.2 million), $12.4 million in 2018
and $15.5 million in 2019. Tax documents indicate that between 2012 and 2016, the group received $900,000 from a principal at
Renaissance Technologies
Renaissance Technologies LLC, also known as RenTech or RenTec, is an American hedge fund based in East Setauket, New York, on Long Island, which specializes in systematic trading using quantitative models derived from mathematical and statisti ...
, a hedge fund led at the time by the conservative political donor
Robert Mercer
Robert Leroy Mercer (born July 11, 1946) is an American hedge fund manager, computer scientist, and political donor. Mercer was an early artificial intelligence researcher and developer and is the former co-CEO of the hedge fund company Renaissan ...
. Chris Kitze, a former
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
executive and creator of the fake news website
Before It's News who also manages a
cryptocurrency hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...
, joined the paper's board as vice president in 2017.
A 2020 ''New York Times'' report called ''The Epoch Times'' recent wealth "something of a mystery."
Steve Bannon
Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...
, the former executive chairman of ''
Breitbart News
''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* syndicated news, opinion, and commentary ...
'' who produced a documentary with NTD, said "I'd give them a number" on a project budget and "they'd come back and say, 'We're good for that number.'" Former employees say they were told ''The Epoch Times'' is financed by subscriptions, ads and donations from wealthy Falun Gong practitioners.
Distribution
![Epoch Times Montreal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Epoch_Times_Montreal.jpg)
''The Epoch Times'' publishes in 21 languages and 33 countries,
and has print editions in eight languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, and Indonesian.
Special print editions have also been erratically published in France.
As of March 2022, ''The Epoch Times'' is planning to expand into the United Kingdom.
In April 2019, videos and ads from the Epoch Media Group including ''The Epoch Times'' and New Tang Dynasty (NTD) totaled 3 billion views on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, according to the analytics company Tubular. That ranked it 11th among all video creators, and ahead of any other traditional news publisher, according to NBC News.
As of early 2021, ''The Epoch Times'' is the 7th most followed account on
Gab, a
social networking service known for its far-right userbase.
According to a Facebook report released in August 2021, a subscription page for ''The Epoch Times'' received 44.2 million views between April and June 2021. As of August 2021, the Facebook page for ''The Epoch Times'' had 9 million followers.
Editorial stance
''The Epoch Times'' is an ardent opponent of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
.
Since a shift in the newspaper's approach in 2016, the newspaper received significant attention for its favorable coverage of the
Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
,
the
German far-right
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
and the
French far-right
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
.
According to NBC News, ''The Epoch Times'' "generally stayed out of U.S. politics" before 2016 "unless they dovetailed with Chinese interests". Ben Hurley, an ''Epoch Times'' employee until 2013, said the paper was critical of abortion and LGBT people and that Falun Gong practitioners "saw communism everywhere" including in internationalist figures like
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
, "but there was more room for disagreements in the early days."
Since 2016, according to NBC News, ''The Epoch Times'' has promoted favorable coverage of Trump's campaign and presidency, and emphasized issues such as
Islamic terrorism and
illegal immigration to the United States. It has also emphasized "what the publication claims is
a labyrinthian, global conspiracy led by
illaryClinton and former President Barack Obama to tear down Trump."
A former ''Epoch Times'' reporter who covered the 2016 campaign, Steve Klett, said his editors had encouraged favorable coverage of Trump after he won the Republican nomination, and that "they seemed to have this almost messianic way of viewing Trump as the anti-Communist leader who would bring about the end of the Chinese Communist Party."
After Trump was elected, ''The Epoch Times'' hired Brendan Steinhauser, a
Tea Party
A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...
strategist, to reach out to more conservatives and encourage the Trump administration to oppose the persecution of Falun Gong.
''The Epoch Times'' picks up mainstream
newswire
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...
stories and in some places can resemble a community newspaper.
[Eugenia Chien]
"Falun Gong-Linked Media Venture Makes Waves, Raises Questions"
''New America Media'', News Analysis, May 16, 2006 According to sociologist Yuezhi Zhao, "While mainstream newspapers typically treat Web versions as an extension of the already-existing print version, ''The Epoch Times'' website serves as the master for all its worldwide papers."
''The Epoch Times'' is known for alleging
conspiracies
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
involving former Communist Party general secretary
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
,
under whose administration Falun Gong was suppressed in China.
The newspaper is at odds with the
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, ...
-owned and U.S.-based Chinese language newspaper ''
World Journal
''World Journal'' () is a Pan-Blue Taiwanese broadsheet newspaper published in North America. It is the largest Chinese language newspaper in the United States and one of the largest Chinese language newspapers outside of Greater China, with a ...
'', calling it a "megaphone for the evil Chinese Communist Party."
In September 2017, the German edition, ''The Epoch Times Deutschland'', which became Web-only in 2012, was described by online magazine ''The China File'' as aligned with the German far-right, and attractive to supporters of the
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the anti-immigrant group
Pegida.
Stefanie Albrecht, a reporter for the German broadcaster RTL who spent several days inside ''The Epoch Times'' Berlin office while investigating the far right, said that the staffers she met had no journalistic training and did not check facts, trusting instead in the alternative sources they consulted. During her time at ''The Epoch Times''
's office, Albrecht was exposed to debunked conspiracy theories such as
Pizzagate
"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.
In March 2016, the p ...
, the
chemtrail conspiracy theory,
weather-changing machines and the
Great Replacement
The Great Replacement (french: links=no, Grand Remplacement), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71 disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. The original theor ...
.
In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, ''The Epoch Times'' gives "an unfettered platform to
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015.
Le Pen graduated fro ...
, the patriarch of the French far right, and his daughter,
Marine, who leads the nationalist party her father founded", according to ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
''.
''The Epoch Times'' publishes
climate change denial content.
Notable coverage
"Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" editorials
In November 2004, the Chinese version of ''The Epoch Times'' published a series of editorials titled "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party". The editorials argued that China would not be free or prosperous until it was rid of the party, which it said was at odds with China's cultural and spiritual values.
''The Epoch Times'' also organized a campaign called the ''Tuidang'' movement, urging people to quit the Chinese Communist Party, and said that more than 2 million people had resigned.
A report by the
OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) was a joint project whose goal was to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employed a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigato ...
said that 90% of websites mentioning the phrase "Nine Commentaries" were blocked in mainland China as of 2005.
Caylan Ford, a former staff writer for ''The Epoch Times,'' wrote in a 2009 guest opinion article in ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' that millions of copies of the "Nine Commentaries" articles were circulated in China by email, fax, and underground printing houses. Ford wrote that the campaign differed from the 1989 and 2008 democracy movements in China by drawing on Buddhist and Daoist spirituality.
In 2012, a former
People's Liberation Army Air Force officer testified to the
United States Congressional-Executive Commission on China that he had been sentenced to four years of prison for distributing a "Nine Commentaries" DVD in Beijing.
The Tuidang movement was called one of the top global events in 2011 by Russian economist
Andrey Illarionov
Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov (russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Илларио́нов, born 16 September 1961) is a Russian economist and former senior policy advisor to Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, from April 2000 ...
, who cited claims by ''The Epoch Times'' that over 100 million people had quit.
Li Yi, a Hong Kong-based democratic activist, questioned ''The Epoch Times'' claims about the number of resignations in an ''
Apple Daily
''Apple Daily'' ( zh, link=no, 蘋果日報) was a popular tabloid published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it was one of the best-selling Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong. '' opinion piece in 2006, warned that the Tuidang movement could be using "lies to fight lies", and wrote that the propagandistic nature of the movement could hurt the integrity of the pro-democracy community.
According to China scholar David Ownby, the Nine Commentaries are a "condemnation of communism and a direct indictment of the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's rule in China." While acknowledging the "unnecessary violence" the Chinese Communist Party has inflicted, Ownby finds that the lack of balance and nuance in tone and style makes the editorials resemble "anti-Communist propaganda written in Taiwan in the 1950s".
Journalist Oscar Schwartz called the Nine Commentaries a "quasi-
McCarthyist
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origina ...
screed".
Pro-Trump conspiracy theories and disinformation
''The Epoch Times'' has promoted an array of pro-
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
conspiracy theories
and is known as one of Trump's closest media allies and defenders.
The paper has financially benefited from its promotion of Trump conspiracies, increasing its revenue nearly fourfold during the first three years of Trump's administration (from $3.9 million in 2016 to $15.5 million in 2019) as it catered to Trump's most ardent supporters, to whom the paper marketed itself via targeted social media advertising.
The publication championed Trump's Spygate conspiracy theory in its news coverage and advertising, and the Epoch Media Group's ''Edge of Wonder'' videos on YouTube spread the far-right, pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory
QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". T ...
and embraced false QAnon claims.
An NBC News report found that two of ''Edge of Wonder'''s hosts have been a creative director and chief photo editor at ''The Epoch Times''. The newspaper promoted ''Edge of Wonder'' videos in dozens of Facebook posts through 2019.
In September 2019, during the Trump–Ukraine scandal
The "Trump–Ukraine scandal" refers to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, and giving misinformatio ...
, Hunter Biden
Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American attorney who is the second son of U.S. President Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden. He is also a hedge fund, venture capital, and private-equity fund investor who for ...
's Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
article included dubious claims about his business dealings in Ukraine and his father Joe Biden's motivations for going after a Ukrainian prosecutor; the claims were sourced to ''The Epoch Times'' and ''The New American
''The New American'' (''TNA'') is a right-wing print magazine published twice a month and a digital news source published daily online by American Opinion Publishing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the John Birch Society. The magazine was cre ...
''. ''The Epoch Times'' promoted the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden had abused his power in 2016 to protect Hunter's business interests in Ukraine.
During the February 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses, ''The Epoch Times'' shared viral disinformation
Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate.
The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...
from the conservative group Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch (JW) is an American conservative activist group that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials. Founded in 1994, JW has primarily targeted Democrats, in particu ...
that falsely alleged inflated voter rolls. The disinformation, which went viral on Facebook, was debunked by fact checkers and the Iowa secretary of state. A Harvard media expert said that ''The Epoch Times'' employed a "classic disinformation tactic" known as "trading up the chain
Trading up the chain is a marketing and propaganda tactic of deliberately inducing circular reporting, by seeding a message or claim in a less-credible medium, with the intent of it being quoted and repeated by publications (or people) who appeal ...
", in which false stories are repackaged and shared.
After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**C ...
, ''The Epoch Times'' consistently sought to question the election results. The organization produced a 93-minute video that falsely suggested widespread fraud in the counting; one interviewee, attorney Lin Wood
Lucian Lincoln "Lin" Wood Jr. (born October 19, 1952) is an American attorney and conspiracy theorist.
Following his graduation from law school in 1977, Wood worked as a personal injury lawyer, focusing on medical malpractice litigation. He b ...
, falsely alleged that China had bought an American election vendor. Versions of the video on YouTube, the ''Epoch Times'' website and NTD were viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
''The Epoch Times'' created a network of seven new YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channels to pump out election disinformation and other false claims, including falsehoods about the Nashville Christmas Day bombing.[ Only one of the seven YouTube channels disclosed its ties to ''The Epoch Times'' or Falun Gong.][ In the two and a half months after their creation, the disinformation channels garnered tens of millions of views and at least 1.1 million subscribers.][
One of the channels ("Eye Opener With Michael Lewis") portrays itself as an independent effort by the host "and a few friends".][ After the videos' false and misleading claims were reported, YouTube removed several of the videos in accordance with the site's policy against election disinformation.][
The newspaper helped publicize the January 6, 2021, Trump rally in Washington, D.C., that led to the storming of the Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob. Afterward, one of its columnists suggested that the riot was a " false flag" operation,] and Michael Lewis's ''Epoch Times''-linked YouTube channel echoed the same lie, suggesting that the Capitol attack was orchestrated by " antifa" as part of an "old Communist tactic."[
]
COVID-19 coverage and misinformation
''The Epoch Times'' has spread misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in print and via social media including Facebook and YouTube. Raquel Miguel of the European watchdog EU DisinfoLab said in 2022: "''The Epoch Times'' has played a noticeable role in transmitting and amplifying many anti-vaccine narratives". According to Josef Holnburger of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy
The Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS) is a German non-profit extremism monitoring agency established in 2021. Its stated focus is on creating an early warning system against conspiracy ideologies, disinformation and far ...
, a German extremism monitoring agency, ''The Epoch Times'''s German edition has been the most shared outlet among Germany's COVID-skeptic movement.
It has promoted anti-CCP rhetoric and conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
about the pandemic, for example through an eight-page special edition called "How the Chinese Communist Party Endangered the World", which was distributed unsolicited in April 2020 to mail customers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
In the newspaper, the SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
virus is known as the " CCP virus", and a commentary in the paper posed the question, "is the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan an accident occasioned by weaponizing the virus at that uhan P4 virologylab?" The paper's editorial board suggested that COVID-19 patients cure themselves by "condemning the CCP" and "maybe a miracle will happen".
In France, "special" French-language print editions of ''The Epoch Times'' were distributed in 2021 during anti- Health pass protests
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
. In Germany, ''The Epoch Times'' has published articles blasting the legitimacy of PCR test
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...
s and promoting conspiracy theories about vaccination mishaps.
The misinformation tracker NewsGuard
NewsGuard is a journalism and technology tool that rates the credibility of news and information websites and tracks online misinformation. It operates a browser extension and mobile apps for consumers as well as services for businesses, includ ...
called the French page of ''The Epoch Times'' one of the "super-spreaders" of COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook, citing an ''Epoch Times'' article that suggested the virus was artificially created. NewsGuard later changed the rating of the English edition of ''The Epoch Times'' from green to red.
A February 17, 2020, ''Epoch Times'' story shared a map from the internet that falsely alleged massive sulfur dioxide releases from crematoria during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
in China, speculating that 14,000 bodies may have been burned. A fact check by AFP reported that the map was a NASA forecast taken out of context.
A widely viewed video released by ''The Epoch Times'' on April 7, 2020, was flagged by Facebook as "partly false" for "the unsupported hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 is a bioengineered virus released from a Wuhan research laboratory." The video featured Judy Mikovits
Judy Anne Mikovits (born April 1, 1958) is an American former scientist, research scientist who is known for her discredited medical claims, such as that mouse, murine endogenous retroviruses are linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). As an ...
, an anti-vaccination activist. The fact-checker Health Feedback said of the video that "several of its core scientific claims are false and its facts, even when accurate, are often presented in a misleading way."
On April 29, 2020, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
(CBC) story reported that some Canadians were upset to receive a special edition of ''The Epoch Times'' that called COVID-19 the "CCP virus". The CBC later retracted a headline on its story that had quoted a recipient saying the special edition was "racist and inflammatory", and the CBC also retracted a claim that ''The Epoch Times'' edition had concluded that COVID-19 was a bioweapon. Opinion columns published by conservative tabloid ''The Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Postmedia Place in ...
'' accused the CBC of bias against ''The Epoch Times'' and said the CBC's report may have misled readers into thinking ''The Epoch Times'' was spreading anti-Asian sentiment.
In February 2021, an investigator for EU DisinfoLab found that ''Tierra Pura'', a Spanish-language website first launched in Argentina in March 2020 that publishes COVID-19 misinformation, is closely linked to ''The Epoch Times'' and Falun Gong. At the time, the site was the most shared outlet in Spain's COVID-19-skeptic Telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
channels and groups. ''The Epoch Times'' and ''Tierra Pura'' denied being linked.
In January 2022, the German edition of ''The Epoch Times'' amplified accusations by German activist Steffen Löhnitz that the Austrian government had deliberately inflated infection numbers to justify a lockdown. It said Löhnitz had been digging up "correct numbers" and reported his claims of "massive fraud" as fact. The ''Epoch Times'' story was shared by figures from '' Querdenken'', Germany's anti-lockdown movement.
Other
In 2010, the paper ran an interview with Canadian Conservative Member of Parliament Rob Anders
Robert J. "Rob" Anders (born April 1, 1972) is a Canadian former politician. He represented the riding of Calgary West from 1997 until 2015 and was a founding member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
On April 12, 2014, Anders was defeated b ...
wherein Anders alleged that the Chinese government used gifts and business deals in attempts to influence Canadian political decisions.
''The Epoch Times'' publishes a web series with conservative commentator Larry Elder
Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American right-wing political commentator and conservative talk radio host. Elder hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio stat ...
, a candidate in the 2021 recall election against California governor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...
.
The newspaper has been sued multiple times for copyright infringements; two class action suits have also been filed against it for misuse of personal information.
Social media bans
Ads banned by Facebook and YouTube
The Epoch Media Group spent $11 million on Facebook ads in 2019, including, over a six-month period in 2019, more than $1.5 million on about 11,000 pro-Trump Facebook advertisements purchased by ''The Epoch Times''. According to publicly available Facebook ad data reported by NBC News, ''The Epoch Times'' spent more on pro-Trump ads than any group except the Trump campaign itself.
Political ad spending on Facebook in April 2019 through an account called "Coverage of the Trump Presidency by The Epoch Times" exceeded any politician's spending except Trump's and Joe Biden's. Journalist Judd Legum
Judd Legum (born December 8, 1978) is an American journalist, lawyer, and political staffer.
Early life
Legum was born in Annapolis, Maryland. Legum earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy analysis from Pomona College and a Juris Doctor ...
wrote in May 2019 that ''The Epoch Times'' ads were "boosting Donald Trump and floating conspiracy theories about Joe Biden."
In August 2019, Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
banned ''The Epoch Times'' from advertising on its platform after finding that the paper broke its political transparency rules by publishing pro-Trump subscription ads through sockpuppet pages such as "Honest Paper" and "Pure American Journalism." A Facebook representative told NBC: "Over the past year we removed accounts associated with ''The Epoch Times'' for violating our ad policies, including trying to get around our review systems."
''The Epoch Times'' publisher, Stephen Gregory, wrote in response that the paper did not intend to violate Facebook's rules and that its video ads were advertisements for subscriptions to the newspaper.
After Facebook banned it from advertising, the newspaper shifted its spending to YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, where it has spent more than $1.8 million on ads, some promoting conspiracy theories, since May 2018. YouTube demonetized ''Edge of Wonder'', a program of the Epoch Media Group, on its platform, and removed ''Epoch Times'' ads relating to COVID-19.
Removal of ''The BL (The Beauty of Life)'' from Facebook
In October 2019, the fact-checking website Snopes
''Snopes'' , formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source f ...
reported close links between ''The Epoch Times'' and a large network of Facebook pages and groups called ''The BL'' (''The Beauty of Life'') that shared pro-Trump views and conspiracy theories such as QAnon
QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...
. At that time, ''The BL'' had spent at least $510,698 on Facebook advertising. Hundreds of the ads were removed for violations of Facebook's advertising rules. By December 2019, the ''BL'' network of pages had 28 million Facebook followers, according to ''Snopes''.
The editor-in-chief of ''The BL'' had previously worked as editor-in-chief of ''The Epoch Times,'' and several other ''BL'' employees were listed as current or former ''Epoch Times'' employees. ''The BL'' was registered in Middletown, New York, to an address that also was registered to Falun Gong's ''Sound of Hope Radio Network'' and was associated with the YouTube series ''Beyond Science,'' and Snopes found "the outlet as a whole is literally the English-language edition of ''Epoch Times'' Vietnam."
Snopes found that ''The BL'' was using more than 300 fake Facebook profiles based in Vietnam and other countries, using names, stock photos and celebrity photos in their profiles to emulate Americans, to administer more than 150 pro-Trump Facebook groups amplifying its content.
''The Epoch Times'' and ''The BL'' denied being affiliated with each other, although the latter acknowledged that a "few of our staff" previously worked for ''The Epoch Times''.
In December 2019, Facebook announced it had removed a large network of accounts, pages, and groups linked to The BL and Epoch Media Group for coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign actor. The network had 55 million followers on Facebook and Instagram, and $9.5 million had been spent on Facebook ads through its accounts.
''The New York Times'' reported that The BL had used fake profile photos generated by artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
. The Atlantic Council Digital Forensic Research Lab director Graham Brookie said the coordinated network of fake accounts demonstrated "an eerie, tech-enabled future of disinformation." Facebook's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said, "What's new here is that this is purportedly a U.S.-based media company leveraging foreign actors posing as Americans to push political content. We've seen it a lot with state actors in the past."
Removal of ''TruthMedia'' from Facebook
On August 6, 2020, Facebook removed hundreds of fake accounts by a digital company called TruthMedia that promoted ''Epoch Times'' and NTD content and pro-Trump conspiracy theories about COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
and protests in the United States. The operation included 303 Facebook accounts, 181 pages, 44 Facebook groups and 31 Instagram accounts, which in total were followed by more than 2 million people. Snopes and NBC News reported that TruthMedia had ties to the Epoch Media Group, but Stephen Gregory, publisher of ''The Epoch Times'', denied this.
TruthMedia, now banned from Facebook, continues to operate YouTube channels in Chinese, English, Japanese, and Vietnamese, and has accounts on Pinterest
Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...
and Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. It appears to have begun a petition to the White House to "start calling the novel coronavirus the CCP virus."
Censorship by the Chinese government
In some cases ''The Epoch Times'' operates in a hostile overseas environment, in which "overseas Chinese media companies choosing to remain independent or publish non-approved content become the targets of an aggressive campaign of elimination or control." In one instance, Chinese diplomatic officials made threats against media for reporting Falun Gong-related content; in other cases, advertisers and distributors have been threatened for supporting ''The Epoch Times''. Communist Party authorities have been accused of resorting to "militant methods" against the paper and its staff, including attacking staff and destroying computer equipment.
In 2006, the International Federation of Journalists criticized what it called a "dirty war" against ''The Epoch Times'', citing incidents such as ''The Epoch Times'' Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
printing plant being broken into and damaged by unidentified men, and Epoch's offices in Sydney and Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
receiving suspicious mail envelopes suspected of containing toxic materials. The IFJ also noted incidences of ''Epoch Times'' staff and advertisers being intimidated, and newspapers being confiscated, in what it characterized as "a vicious witch-hunt aimed at crushing the voice of dissent."
The newspaper was briefly banned from Malaysia after coming under reported pressure by the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2016, the newspaper was removed from the pharmacy of Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
after the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association
The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) () is the official organization for overseas Chinese students and scholars registered in most colleges, universities, and institutions outside of the People's Republic of China. The associati ...
confronted the pharmacist and threw out the papers. The incident drew national media coverage over questions of Chinese government-sponsored overseas student organizations.
In November 2019, Reporters Without Borders called on Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
Chief Executive Carrie Lam
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Sec ...
to protect press freedoms after ''The Epoch Times'' said four masked arsonists with batons had damaged its printing press. Additionally, in a 2019 report, Reporters Without Borders said that ''The Epoch Times'' chief technical officer, Li Yuan, was assaulted in his Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, home on February 8, 2006, by "suspected Chinese government agents" who took his two laptops.
On April 12, 2021, the Hong Kong printing facility was vandalized during working hours, in the presence of staff members. The attack was filmed by CCTV.
The 2022 film ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel ...
'' was blocked from release in China after the film was submitted for review and footage that made reference to ''The Epoch Times'' was found.
White House controversies
In April 2006, a reporter with temporary ''Epoch Times'' press credentials unfurled a protest banner and heckled China's leader Hu Jintao at a summit with President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, shouting, "Stop him from killing!" and "Evil people will die early", prompting Chinese officials to refuse to attend a ceremonial lunch in protest. ''The Epoch Times'' later disassociated itself from the reporter.
In September 2018, ''Epoch Times'' photographer Samira Bouaou broke White House protocol and handed Trump a folder. In August 2020, the White House Correspondents' Association
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
objected to the Trump administration's bending of COVID-19 social distancing rules in press briefings to favor ''The Epoch Times,'' '' The Gateway Pundit'' and One America News Network
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable news channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartere ...
.
Assessments
Ming Xia, a political science professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...
, wrote in 2007 that ''The Epoch Times'' represents part of Falun Gong
Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
's strategic effort to expand to non-practitioners, and "embed itself into the large civil society for influence and legitimacy." In 2018 he described ''The Epoch Times'' staff as largely part-time and volunteer, and said they "do not follow the protocols professional journalists abide by."
The misinformation tracker NewsGuard
NewsGuard is a journalism and technology tool that rates the credibility of news and information websites and tracks online misinformation. It operates a browser extension and mobile apps for consumers as well as services for businesses, includ ...
said that ''The Epoch Times'' "fails to gather and present information responsibly, rarely corrects or clarifies errors and remains opaque as to its ownership and funding".
''The Epoch Times'' has been criticized by some scholars for biases, particularly regarding the Chinese Communist Party and mainland China issues, as well as for being a "mouthpiece" of the Falun Gong movement. James To, a New Zealand political scientist, described ''The Epoch Times'' as the "primary mouthpiece" of Falun Gong, writing that it "lacks credibility", despite the newspaper posing a "viable threat to the CCP" by publishing articles about the party's negative aspects.
In his book ''Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on China's Version of Twitter and Why,'' University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
research fellow
A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...
Jason Q. Ng referred to the paper's coverage of mainland China issues as "heavily biased against the Communist Party" and thus its reportage "should be viewed skeptically."
A 2018 report by the Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, an ...
, a conservative think tank, called ''The Epoch Times'' one of the few independent Chinese-language media outlets in the U.S. not taken over by businessmen sympathetic to the Chinese government. The report also said that reports on China by ''The Epoch Times'' and other outlets affiliated with Falun Gong, which is banned from China, are "uneven."
Seth Hettena wrote in ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' that ''The Epoch Times'' "has built a global propaganda machine, similar to Russia's Sputnik or RT, that pushes a mix of alternative facts
"Alternative facts" was a phrase used by U.S. Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, during a ''Meet the Press'' interview on January 22, 2017, in which she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's false statement about the a ...
and conspiracy theories that has won it far-right acolytes around the world."
Joan Donovan
Joan Donovan (born 1979/1980) is an American social scientist researcher and lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, an affiliate at Data and Society, and is research director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project ...
of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice.
Among other activities, the center or ...
at Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
called ''The Epoch Times'' "a known disinformation operation." Jennifer Grygiel, an associate professor of communication at Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...
, said that ''The Epoch Times'' is "a notorious outlet that has been known to spread disinformation and misinformation."
James Bettinger, a professor of communications at Stanford University and the director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, said "Even if ''Epoch Times'' is not associated with Falun Gong, if they consistently write about Falun Gong in the same perspective, or if there are no articles examining Falun Gong, people would perceive it as being not credible." Orville Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, said in 2005 that "It's hard to vouch for their quality because it's difficult to corroborate, but it's not something to be dismissed as pure propaganda."
In his 2008 book on Falun Gong, David Ownby wrote that ''The Epoch Times'' articles are "well written and interesting, if occasionally idiosyncratic in their coverage."[Morais, Betsy. "''The Epoch Times'' doesn't like to brag", Capital Magazine, June 23, 2010] According to Ownby, the newspaper has been praised and also criticized for a perceived bias against the CCP, and support of Falun Gong practitioners and other dissidents such as Tibetans, Taiwanese independence advocates, democracy activists, Uyghurs and others. The paper is therefore often assessed in light of its connection to Falun Gong, rather than a thorough analysis of its editorial content.
Jiao Guobiao
Jiao Guobiao (; born 1963 in Qi County, Kaifeng, Henan) is a Chinese dissident who was formerly an associate professor at Peking University's College of Journalism and Communications until he was dismissed. A prominent journalist at ''Chinese ...
, a former Beijing University journalism professor who was dismissed after criticizing the Propaganda Department, proposed that even if ''The Epoch Times'' published only negative information highly critical of the CCP, its attacks could never begin to counterbalance the propaganda the party publishes about itself. In addressing media balance, Jiao noted that the Chinese public lacked negative, critical information about their country. As such, he noted for a need of media balance based on the principles of freedom, equality, and legality, and that media balance "is the result of the collective imbalances of all."
Haifeng Huang, professor of political science at the University of California, said, "I'm not exactly clear why they have become such a major pro-Trump voice" but "part of it is perhaps because they regard President Trump as tough on the Chinese government and therefore a natural ally for them."
The web-only, German edition of the paper, ''Epoch Times Deutschland'', has aligned with the anti-immigration far-right in Germany; the paper favorably comments on Alternative for Germany and Pegida while criticizing mainstream German media as not to be trusted. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of '' Foreign Policy'' writes that "It's not clear why the German website of a Falun Gong newspaper would choose to promote right-wing populism in Germany" but that the decision could be a business decision to drive an increase in views of the publication, or because such views reflect the teaching of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi
Li Hongzhi (, born 1951/2) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or ''Falun Dafa'', a United States-based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and ...
, "who believes that mixed-race children are 'pitiable' and 'physically and intellectually incomplete'."
A German media report described the outlet as a "favorite" of Pegida supporters, along with Sputnik News and Kopp Report, and found that its articles critical of immigration have been shared almost daily.
A report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a think tank founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld that specialises in research and policy advice on hate, extremism, and disinformation. It is headquartered in London, United Kin ...
, a London-based think tank, said the German edition of ''The Epoch Times'' "primarily runs anti-West, anti-American and pro-Kremlin content—a high proportion of this content is based on unverified information."
In December 2019, the English Wikipedia
The English Wikipedia is, along with the Simple English Wikipedia, one of two English-language editions of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was founded on January 15, 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition, and, as of
, has the most arti ...
deprecated the English and Chinese online versions of ''The Epoch Times'' as an "unreliable source" to use as a reference in Wikipedia, with editors calling it "an advocacy group for the Falun Gong, and... a biased or opinionated source that frequently publishes conspiracy theories."
In March 2022, Angelo Carusone, the head of the watchdog group Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media ...
, said that ''The Epoch Times'' "go swhere the center for the strongest infrastructure or possibility of getting as much audience and influence and reach is", and added that this complexity makes it "radically different and hard to understand". According to Carusone, the metric of success for ''The Epoch Times'' is simply influence rather than money or a specific political agenda.
Awards
In 2014, the newspaper's reporting won several journalism awards, which ''The New York Times'' later described as indicative of ''The Epoch Times'' "edging closer to Mr. Li's vision of a respectable news outlet", before it changed course in 2015 and 2016 to focus on viral content and a "Trump pivot".
References
External links
''Epoch Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epoch Times, The
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