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5/31: Lee Siu Hin - The Mysterious Epoch Times Reporters' Connection with Mainstream Media
The Mysterious Epoch Times Reporters' Connection with Mainstream Media Lee Siu Hin May 31, 2021 (Part Three of the 3-Part Series) According to our latest investigation, there are a dozen notable U.S.-funded far-right English-language journalists who currently or have recently worked for the anti-China cult Falun Gong-run Epoch Times while also writing and publishing their articles in different mainstream media around the world. While some of them could be “stringers,” part-time journalists who work for any agency that will hire them, which is very common for journalists unless they are employed as full-time staff because they have to work for multiple agencies to make a living. (This is a highly exploitive work environment with no guaranteed job and it requires you to publish on any topic: society, tech, or non-political issues such as human interest, lifestyle or art pieces in different publications). There are others who are actively publishing their pieces in Epoch Times-style far-right anti-communist anti-China media in different news outlets, hiding or playing down their journalistic connections. The Epoch Times has never fully disclosed their operations or their hiring process, nor the guidelines for their current journalists (full- or part-timers) who work for other news agencies. For example, can these journalists make positive comments about mainland China while working for other publications? Do their bosses from these agencies know they are working for The Epoch Times, or are they perhaps actively helping them hide their connections with the fringe cult news outlet while pretending to be a “progressive” reporter (such as Amelia Pang at the New York Times) What We Know Based on a number of online searches, The Epoch Times employs several dozen English-language journalists alone (not counting their flagship Chinese edition reporters). Besides those openly known as far-right, anti-communist journalists/writers such as Trevor Loudon who work exclusively for the paper, there are part-timers, such as Isabel van Brugen, who also work for other far-right news outlets. And there are even a few other Epoch-featured journalists who also work for agencies that wouldn't endorse the Falun Gong’s values. Since the operations of these Epoch Times reporters are shielded by security and secrecy, there's very little personal information available about the reporters' profiles in their open online information or in their bios listed at Muck Rack, a website that provides free tools to help journalists automatically compile and showcase their portfolios. Through examining The Epoch Times’ journalists' homepages (each reporter has their homepage) and their LinkedIn/Twitter personal pages, it was possible to construct somewhat murky pictures about some of their past and present “famous” reporters and their web of connections with mainstream, community-based and even progressive media worldwide. These connections are in addition to those journalists with connections to far-right media (such as Rupert Murdoch’s worldwide news empire) that share the same sick psycho-cult philosophy of spreading far-right apocalyptic anti-China messages via so-called “politically objective” news outlets. Usually for these media, depending on the topic, it could be articles about lifestyle, economy, community, and progressive causes where normal readers wouldn’t notice any difference, or articles that could be linked with their daily lives, while between the lines of these news stories they’ll insert their dark, far-right anti-communist/anti-China message. Since none of these reporters openly discusses their work and their relationship with the paper, it’s difficult to understand whether they choose to work at The Epoch Times just for the money (propagandist-for-hire) or whether they share an ideology with the paper, finding it their dream place to work, and are determined to carry the similar message covertly to the other agencies. Here are some of these notable current and former Epoch Times reporters working for other agencies: Amelia Pang: She is of Uighur and Chinese descent and a former Epoch Times reporter; she is far-right with a “progressive feminist” cover. According to Muck Rack's record, she’s written for Medium, The New York Times, Clarín (Argentina), Mother Jones, Datebook SF, The New Republic, Truthdig, Literary Hub, and Biz Tech; after leaving The Epoch Times she now works for EdTech Magazine Focus on Higher Education which “explores technology and education issues that IT leaders and educators face when they’re evaluating and implementing a solution,” according to the website. She’s been covering many progressive social issues, receiving awards for her LGBT and immigrant rights stories. She’s currently an editor at EdTech Magazine, spamming her credentials as an “investigative journalist” to the tech world with endorsements from John Pilger and interviews at NPR, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera English, and so on. On the surface, she should be considered an inspirational, motivational progressive Asian American woman success story, yet in reality she’s working for a far-right cult publicity arm, using her new found fame to spread fringe anti-China propaganda wherever possible. During her employment at The Epoch Times she had been writing articles about the anti-China/pro-CIA funded Xinjiang independence movement, such as: “Rebiya Kadeer: How One Muslim Woman Became a Leader for Her People” (August 28, 2015), or more articles praising Shen Yun dance performers – the performance arm of the Falun Gong cult movement “From Warsaw to New York, Search for Traditional Chinese Culture” (February 8, 2016). While posting #stopAAPIHate hashtag messages, she was completely silent about her former boss’ racist unfounded “CCP virus” propaganda blitz that was one of the major causes behind the ramped up anti-Asian American violence across the country for the last two years. Last year she published a book Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods using the same phony anti-China tactic as The Epoch Times, the manufacturing of fake Chinese prison labor letters to spread their extreme anti-China propaganda. Early this year, by exploiting her 1/8 Uighur heritage, The New York Times invited her to write an Op-Ed piece of flimsy recycled claims accusing China of Xinjiang “genocide” and concealing that she was working for the anti-China publication. At the same time the NYT had published several articles attacking The Epoch Times as a far right apocalyptic extremist cult publication, closely associated with then President Trump and engaged in spreading QAnon toxic lies against American democracy. Katabella Roberts: She is a London-based British journalist; her Twitter page’s motto is “Part time crisp addict, full time reporter @jampressltd @epochtimes.” She has extensive ties with The Epoch Times and NTD Television (Falun Gong’s TV arm) and also works closely with Rupert Murdoch’s far-right news empire between UK and Australia; according to her open record she writes for publications including The Sun, News.com.au, The Daily Telegraph (Australia), The Irish Sun, The Scottish Sun, The Mercury Australia and The U.S. Sun as well as other tabloids from left to right, such as Daily Star (UK), Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, 7News TV, MSN Australia, and a small southern California-based local online news website called Citizens Journal. Unlike Amelia Pang, she writes massive amounts of politically innocent human interest and celebrity stories for UK tabloids, such as “Mum-of-seven shares extremely savvy family budget that saves her £2,500 a year” (Mirror, May 25, 2021) or “Harry Dunn's friends almost hit by American car driving on wrong side of the road” (Mirror, July 9, 2020). But when she writes for The Epoch Times and NTD Television website, she quickly changes her face to become a highly political and die-hard far-right pro-Trump, anti-China propagandist with articles such as: “Sen. Rubio Urges Delta to Condemn Chinese Regime’s Ongoing Genocide of Uyghurs” (April 2, 2021) and “Trump Says Biden’s Claim He Left Children ‘Starving’ At Mexican Border Is False, Current Immigration Situation ‘Outrageous’” (March 26, 2021). Tom Ozimek: Depending on where you meet him, he could be a World Bank consultant (his personal LinkedIn profile) or an anti-China right-wing journalist at The Epoch Times. He is selling himself as a global financial expert working for the World Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. Since November 2019 he has been “providing technical assistance via the World Bank to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in establishing a deposit insurance scheme, the Corporation for Deposit Insurance (CoDI).” At the very bottom of his LinkedIn Profile, he barely mentions his employment with The Epoch Times/NTD Television between August 2009-December 2012; yet, according to his Epoch Times and Muck Rack’s profile page, he has been continually writing articles for them. His latest reports include: “Republicans Call for Fauci to Be Fired Over Wuhan Lab Controversy” (May 27, 2021) and “30 Republicans Urge Pentagon Chief to ‘Fight Back’ Against ‘Left-Wing Extremism’ in US Military” (May 26, 2021). Split Personality? While no outsiders know exactly how these high-volume reporters can act “normal” and write normally for the regular mainstream media, but when they enter into the Epoch Times paradigm, they’ll show their real-face of far-right racist anti-communist, anti-left, anti-China pro-Trump hatred within in just a click. For progressive media, it’s necessary to take a close look and never let these two-faced reporters to quietly use our message and twist it with lies, and to hijack our movement for their sick political goals, backed and designed by the U.S. 3/20: The Epoch Times, Trump's Favorite Cult Propaganda Machine Supporting the White House, and How U.S. Anti-COVID Efforts Have Been Derailed (Part One) (Part Two) About Lee Siu Hin Lee Siu Hin, a Chinese-American immigrant activist from Los Angeles CA, is the founder and national coordinator of China-U.S. Solidarity Network (CUSN), National Immigrant Solidarity Network (NISN), a long-time community, labor, antiwar and immigrant rights activists for grassroots struggle. He's also a long-time Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles unpaid reporter and producer, war correspondent went to middle-east, Europe, and Africa. NISN, a grassroots-based national grassroots immigrant activist network; and CUSN, a network of academia and community activists in both countries committed to build a China-U.S. grassroots activist dialogue. National Immigrant Solidarity Network http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org ActionLA Network http://www.ActionLA.org Activist Video Service http://www.ActivistVideo.org China-US Bi-National Activist Solidarity Network http://www.chinadelegation.org
National Immigrant Solidarity Network http://www.
On-line Donation: https://afgj.salsalabs.org/
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