The Epoch Times

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The Epoch Times

Type	International newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Privately owned
Founded	2000
Political allegiance	anti-Chinese Communist Party
Language	mainly Chinese and English
Headquarters	New York,  United States
Circulation	1.4 million
Website	The Epoch Times

The Epoch Times (simplified Chinese: 大纪元; traditional Chinese: 大紀元; pinyin: Dàjìyuán) is a privately owned, general-interest newspaper, originally published in Chinese.^[1] According to their own statement, the Epoch Times exists to provide what they see as uncensored coverage of events in China.^[1] The paper has been in continuous publication since May 2000. Headquartered in New York, the newspaper has local bureaux and a wide network of local reporters throughout the world. It is sold and also distributed free-of-charge in roughly 30 countries worldwide, and maintains editions in English, Chinese, nine other languages in print, and 17 on the web.

The newspaper was founded by Falun Gong practitioners, in response to what is regarded by human rights groups as nationwide persecution of Falun Gong by the government of the People's Republic of China, which began in 1999.^[2][3] Its stated focus is coverage of China and human rights issues.^[4][5][6] Its editorial stance has been described as critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and sympathetic to dissidents. The Chinese government blocks mainlanders from accessing the Epoch Times's website.^[7]

Contents 1 History 2 Distribution 3 Coverage and focus 4 The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party 4.1 Publication 4.2 Author 4.3 CCP Renunciations 5 Credibility 5.1 Independent assessments 5.2 Awards and recognition 5.3 Relationship to Falun Gong 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

According to the newspaper itself, The Epoch Times was founded in New York in May 2000, following the arrest of a small circle of journalists in China in 2000.^[1]

Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), said that The Epoch Times "was established by Dafa disciples for validating the Fa."^[8] The term Dafa disciple refers to practitioners of Falun Dafa; "validating the Fa" refers to resisting the persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China, at the same time clarifying the truth.

On August 12, 2002, The Epoch Times launched its first daily in Washington, D.C.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2004, an English language edition of The Epoch Times was launched in Manhattan, where the newspaper is headquartered. In October 2005, distribution of the free weekly newspaper began in Chicago.^[9]

[edit] Distribution

Yuezhi Zhao, Assistant Professor of Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada, wrote in 2003 that The Epoch Times website and The Epoch Times group of newspapers "have grown into one of the largest Chinese-language news websites and newspaper groups outside China in the past two years, with local editions in more than thirty U.S. states, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and major Western European countries."She wrote that the claimed weekly circulation was of 400,000 to 500,000 as of August 2002.^[10]

In 2006, Eugenia Chien wrote in the journal New Media America, that

The Epoch Times now distributes in over 30 countries worldwide, with a weekly circulation of 1.5 million. Its circulation, like many ethnic newspapers, is not audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation. The newspaper's English edition launched in New York in 2004 and rapidly grew. In New York alone, the newspaper has a 150,000 weekly distribution, in addition to 40,000 home deliveries, according to the newspaper.^[11]

As of April 2006, The Epoch Times was available in ten languages for its print editions and in 17 languages on the Internet.^[12] English editions were distributed in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. German and French editions were launched in late 2004. There were two language editions published in Tokyo, Japan: the Chinese language edition, launched in January 2001, and the Japanese language edition, launched in 2005.^[13].

Since 2006, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Ukrainian, Dutch, and Hebrew editions have started up in print.

The Chinese version of The Epoch Times is blocked from being accessed electronically or physically distributed in China. It is mainly distributed in overseas Chinese communities, for free.^{[original research?]} Chinese restaurants and grocery stores often have the English version of the paper.^{[original research?]}

[edit] Coverage and focus

Zhao wrote in 2003 that local versions take the form of a free weekly newspaper drawing on content from the Epoch Times website. These are distributed worldwide, "While mainstream newspaper 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."^[10]

Typically a 16-page broadsheet, the Epoch Times also runs mainstream newswire stories and can resemble a community newspaper.^[11]

As reported by the paper itself, Chinese journalists relayed stories overseas of alleged human rights abuses, infringements on civil liberties and corruption in the Communist Party of China (CPC), among others.^[1]

The Epoch Times originally targeted Chinese readers living abroad and reported on various persecutions and abuses by, as well as the inner workings of, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The paper's reports on China are highly critical of the Chinese government, and its tone and commentaries towards the Chinese Communist Party are largely negative. It often refers to China's government as "Communist China" in its reports, including non-political articles. It has since grown to report on civil rights issues worldwide, and now appeals to a wider audience. The English edition represents itself as a general-interest newspaper that, although it maintains a large amount of China-related content, offers twelve other sections, including travel, science, sports, and regional and international news.

The paper is unique in giving a large amount of attention to Falun Gong's campaigns, particularly their attempt to sue former Chinese President Jiang Zemin under civil legislation for genocide.^[14] However the case failed to attract major media attention outside of the newspaper, and later the paper's stance shifted from being anti-Jiang Zemin to anti-CCP.

It was one of the first newspapers to carry in-depth coverage of SARS, well before the Chinese government publicly admitted that there was an epidemic that went on to cause some 350 deaths. The paper also counters what it considers to be CCP propaganda through its own opinion pieces. The paper is very vocal in supporting dissidents, Falun Gong practitioners, pro-independence Taiwanese, American conservatives and all other traditional opponents of the CCP; their views are often expressed in the opinion page.

The paper has associated media services, including the television station New Tang Dynasty TV, the radio station Sound of Hope, which together with The Epoch Times form the Epoch media group. Minghui (Clear Wisdom) and Reminbao (People's Paper) are two other news sources used by few if any other media, and that help contribute stories from a Falun Gong perspective.^[15]

[edit] The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party

[edit] Publication

In November 2004, the Chinese version of The Epoch Times published and heavily promoted a series of editorials and a booklet entitled "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" (simplified Chinese: 九评共产党; traditional Chinese: 九評共產黨; pinyin: Jǐupíng Gòngchǎn dǎng). The editorials purport to give an alternate exposé of the CCP through its history, from its ascent to power under Mao Zedong to its present-day form, as well as a condemnation of communism in all of its forms. In it the CCP was criticized as an illegitimate institution who employed underhanded tactics to gain power. Later in the series, however, the direction seems to shift between the CPC itself, its leaders, and allots an entire chapter on the "personal jealousy of Jiang Zemin" and his attacks on Falun Gong. The Nine Commentaries won the “Asian American Issues - Online” category of the AAJA National Awards at the 2005 Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) convention held in August 2005.^[16][17] The "Commentaries" were subsequently translated into more then 30 other languages^[18].

[edit] Author

In December 2005, the author of the "Nine Commentaries" was identified as Zheng Peichun, a Chinese dissident, who was arrested on the charge of crimes against the state and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.^[19] The paper has published a follow-up to the Nine Commentaries, entitled the The Real Story of Jiang Zemin,^[20] which portrays former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who Falun Gong believes is responsible for the persecution, in completely negative lights, calling him a "lowlife who betrayed his own nation"[1], depicting Jiang as a power-hungry political opportunist who sold China to foreign powers and created domestic chaos.

[edit] CCP Renunciations

The Epoch Times claims that the publication of the "Commentaries" and its subsequent call to CCP members to "erase the beastly brand" has caused more than 35.4 million CCP members to resign as of April 2008.^[21] The Epoch Times obtains this number by tallying renunciation statements submitted to them via Internet, fax, email, or telephone. This methodology is not scientific and widely disputed, and may not reflect the actual number of CCP resignations within China since anyone regardless of Chinese citizenship or CCP membership could submit their name and be counted as a person who has claimed to have renounced their CCP membership. Submissions include anonymous and unverifiable online signatures, duplicate signatures, and public declarations for people inside mainland China unable to access the website due to censorship. The count also includes any renunciations of past or current association with any CCP-affiliated organization. At their Chinese language renunciation website,^[22] it was stated that "the evils of the Communist Cult will be punished by God at Judgment Day", and called on members of the CCP to burn Communist memorabilia. These renunciations are not recognized as valid and official by the CCP, as they are not conducted through the proper channels via the party.^[23]

This campaign calling for the renouncements of CCP members is also called the three Renouncements (三退) since it also encourages members of the two major subordinating organizations of the CCP, the Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers of China, to renounce their memberships.

According to the Constitution of the Young Pioneers of China (YP), only children between the age of 6 and 14 are eligible to be members of the YP.^[24] Those who exceed this age limit exit the YP automatically. Similar age restrictions apply to the Communist Youth League (CYL) as well (14-28).^[25] However, many participants renounce their membership of the YP and CYL even though they exceed the age limits of these organizations and are no longer members. For example, the founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi renounced his membership of CYL in 2005 at the age of 54 and was included in the tally. ^[26]

Fei Liangyong, Chairman of the Democratic China Front and senior member of Chinese Free Culture Movement, mentioned that the three renouncements campaign was indeed initiated by Falun Gong in his speeches and his various interviews with Falun Gong related media such as Mingjian and Huiyuan.^[27]

At the English language version of the renunciation website, the cumulative count of people who have allegedly quit the CCP appears as a sidebar to the Internet form which captures English language denunciations of the CCP.^[28]

[edit] Credibility

[edit] Independent assessments

Dr. Liu Kang, professor of Chinese Cultural Studies at Duke University and Associate Director of the Chinese Populations and Socioeconomic Studies Center, was one of the critics who said in 2006 that the paper did not adhere to basic journalistic standards of professionalism and objectivity, and is "not viewed as an independent objective news media" by mainland Chinese.^[11] Liu said the journal's credibility as media professionals has been damaged by Wang Wenyi while she was calling, out of line, on president Hu Jintao at his visit at the White House to stop the killings.^[11] In the view of James Bettinger, a professor of Communications at Stanford University and the director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, if The Epoch Times writing about Falun Gong is consistently in the same perspective, without any articles examining Falun Gong, "people would perceive it as being not credible". ^[11]

Orville Schell, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, 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."^[4]

Arthur Waldron, a China scholar and Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, described The Epoch Times as a "striking" example of media attempting to break through China's Golden Shield Project, and believes it is obvious that "its reports are drawn from a network of correspondents inside China, a network that the authorities have not been able to destroy." He recommended those who want to get a sense of what is really going on in China should "pay at least as much attention to The Epoch Times as they do to the People's Daily."^[29]

[edit] Awards and recognition

In May 2005, Die Neue Epoche, the German edition of The Epoch Times, received a special media prize from the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) for "extensive and regular reporting about violations of human rights in China."^[30] In August 2005, the English version of the paper was awarded the top award in the category "Asian American Issues - Online" by the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).^[9][31] In September 2005, the Chinese version of the paper was recognized during the National Ethnomedia Week 2005 in Canada as a "strong defender of human rights and free democratic values."^[32]

[edit] Relationship to Falun Gong

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2004 that according to tax records, the chairman of the paper's board, Kangang Xu, was a top Falun Gong spokesperson.^[33] A 2006 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service listed the newspaper as a Falun Gong affiliated media source.^[6]

In in April 2006, during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, Wenyi Wang, a reporter for The Epoch Times, used her journalist pass to gain access to a White House lawn press briefing.^[34] She unfurled protest banners and loudly shouted for more than a minute.^[35] President George W. Bush apologized to the Chinese for the protest incident^[36], and The Epoch Times apologized to the U.S. President.^[37] After the incident, the newspaper denied any direct ties to Falun Gong. A spokesperson said that "We are not funded by Falun Gong, we don't speak for Falun Gong, and we don't represent Falun Gong."^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Epoch Times Website (English)
• The Epoch Times Other Languages (10 languages in print, and 17 languages on the web)
• Text and Video Documentary of the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party"