NBC News has been working for months, if not longer, on a hit piece against the website The Epoch Times, an independent media outlet that NBC describes as "By the numbers, there is no bigger advocate of President Donald Trump on Facebook," stating in their sub-header "The Epoch Times now wields one of the biggest social media followings of any news outlet."
Between the sub-header and the very first sentence of their hit piece, we see the motive behind NBC News' desire to discredit the Epoch Times, but looking further into the piece, specifically the second and third paragraphs, we see why they chose The Epoch Times to start their campaign to destroy Independent Media.
The small New York-based nonprofit news outlet has spent more than $1.5 million on about 11,000 pro-Trump advertisements in the last six months, according to data from Facebook’s advertising archive — more than any organization outside of the Trump campaign itself, and more than most Democratic presidential candidates have spent on their own campaigns.
Those video ads — in which unidentified spokespeople thumb through a newspaper to praise Trump, peddle conspiracy theories about the “Deep State,” and criticize “fake news” media — strike a familiar tone in the online conservative news ecosystem. The Epoch Times looks like many of the conservative outlets that have gained followings in recent years.
Wait? The 'deep state' is a conspiracy theory? After the news that has been exposed over the last three years and the subsequent "Russian Collusion hoax," that was set into motion by that very entity, with even liberal mainstream media outlets using the term "deep state," how does NBC call it a conspiracy theory?
As we have spent years documenting the cornucopia of actual fake news pushed by the liberal establishment media, with stories changed stealthily after proven wrong, editors notes and corrections on others explaining what they got wrong, many changed headlines and even complete retractions and the deletion of entirely false and inaccurate articles, calling the "fake news media" a conspiracy theory is also fake news in my opinion.
Another possible reason they are targeting The Epoch Times is they believe President Trump is a "a key ally in the anti-communist fight," and the liberal establishment media seems to be all on board with the Democrats' communist agenda.
NBC NEWS SENDS 'INAPPROPRIATE' QUESTIONS TO THE EPOCH TIMES
While the NBC News piece was published on Tuesday, August 20, 2019, they apparently have been working on this project since before June 20, 2019, as The Epoch Times published a piece on June 20, updated again on July 22, 2019, regarding the "Inappropriate Questions" they were sent by two reporters for NBC News.
The NBC reporters questioned the religious beliefs of some of our staff members, sought to discredit their beliefs, attacked our journalism based on personal opinion rather than objective analysis, and even sought out information on the personal lives of our staff.
In responding to NBC with this open letter, we are not only defending The Epoch Times, but also journalism itself, freedom of the press, and freedom of belief.
As a fast-growing independent media, we proudly uphold the highest standards of journalism.
The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 with the goal of bringing truthful and uncensored news to people around the world. Our founders personally experienced the horrors of communism in China.
In our reporting, we have continually exposed the crimes of communism against humanity. For doing this, we have sustained ongoing attacks. Ten of our staff members were arrested in China and given prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.
A few clear examples are offered by The Epoch Times of those inappropriate questions, such as "Is the Epoch Times predominantly staffed by volunteers? Do some Epoch Times interns, volunteers, or employees live in a shared home?"
Really???? Frankly The Epoch Times handled that question with far more diplomacy than I would have because my instant response would have "what on earth makes you SOB's think that is any of your business?"
Another question quoted was "Much of the Epoch Times’ recent coverage has focused on the promotion of President Trump’s policies, interviews with surrogates, and a 'deep state' conspiracy to 'spy' on his campaign during the 2016 election. Do you feel like this is a fair characterization and do you consider the Epoch Times to be pro-Trump?"
Since we know from publicly available information that members of the Obama administration's intelligence agencies did, indeed, spy on President Trump's campaign, the "tone" of that question is apparently part of the liberal media's refusal to admit the truth of what has already been exposed, and what is expected to be exposed when the DOJ's Inspector General releases his long-awaited report on the FISA abuses that opened the door to said spying on the Trump campaign.
Attorney General Bill Barr openly stated in his congressional testimony that he believed spying did occur and is now running an investigation into whether that spying was adequately predicated.
Other questions cited was to do with the religion of the The Epoch Times' staff writers and owners, which frankly is no ones business. Never have we at ANP determined whether to use a source, quote a person, or cite a website based solely on their religion. If they source their information, provide links to verify the information is correct, then the religion of the writer or owner of a website, should not come into play.
NBC'S SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT EPOCH TIMES
On August 20, at 12:27 pm they started with "By the numbers, there is no bigger advocate of President Trump on Facebook than The Epoch Times. But despite its growing reach, little is publicly known about the precise ownership, origins or influences of the nonprofit news outlet."
15 minutes later, at 12:42 pm, they continued "The Epoch Times has spent more than $1.5 million on pro-Trump advertisements in the last 6 months — more than any organization outside of the Trump campaign. High engagement has made it a Trump family favorite and a key component of the president's re-election campaign."
12 minutes later, at 12:54 pm, they kept going, stating "At the same time, its network of news sites and YouTube channels has made it a powerful conduit for conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccination propaganda and QAnon, to reach the main stream."
They continued along in the same manner for a total of eight promotionals for just the one article, showing their intent to attempt to discredit a popular Independent News website for no other reason than it is pro-Trump and has a massive following on social media, which would help President Trump in his re-election efforts.
EPOCH TIMES RESPONDS
Following the publishing of the NBC News hit piece, the Epoch Times hit back stating their piece was "riddled with inaccuracies, blatant errors, and misrepresentations."
More:
Seeing the success of The Epoch Times as America’s fastest-growing newspaper, NBC News has published a hit piece that is riddled with inaccuracies, blatant errors, and misrepresentations.
For example, NBC News mischaracterizes our subscription campaigns for our print newspaper. We provided a statement to NBC News in June to clarify this, but they chose to ignore it—against well-established journalistic practices.
While The Epoch Times has been at the forefront of covering the actions taken by officials in the Obama administration who targeted the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, NBC News is refusing to look at verifiable evidence and simply dismisses the reporting as a “conspiracy theory.” This comes from an outlet that misled the American public for more than two years with false claims that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
BOTTOM LINE - ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA HAS DECLARED WAR
First it was big tech deplatforming people like Alex Jones, Laura Loomer and others. Social media giants shadow banned, suspended accounts and censored Independent Media in an attempt to limit the reach of those that do not toe the "official narrative" line.
The MSM took their shots at Independent Media collectively, putting hundreds of websites on "lists" calling them Russian propaganda, or adding them to list alongside of of actual "fake news" and hoax websites, hoping to discredit Independent Media by association.
Now the MSM is directly targeting an Independent News outlet that they admit "wields one of the biggest social media followings of any news outlet," all because they are a "advocate of President Donald Trump."
After losing control of the narrative and their ability to influence voters in 2016, the liberal establishment media is determined to wrest that control back, and they do not care how many or who they have to destroy to do it.
They have declared war and Independent Media readers can help by sharing their favorite IM websites, whether it is via email, on social media, and/or in comment sections, just as they did in 2016 to bypass the lies and distortions the establishment media was pushing.
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