How did a Chinese spiritual movement build a US media empire?

一个中国精神运动是如何构建美国媒体帝国的?

The Global Story

2025-12-04

27 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

When China began cracking down on the spiritual movement Falun Gong in the 1990s, its leader and some followers moved to the United States. From there, they started the Epoch Times, a free newsletter. But in the past decade, the organisation has grown to become a conservative media empire – with a Pentagon press pass, a slick TV arm, and many millions of dollars in revenue. How did they do it? The story involves a mysterious spiritual leader, a dance troupe, and even a federal indictment. What does the meteoric rise of the Epoch Times say about how media and politics in the United States have changed in the last decade? We speak to Brandy Zadrozny, who has investigated the Epoch Times for NBC News. Producer: Lucy Pawle and Cat Farnsworth Sound engineer: Martin Peralta and Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Members of the Falun Gong protesting in New York. Credit: Alex Segre/BBC Images)
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • The Pentagon recently introduced controversial new reporting rules with restrictions that stunned journalists.

  • According to a 17-page memo from the Defense Department,

  • journalists can no longer gather or report information even

  • if it's unclassified without government approval.

  • They've also been banned from accessing entire areas of the building without an escort.

  • Most journalists refused to accept these new terms and termed in their press passes.

  • Even some conservative outlets like Newsmax won't sign this thing.

  • Not even Fox News is signing on.

  • But one outlet that did agree to the new rules is the Epoch Times.

  • And frankly,

  • that caught my attention because having been a reporter for many years and in Washington,

  • DC, where everybody knows everybody, the Epoch Times remains quite the mystery.

  • The more I looked into it, the more curious I became.

  • And it is a wild story that involves a renowned dance troupe,

  • criminal indictment, and a Chinese spiritual movement known as the Falon Gong.

  • Some call it a religion, but even that's disputed.

  • From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC.

  • And today on The Global Story,

  • how followers of this spiritual movement built a conservative media empire.

  • And what does its meteoric rise say about how media and politics in the U.S.