The Epoch Times is one of the most mysterious fixtures of the pro-Trump media universe. It was started 20 years ago as a print newspaper by practitioners of Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese spiritual practice. In recent years, the paper has made inroads into top Republican circles. Mr. Trump and his advisers have shared Epoch Times articles on their social media accounts, and last year, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, sat for an interview with an Epoch Times editor. Representative Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, called it “our favorite paper.”
Three former Epoch Times employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation from the organization, said the outlet had long been financed by subscriptions, advertising and private donations. They described its staff as primarily Falun Gong practitioners, many of whom had little previous experience in journalism. Editorial employees, they said, were encouraged to attend weekly “Fa study” sessions outside work hours, during which they would gather to study the teachings of Falun Gong’s spiritual leader, Li Hongzhi.
The outlet’s heavy spending online, coupled with its unconventional background and its charged partisan content, has raised eyebrows among social media watchdogs.
“It’s quite strange,” said Nick Monaco, a disinformation researcher at the Institute for the Future, a tech research group in Palo Alto, Calif. “You don’t expect a media outlet to do this big of a push around an election.”