I Am Saying “No” to The Epoch Times
It’s a danger of biased news published by an “unbiased” newspaper
The Epoch Times claims to their readers that “The Epoch Times commits to reporting the facts.” I subscribed for a month while COVID-19 just became our daily news and I needed to read the newspaper that reported the truth, not fabricated information. I thought The Epoch Times brings more independent news.
However, I soon discovered that they were much more right-wing than neutral and their style of writing was not what I considered being “true journalism.” Besides, my biggest problem was their favoritism to Trump.
After months of my cancellation, I just got an email from The Epoch Times this morning, and I was absolutely shocked to read this email that contained a full of self-defense and attacks to other media sources. Here you read:
We’re sure every one of us has had moments in life when we wished that someone would tell us the truth — even if it wasn’t what we wanted to hear. This moment could be one of those for you.
If you have followed the news cycle in the past year — and especially in the last three months — you’d know that it’s been a roller-coaster for America.
COVID-19, a controversial election, a biased media, big tech censorship, the weirdest inauguration season ever, and we could keep going. We have seen a lot, but there’s likely more to come.
The reason?
Our country is stepping into a dangerous territory led by socialist and communist ideas, and the only way to overcome this challenge is by having a large enough number of informed citizens: critical thinkers who can’t be misled and remain grounded by their traditional values.
Only by having a strong, free press and informed citizens, can we prosper. We have grown thanks to the support of readers like you who were once willing to give us a try, and we’re looking to welcome you back to our community with a special offer for our former subscribers.
We’ve faced many challenges: censorship, advertisement bans, demonetization of our social media channels, being attacked by mainstream media — you name it.
But that’s all nothing to us if we can get you back. Every reader we have is an American who still believes in our nation’s time-honored values, and a reason to hope that we can restore those values to their proper place in our society.
Why I Can’t Trust The Epoch Times
I had little knowledge about this company when I subscribed, other than just taking their claim of “unbiased news.” I thought it was time to dig some information about the company. Here are my findings.
- Their founders/supporters are a big religious group.
The founders of The Epoch Times are the members of the religious group, Falun Gong, and the company is strongly affiliated with them. Falun Gong was banned in China by the communist party over 20 years ago. Some practices of Falun Gong are good, like meditation and spirituality that provide inner peace in people. However, there are many dangerous practices, as you see.
More recently, Falun Gong has come under scrutiny for what some former practitioners have characterized as an extreme belief system that forbids interracial marriage, condemns homosexuality, and discourages the use of modern medicine, all allegations the group denies. (Source: Wikipedia)
Asides from their practices or beliefs, Falun Gong may be qualified as a “religious cult.” The members look the leader, Li Hongzhi as God, and this is a powerful sign of showing cult-like behavior. Simply, if the newspaper that you are reading is affiliated with a religious cult group, you may wonder how reliable the news is.
2. They are far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists.
The main agenda of The Epoch Times is apparently to promote the anti-communist movement, and this seems to be their primary motivation for their daily activity. Because of the affiliation with Falun Gong, the company can’t operate in China and they continue to carry the sense of hate against communist China.
Another noticeable point is that their articles clearly taking a far-right side, and it’s far more than needed. I know, each media publication has a certain level of one-sided argument and that is understood and that’s just normal. Interestingly, The Epoch Times claims itself to deliver the “truth,” more than other major media groups do, which makes it almost laughable. I rarely hear Washington Post advertises with the phrase, “We bring the truth.” Any news media is expected to report facts and truths. When did that change?
3. The relationship with Trump.
This was a final blow to make me stop the subscription. Their favoritism to Trump was so obvious, and I had to scratch my head by thinking if I was actually reading neutral comments or opinions as they claimed.
The Epoch Times promoted multiple conspiracy theories all over the media outlets and became one of Trump’s closest media allies and this also made the company gain enormous financial benefits. (Source: Wikipedia)
Again, this concludes that their claim is so outright wrong. They are probably the most biased news media company that you can find.
My Final Verdict
Their outcry remarks on censorship, advertisement bans, demonetization of our social media channels, being attacked by mainstream media, are actually true and facts.
In 2019, Facebook banned advertisements by The Epoch Times for the violation of the rules of the political ads, which was implemented by Facebook in 2018. After this, the company quickly shifted its presence to YouTube, however, YouTube is now preventing them to monetize from the ads.
Other outlets of The Epoch Media (The parent of The Epoch Times) includes TruthMedia and The Beauty of Life are also removed from Facebook.
There is nothing about “fair,” “neutral,” “unbiased,” or “genuine news” on The Epoch Times. It’s nothing but lies, deceptions, manipulations, and propaganda. In fact, they can easily spread the news that people want to hear, the same people who want to believe conspiracy theories other than “truth.”
If you see the ads by The Epoch Times, proudly praising how their paper differs from mainstream media because of voices of “fairness and truth”, you need to stop for a moment.
It is one thing to suck into whatever the company claims, but another thing is to see the “truths” that they are actually presenting. Hidden agenda? Sure, there are plenty of them.
You can believe anything, but the facts remain no matter what.
