I’ve had reports from West Sussex that print copies of a newspaper called Epoch Times have been pushed through their letterboxes, completely unsolicited. It’s a slick newspaper, expensively printed, and is filled with hard-right conspiracy theories typically supporting Trump and dissing the Chinese government. And in this particular issue making the rounds around Adur, the coronavirus is being blamed on the Chinese Communist Party, and the paper suggests we rename it the CCP Virus.
The paper is the work of Epoch Media Group, a New York based television and print operation that serves as a kind of extension of the Falun Gong religious movement. They’re a persecuted religious minority in China, and a favourite CCP target. But in Europe and North America, they’re promoters of far right political ideology. And they’re not insignificant. They’re the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign, and In April 2019, their social video views totalled 3 billion. That ranks them 11th globally among all video creators.
So why West Sussex? It seems it’s just their turn. Local media have reported a rise in distribution of Epoch Times in South Oxfordshire, Sheffield, Peterborough and Scotland. There are regular stories in Canada of outraged locals finding the paper in their post, and the paper is distributed across the US. Something to keep an eye on no matter your politics, as it’s clearly part of a larger campaign to sway public opinion around China.