NTD Television
TypeGlobal Television Network
Broadcast areaUSA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, China, Taiwan and more
Headquarters229 W. 28th Street, Suite 700, New York, NY 10001
Programming
Language(s)Multiple, mainly Chinese and English
Ownership
OwnerEpoch Media Group
History
LaunchedDecember 3, 2001
Links
Websitewww.ntd.com
Availability
New Tang Dynasty Television
Traditional Chinese新唐人電視台
Simplified Chinese新唐人电视台

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.[1] The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language broadcaster,[2] but has since expanded its language offerings; in July 2020, it launched its 24/7 English channel which now broadcasts nationwide in the U.S. and UK. It is under the Epoch Media Group, a consortium which also includes the newspaper The Epoch Times.[3] The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have promoted conspiracy theories such as QAnon, anti-vaccine misinformation[12] and false claims of fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election.[16]

History

NTD was founded in 2001 by practitioners of the Falun Gong new religious movement.[2][1] The station has a regular focus on the promotion of traditional Chinese culture and western classical arts, and devotes extensive news coverage to Chinese human rights issues, scrutinizing abuses of power by the Chinese Communist Party.[17][18] The name was chosen to invoke the ancient Tang dynasty that the company considers "the golden age of Chinese spirituality and civilization ... known for its high moral standards and unparalleled cultural achievements."[19]

The Christian Science Monitor in 2004 called NTD "the first independent Chinese-language TV station in the US".[20] The Wall Street Journal said in 2007 that NTD "serves as a platform for China's pro-democracy dissidents, who have been torn by internal squabbling and lack of organization".[21]

In 2009, NTD had an income of $5.3 million, including $2.4 million from 3,000 donations. In 2011, NTD had a staff of 80, nearly all volunteers.[22]

By 2016, NTD's revenues were $7.4 million. In 2017, they more than doubled to $18 million, according to reports from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.[23][3]

NTD started broadcasting to the UK on Sky TV on 22 February 2021[24] on channel 190 (previously used for MyTV channel), and subsequently on Freeview channel 271.

As of 2022, NTD reached about 6 million US households.[4]

Relationship with Falun Gong

NTD, along with The Epoch Times and Sound of Hope, was founded by Falun Gong practitioners who had immigrated to the West. Many of its staff are Falun Gong adherents who volunteer their time and services. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the former president Zhong Lee stated that the company's original purpose was to "speak as the voice of Falun Gong", but that "media can also play a big role pushing democracy in China".[18]

NTD is one of the organizations that Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi has referred to as "our media", along with The Epoch Times newspaper and the Shen Yun dance troupe.[3][25]

Content

NTD broadcasts programming regularly on its moderated YouTube channels, which include NTD Evening News, NTD Business News, China in Focus, Capital Report, NTD UK News and other shows.[26] Material is also presented under 'NTD News' and 'NTD Video', as well as 'NTD Daily', a daily email of content.

In 2019, NTD released a docudrama produced by Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart News chairman and advisor to Donald Trump. The film, Claws of the Red Dragon, is about the telecom company Huawei and the Chinese government.[27][28] Bannon said that, in his dealings with NTD, the group was always able to provide enough funding when he asked for it.[29]

Promotion of misinformation and conspiracy theories

NTD has produced videos about topics such as a supposed connection between Wall Street and COVID-19, and a supposed plan by China to destroy America.[30] NTD's Edge of Wonder YouTube channel has promoted QAnon, Moon landing conspiracy theories, the deep state conspiracy theory and 9/11 conspiracy theories.[30][31][24][32]

On April 7, 2020, NTD uploaded a video released by The Epoch Times.[33] The video 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, an anti-vaccination activist.[33][34] 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."[35]

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 and protests in the United States.[36][37] The operation included 303 Facebook accounts, 181 pages, 44 Facebook groups and 31 Instagram accounts,[38] which in total were followed by more than 2 million people.[37] Snopes and NBC News reported that TruthMedia had ties to the Epoch Media Group,[39][37] but Stephen Gregory, publisher of The Epoch Times, denied this.[37]

In October 2021, NTD aired a report claiming that more people were dying due to side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine than the virus itself in Taiwan. The fact-checking website Polygraph.info found that the majority of people who died after vaccination had succumbed to pre-existing conditions or chronic diseases.[40][41]

In September 2022, NTD promoted rumors that a "coup" against Xi Jinping had occurred and that he was under house arrest. The rumors went viral on social media.[42] Xi made a public appearance on September 27, after a brief absence since mid-September.[43]

Censorship

In January 2008, the Chinese embassy in the United States discouraged viewers from watching or attending NTD's Chinese New Year galas and accused NTD of spreading "anti-China propaganda" and "distorting Chinese culture".[44]

In June 2008, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, of closing down transmissions of NTD to Asia through its W5 satellite to appease the Chinese government,[45] and appealed to Eutelsat CEO Giuliano Berretta to resume the broadcasts. RSF said it possessed a recording of a Beijing employee of Eutelsat revealing a "premeditated, politically motivated decision".[45] Eutelsat responded that the shutdown resulted solely from a technical failure of its W5 satellite, denied the validity of the conversation alleged by RSF, and said that it still broadcast NTD to Europe.[46][47] The International Federation of Journalists said Eutelsat was capable of resuming NTD transmissions to Asia, and it and members of the European Parliament called on Eutelsat to do so.[48][46]

NTD Canada

NTD Canada
CountryCanada
Broadcast areaNational
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Programming
Picture format1080i (HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerNTD Canada
History
LaunchedMarch 28, 2012
Links
Websiteca.ntdtv.com

NTD Television Canada officially launched on Rogers Cable on September 30, 2008,[49] on Bell Fibe TV in 2010, and on Shaw Cable on March 28, 2012. It is also available on Novus Entertainment in Vancouver.[50]

On July 25, 2012, NTD Television officially launched NTD Canada, a local Canadian channel for Chinese viewers in Canada.[51] NTD Canada is a multilingual service airing programming in Cantonese, Mandarin, English and French, to reach out to second- and third-generation Chinese-Canadians who may not speak Chinese as well as they do English or French.

In June 2010, the Canadian Prime Minister's Office canceled a press conference that NTD and The Epoch Times would have attended so that General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao would not come into contact with the broadcaster, allegedly following terms from the Chinese consulate. According to the Toronto Star, such press conferences are usually a standard procedure for foreign leaders visiting the Parliament, and the cancellation was seen as an extraordinary measure to keep NTD away from the Chinese leader.[52]

See also

  • Falun Gong-related groups:

References

  1. 1 2 John Annese (August 17, 2022). "NYPD cop accused of spying for China heads to trial in the fall". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Falun Gong Fields Media Weapons". Wall Street Journal. April 14, 2004. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times". NBC News. August 20, 2019. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Kurlantzick, Joshua (March 19, 2023), "China's Mixed Effectiveness", Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World, Oxford University Press, pp. 259–C11.P130, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197515761.003.0011, ISBN 978-0-19-751576-1, retrieved August 21, 2023
  5. 1 2 Callery, James; Goddard, Jacqui (August 23, 2021). "Most-clicked link on Facebook spread doubt about Covid vaccine". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2021. Facebook's data on the first quarter of this year shows that one of its most popular pages was an article by The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper that has promoted QAnon conspiracy theories and misleading claims of voter fraud related to the 2020 US election.
  6. 1 2 Waldman, Scott (August 27, 2021). "Climate denial newspaper flourishes on Facebook". E&E News. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022. The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper that echoes anti-vaccine messages and promoted former President Trump's false election claims, received 44.2 million views between April and June for a page that offers to sign up subscribers, according to a report released by Facebook last week.
  7. ↑ Zadrozny, Brandy; Collins, Ben (August 20, 2019). "Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times". NBC News. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  8. ↑ Alba, Davey (August 23, 2019). "Facebook Bans Ads From The Epoch Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 17, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  9. ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (August 23, 2019). "Epoch Times banned from advertising after sneaking pro-Trump propaganda onto Facebook". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Perrone, Alessio; Loucaides, Darren (March 10, 2022). "A key source for Covid-skeptic movements, the Epoch Times yearns for a global audience". Coda Media. Archived from the original on March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  11. ↑ "The battle in miniature". The Economist. October 10, 2020. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2022. she got her news from the far-right One America News Network and Epoch Times, a pro-Trump newspaper produced by the Falun Gong sect that has spread the anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy.
  12. ↑ [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
  13. ↑ Silverman, Craig (January 8, 2021). "This Pro-Trump YouTube Network Sprang Up Just After He Lost". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  14. ↑ van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (January 12, 2021). "MAGA-land's Favorite Newspaper". The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  15. ↑ Swenson, Ali; Joffe-Block, Jude (December 25, 2020). "Lengthy video makes false claims about 2020 election". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  16. ↑ [4][5][6][13][14][15][10]
  17. ↑ "NTD". Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  18. 1 2 Chen, Kathy (November 15, 2007). "Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  19. ↑ "NTD About Us". Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Network offers free press for Chinese in US". The Christian Science Monitor. April 8, 2004. Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  21. ↑ Chen, Kathy (November 15, 2007). "Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
  22. ↑ Trotta, Daniel (March 17, 2011). "TV channel trying to change China from New York". Reuters. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  23. ↑ ProPublica, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Ken Schwencke, Brandon Roberts, Alec Glassford (May 9, 2013). "Universal Communications Network Inc - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. 1 2 "NTD to launch on Sky". February 21, 2021. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference". www.falundafa.org. September 5, 2010. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  26. ↑ "NTD - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Canada Has Starring Role In Steve Bannon's Film About Huawei". HuffPost Canada. August 28, 2019. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Canadian film company alleges interference by Ottawa after CMF pulls funding on Huawei docudrama with ties to Stephen Bannon". Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  29. ↑ Roose, Kevin (October 24, 2020). "How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 5, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  30. 1 2 Goforth, Claire (May 19, 2020). "YouTube ads are rife with coronavirus conspiracies—from the same right-wing site". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  31. ↑ Rothschild, Mike (August 27, 2019). "This massive YouTube channel is normalizing QAnon". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  32. ↑ Banias, MJ (May 14, 2020). "Popular UFO Conspiracy Theorists Are Cashing In On the COVID-19 Pandemic". Vice. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  33. 1 2 Gramenz, Jack (April 16, 2020). "Controversial virus doco hidden". The Courier Mail. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  34. ↑ "Scientists Haven't Found Proof The Coronavirus Escaped From A Lab In Wuhan. Trump Supporters Are Spreading The Rumor Anyway". BuzzFeed News. April 22, 2020. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  35. ↑ "Viral video promotes the unsupported hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 is a bioengineered virus released from a Wuhan research laboratory". Health Feedback. April 17, 2020. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  36. ↑ "Facebook Takes Down Inauthentic Network Associated With Truth Media" (PDF). Graphika. August 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  37. 1 2 3 4 "Facebook removes troll farm posing as African-American support for Donald Trump". NBC News. August 6, 2020. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  38. ↑ "July 2020 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report". About Facebook. August 6, 2020. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  39. ↑ "Facebook Removes Another Misinformation Network Linked to Epoch Times". Snopes.com. August 6, 2020. Archived from the original on November 20, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  40. ↑ Echols, William (October 21, 2021). "Vaccines Are Not More Deadly Than COVID-19 in Taiwan". Polygraph.info. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  41. ↑ Kochhar, Nikita (December 9, 2021). "Misleading: COVID-19 vaccine related deaths in Taiwan are higher than those due to the virus". Logically. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  42. ↑ Kannan, Saikiran (September 30, 2022). "China coup rumour: How did it originate?". India Today. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  43. ↑ "China's Xi makes first public appearance after 'coup' rumours". Al Jazeera. September 27, 2022. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  44. ↑ "Enjoy the Holidays and Stay away from the so-called "Chinese New Year Gala" of the New Tang Dynasty Television". Chinese Embassy in the United States of America. January 7, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  45. 1 2 Reporters Without Borders: European satellite operator Eutelsat suppresses independent Chinese-language TV station NTD to satisfy Beijing Archived July 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, July 10, 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  46. 1 2 Eutelsat reaffirms to European institutions the irreversible and purely technical nature of the incident resulting in the interruption of consumer broadcasting services through its W5 satellite Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, January 15, 2009, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  47. ↑ Clover, Julian (July 28, 2008). "Eutelsat defends NTDTV position". Broadband TV News. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  48. ↑ International Federation of Journalists: IFJ Calls on Eutelsat To End Bar on Chinese NTDTV Broadcasts Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, August 20, 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  49. ↑ "NTD Television Canada's official launch on Rogers in September, 2008". October 16, 2008. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  50. ↑ "New Tang Dynasty Multi-Language Channel Launched on Shaw Cable systems in Western Canada".
  51. ↑ "New Tang Dynasty Multi-Language Channel Launched on Shaw Cablesystems in Western Canada". Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  52. ↑ Susan Delacourt, "Harper helps Hu keep critics away" Archived October 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Fri Jun 25, 2010
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