John Tang immigrated to the US from China in 1993 following the horrific events inTiananmen Square in 1989. He was horrified by the communist regime's cruelty and deceit towards its own people. As a young doctoral candidate, he was deeply impacted by the freedoms afforded to the American people.^[1]

It was not until 1999 when China started persecuting followers of the spiritual meditation practice of Falun Dafa or Falun Gong, which Tang also followed, that he realized American media outlets were rehashing misinformation that was being spread by Chinese Communist Party leaders. He was saddened to see mainstream media in the United States repeating Chinese propaganda and disinformation from Chinese Communist Party leaders. In response, Tang founded The Epoch Times, whose motto isTruth and tradition. He was determined to counter propaganda from the Chinese government, provide factual information, and defend persecuted practitioners of Falun Gong.^[2] The Epoch Times has since become a multinational news source in 21 languages available in 35 different countries.^[3]

Early Life and Education

John Tang was born in China, and immigrated to the United States in 1993. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, in which the Chinese government brutally suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations, deeply influenced his political and philosophical outlook. His desire for freedom led him to pursue higher education in the U.S., where he enrolled as a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology to study physics. Two years after he had arrived in the U.S., he was introduced to Falun Gong by a friend, and became a follower of the practice, having been influenced by its principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.^[1] ...Read more

The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by John Tang and otherChinese Americans affiliated with theFalun Gong new religious movement.^[4] Tang was a graduate student inGeorgia at the time; he began the newspaper in his basement.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

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 United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and major Western European countries.^[8] The first English edition launched online in September 2003, followed by the first print edition in 2004.^[9] The English Australian edition was launched inSydney in 2005.^[10]

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 ade facto media alliance with democracy activists in exile.^[11] In 2003, sociologistYuezhi Zhao 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.^[8]

In 2005, theSan Francisco Chronicle 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 (namelyThe Epoch Times,Sound of Hope, 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 reporterNahal Toosi wrote ...Read more