GORE BAY – In the past week the Recorder Office has had a visit from several Gore Bay and area residents very upset to find a copy of The Epoch Times in their mailbox at the Canada Post office in town.
“This newspaper is very pro-Trump and they support QAnon and other far right wing groups,” stated Dave Hill, in providing a copy of the Epoch Times he received in his mailbox. “What they have done is added a lot of Canadian content in the paper to make it look legit, draw people in to read it. Canada Post should not be distributing this newspaper, some people are going to read and believe this junk.”
Wikipedia describes The Epoch Times as being “a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement, based in Midtown Manhattan (New York). The newspaper is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites accessible from 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.”
“The Epoch Times opposes the Chinese Communist Party, promotes far-right politicians in Europe and backs former president Donald Trump in the US,” reads the Wikipedia profile. “A 2019 report by NBC News showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign. The Epoch Media Group’s news sites and YouTube channels have spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccine misinformation. The organization frequently promotes other Falun Gong affiliated groups, such as the performing arts company, Shen Yun.”
“This paper is going across the province,” said Mr. Hill. “It’s a piece of crap newspaper; it’s just right wing propaganda. It shouldn’t be distributed in our mail boxes.”
Daylin Orford, postmaster at the Canada Post Corporation office in Gore Bay told the Recorder on Monday, “somebody did pay for it to be distributed. It is similar to the fliers that are sent to us, we have no control over this. Someone paid for the papers to be distributed into the mailboxes,” pointing out only those who receive fliers in the mail will receive a copy of The Epoch Times.
The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese Americans affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. Tang was a graduate student in Georgia at the time and began the newspaper in his basement, Wikipedia states. The founders said they were responding to censorship inside China and a lack of international understanding about the Chinese government’s repression of Falun Gong. In May 2000, the paper was first published in the Chinese language in New York, with the web launch in August 2000.
Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes says her offices have been getting complaints surrounding the unsolicited copies of the newspaper, according to a social media post from last Friday afternoon.
“The Epoch Times is a propaganda pamphlet that resembles a newspaper but promotes far-right opinions and ideals. The copy circulates includes pieces written by Americans with ties to the Trump administration. Both the federal government and Canada Post have also received similar complaints,” the social media post read.
