Our story

The beginning...

...in a suburban Atlanta home basement with a noble cause, a clear sense of purpose and a few home personal computers.

The Epoch Times was born to restore freedom of the press in and about China. With a staff of 20 reporters inside China and dozens worldwide, The Epoch Times got off the ground in May 2000, with the website launch in August 2000. Local editions published by regional bureaus soon followed. Today, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper outside of Mainland China and Taiwan .

A Truly Free Press
As China began to open its doors to trade and commerce with the West in the late 1990’s, China’s then-Communist leader launched a brutal, natiowide campaign to “eradicate” a traditional Chinese exercise and meditation practice known as Falun Gong. Over the next several years, millions were hunted down by police and tortured. Thousands were killed.

In the U.S., a group of Chinese-Americans watched in disbelief as the Chinese language media published an endless stream of reports fabricated to drum up hatred toward Falun Gong, both in China and around the world. Thus, as friends and family were being tortured and killed back home, the media was used to incite further hatred inside China toward Falun Gong and thwart would-be critics abroad.

These events brought sharply into focus a fundamental flaw in the state of Chinese and world media: People inside China, despite the growth of the Internet, had little-to-no access to any news coverage except the state-run propaganda. People outside China, when it came to knowing about events unfolding in China and understanding their significance, faired little better: International media in China were still kept on a short leash. At the same time, international media corporations faced conflicts of interest as China sought lucrative partnerships only with media companies willing to steer clear of topics labeled “sensitive” by the Communist leadership.

Beyond China
As the Chinese-language paper expanded, The Epoch Times founders found that political and economic forces similar to those that had lead to no free press in China were increasinlgy tarnishing the integrity of news reporting in other parts of the world. News coverage was more and more driven by entertainment value or political leanings rather than a clear interest in reporting the news that truly helps people stay informed about the issues that affect their neighborhoods, their country and their world.

Therefore, in 2003 work began to launch English editions of the newspaper in major U.S. cities. The English website was launched in spring 2004. The Epoch Times has since expanded its English newspaper to include editions in 8 U.S. cities, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. French and German editions are also published in Europe.

Today The Epoch Times remains the fastest growing media conglomerate in the world, propelled across boundaries of country, language and culture by the simple, yet powerful mission to deliver in-depth and uncensored insights into the important issues of our time. Amidst the saturation of entertainment-driven news, and other conflicts of interest that place corporate agendas in opposition to telling the real stories behind the news, The Epoch Times is, indeed, a fresh look at our changing world.

Impact:

"Integrity; unbiased and uncensored"
"Writers of the nine commentaries"
"AJAA Award for best website in 2005"
"Close watch on China"
"No foreign correspondents"