Mr. Norman began his speech by telling the story of John Tang, founder of the publication, who was pursuing a doctorate in physics at Georgia Tech in 1999 when, after an unexpected turn of events, he decided to start a newspaper.
“He never imagined that 20 years later he would be heading the fourth largest American newspaper by subscription count,” Mr. Norman said.
Birth of The Epoch Times
In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated a brutal campaign against the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which includes meditative exercises and moral teachings centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.An estimated 70 million to 100 million Chinese people were practicing Falun Gong at that time. The CCP, deeming the practice’s popularity a threat to its power, sought to demonize and isolate the group by using state and private media outlets, “playing nonstop hate propaganda attacking the peaceful group” in order to justify the persecution, according to Mr. Norman.
Mr. Tang, who had emigrated to the United States, watched from afar in horror as friends were persecuted for their beliefs while Western media amplified the CCP’s propaganda. Mr. Tang felt compelled to take action, Mr. Norman said.
The congressman next talked about the paper’s first reporting group, which was established in China in 2000 and mainly focused on the CCP’s human rights abuses.
The Epoch Times’ China operation went underground. Despite the setback, the Chinese edition flourished outside of China as a leading website for Chinese current events, attracting millions of readers. Today, its print newspaper reaches readers in more than 30 countries worldwide, including the United States. Many Chinese are bypassing the CCP’s internet firewall to access The Epoch Times website daily.
The CCP has been trying to shut down the publication ever since it was first published.
“The party has threatened the newspaper’s advertisers, launched incessant cyberattacks, and threatened relatives of staff members back in China,” Mr. Norman said.
Despite all these attacks, the newspaper continues to fulfill its purpose of upholding the truth.
Effect on the US
Recognizing the CCP’s infiltration efforts in the United States, especially within media organizations, The Epoch Times introduced an English edition in 2003 and established a print edition in New York in 2004. The newspaper’s independent reporting quickly gained traction. It’s now the fourth-largest newspaper in the United States by subscriber count. Its website also attracts tens of millions of monthly readers, Mr. Norman said.Currently, The Epoch Times is published in 36 countries and in 22 languages. As a nonprofit organization largely supported by individual subscribers, it provides in-depth news and analysis on critical global events.
Mr. Norman concluded his speech by saying that the paper “seeks to highlight the best of humanity in order to inspire people.”
“This is all about one word: freedom,” he said.
The congressman told The Epoch Times that he was inspired to give the address before Congress after reading the paper and learning about the company’s origins.
“The Epoch Times represents freedom,” Mr. Norman said. “It’s an example of taking matters into your own hands and being a voice and not being silenced.
“Anybody else would have quit; they would have quit if you‘d had your house raided or if you’d had the torture that’s going on.”
And it’s time to do exactly what The Epoch Times is doing, he said, because “that’s the only way we’re going to survive as a free nation.”
“The way it was founded and came into being through adversity ought to be told to America,” Mr. Norman said. “Because we can be the next CCP if we don’t tell the story of The Epoch Times.”
