Epoch Times scandal shows why quality outlets matter
A copy of The Epoch Times in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14, 2020. (ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO)
MAP Strategies Group
When news broke last week of financial malfeasance at ‘pink slime’ upstart Epoch Times, many media observers didn’t bat an eye. Something never sat right with the company’s anti-China rhetoric and self-proclaimed “No. 1 Trusted” status extolled on its billboards and news racks along side the New York Times, Arizona Republic and USA Today at a time when many print products are struggling to reinvent themselves.
Well, it appears that it is all smoke and mirrors, a false-equivalency paid for by funny crypto money and fraud.
Federal prosecutors in New York charged Epoch Times Chief Financial Officer Weidong “Bill” Guan of steering at least $67 million in criminal proceeds, much from fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits, to the company and its affiliates, which effectively helped support ongoing operations.
The Epoch Times reported nearly $128 million in revenue for 2021, a stunning increase from $4 million in 2016, according to a federal financial disclosure reported by The Associated Press.
Much of the money came in through the company's “Make Money Online” team, run by Guan, according to the federal indictment. Guan has claimed the windfall was due in part to an increase in subscriptions and donations, the indictment said.
In relatively short order, the outlet has created a global-scale misinformation machine online and through video in dozens of languages that have repeatedly pushed fringe narratives into the mainstream, and has included guest columns and commentary from alt-right, fringe figures like Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, commentator Sebastian Gorka, and conservative economist Peter Navarro, U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, among others.
TELL US MORE ABOUT ‘PINK SLIME JOURNALISM’
“Pink slime” journalism is named after a meat byproduct and describes outlets that publish poor quality reports that appear to be local news.
• In the past decade, many local news sites have either gone out of business or are struggling to survive, and pink slime sites have replaced them.
• These outlets claim to cover local and hyperlocal news, sometimes taking advantage of news deserts.
• Pink slime sites are frequently produced via automation and templates. Look for text that’s more generic than expected, or articles that are pure information without context — that’s a giveaway you’re looking at a pink slime website.
• Often, they’re funded by outside companies with a partisan source of financing.
-Poynter Institute