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New Tang Dynasty Television

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by HugoHelp (talk | contribs) at 10:45, 3 November 2021 (removed Category:2001 establishments in New York (state); added Category:2001 establishments in New York City using HotCat). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"NTDTV" redirects here. For a television station in the Northern Territory, Australia, see NTD (Australian TV station). For a major television station in India, see NDTV.

New Tang Dynasty Television
HeadquartersManhattan, New York City
U.S.
History
LaunchedDecember 3, 2001
Former namesNTDTV
Links
Websitewww.ntd.com (English) www.ntdtv.com (Chinese)
Availability
Terrestrial
WMBC-TV (New York City)Channel 63.5 (SD)
KXLA (Los Angeles)Channel 44.7 (SD)
WBUD-LD (Atlanta)Channel 26.4 (SD)
KCNS (San Francisco)Channel 38.5 (SD)
Channel 38.6 (SD, English)
KLEG-CD (Dallas)Channel 44.1 (SD, English)
W23BW (Madison, WI)Channel 23.4 (SD, English)
WTNO-LP (New Orleans, LA)Channel 22.3 (SD, English)
WOCK-CD (Chicago, IL)Channel 13.3 (HD, English)
WPTG-CD (Pittsburgh, PA)Channel 69.2 (SD, English)
WIRP-LD (Raleigh/Durham, NC)Channel 27.5 (SD, English)
New Tang Dynasty Television
Traditional Chinese新唐人電視台
Simplified Chinese新唐人电视台
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXīntángrén Diànshìtái
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSan1 tong4 jan4 Din6 si6 toi4

New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD, Chinese: 新唐人電視台, Xīntángrén diànshìtái) is a multilingual American television broadcaster, founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language broadcaster,[1] but has since expanded its language offerings. The company retains a focus on mainland China in its news broadcasts. It is a major part of a group of media outlets representing Falun Gong.[2][3] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the news channel have been criticized for spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.[4]

History

NTD was founded in 2001 by practitioners of the Falun Gong new religious movement. The station has a regular focus on the promotion of traditional Chinese culture, and devotes extensive news coverage to Chinese human rights issues,[citation needed] scrutinizing abuses of power by the Chinese Communist Party.[5][6] The name was chosen to invoke the ancient Tang dynasty that the company considers "the golden age of Chinese spirituality and civilization ... known for its high moral standards and unparalleled cultural achievements."[7]

Since its founding, NTD has expanded to include English, Spanish, Japanese, French, Russian, Persian, Hebrew and several other language editions.[citation needed] Its content offerings include news and analysis, arts and culture, travel, entertainment news, health and lifestyle, and children's programming.[5] NTD has correspondents in over 70 cities worldwide.[verification needed]

The station's critical reporting on the Chinese Communist Party has prompted censorship by the Chinese government. NTD also alleged that the Chinese government interfered with its reporting and business operations.[citation needed]

NTD began broadcasting via satellite in North America in February 2002. At present, the station's satellite coverage reaches Asia, Europe, and Australia in several languages.[citation needed]

The Christian Science Monitor in 2004 called NTDTV "the first independent Chinese-language TV station in the US".[8] The Wall Street Journal said in 2007 that NTD "serves as a platform for China's pro-democracy dissidents, who have been torn by internal squabbling and lack of organization".[9]

By 2005, the station's broadcasts were capable of reaching 200 million viewers globally, including 50 million in mainland China, according to a Wall Street Journal editorial.[10]

In 2009, NTD had income of $5.3 million, including $2.4 million from 3,000 donations. In 2011, NTD had a staff of 80, nearly all volunteers.[11]

By 2016, NTD's revenues were $7.4 million. In 2017, they more than doubled to $18 million, according to reports from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.[12][2]

NTD started broadcasting to the UK and Ireland on Sky on 22 February 2021[13] on channel 190 (previously used for MyTV channel), and subsequently on Freeview channel 271. This follows Ofcom revoking the broadcast license for CGTN, another Chinese channel that was broadcasting in the UK.

Relationship with the Falun Gong

NTD, along with The Epoch Times and Sound of Hope, was founded by Falun Gong practitioners who had immigrated to the West. Many of its staff are Falun Gong adherents who volunteer their time and services. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, president Zhong Lee stated that the company's original purpose was to "speak as the voice of Falun Gong", but that "media can also play a big role pushing democracy in China".[6]

NTD is one of the organizations that Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi has referred to as "our media", along with The Epoch Times newspaper and the Shen Yun dance troupe.[2][14]

Television programs

NTDTV journalist broadcasting from the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, at the announcement of Mo Yan as 2012 Nobel laureate in literature

NTD broadcasts 24/7, and offers a variety of original and syndicated programming, including news, arts and culture shows, travel, entertainment news, health and lifestyle, and children's programing.[15]

The station is best known[citation needed] for its news and analysis segments, which typically contain criticism of the Chinese government, particularly over human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong.[6]

The Wall Street Journal reported[citation needed] that the station broke news of SARS in 2003, three weeks before the Chinese government admitted publicly that there was an epidemic. (It went on to cause at least 774 deaths.) The station offered extensive coverage of democratic elections in Taiwan, and the death of purged former Chinese General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. The Chinese-language station regularly airs a video version of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, an editorial series offering a strong critique of Chinese Communist Party rule, which is often used against the Chinese Communist Party.[16]

The station is available in the USA on pay TV cable and satellite services as well as over the air.[17]

Online programs

NTD broadcasts programming regularly on its moderated YouTube channels. China Uncensored, originally distributed on the NTDonChina channel,[18] is moderated by Chris Chappell since 21 September 2012 and now has its own channel.[19][20][21] It is broadcast on the Mandarin-language TV broadcast of New Tang Dynasty Television with Chinese subtitles once a week.[22]

In 2019, NTD released a docudrama produced by Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart News chairman and advisor to Donald Trump. The film, Claws of the Red Dragon, is about the telecom company Huawei and the Chinese government.[23][24][25] Bannon said that, in his dealings with NTD, the group was always able to provide enough funding when he asked for it.[3]

NTD and Epoch Times are both connected to the website Truth Media (en.truthmedia.info), which was violating Facebook rules by using fake accounts to push their viewpoint. Facebook shut down more than 500 fake accounts in August 2020. NTD and Epoch Times also contributed to a COVID-19 documentary on YouTube which features the discredited researcher Judy Mikovits. The video promoted claims about COVID-19, saying it was created in China as a bioweapon.[3]

China Uncensored

Main article: China Uncensored

China Uncensored (Template:Lang-vi; Chinese: 中国解密; Template:Lang-ko) is a satirical online news program that focuses on sensitive political issues in China with elements of humor. It was broadcast on NTD from 2017 through 2020.[verification needed] Chris Chappell is the host of the series.[26][27] In April 2017, Apple TV temporarily blocked China Uncensored in China, citing local laws, and also blocked the show in Hong Kong and Taiwan.[28][27]

Chappell also hosts, since October 2017, the YouTube program America Uncovered.[29] In April 2018, he debuted as co-host of China Unscripted,[30] a podcast with Matt Gnaizda and Shelley Zhang.[non-primary source needed]

Edge of Wonder

See also: The Epoch Times § Pro-Trump conspiracy theories and disinformation

A widely viewed YouTube channel produced by NTD called Edge of Wonder has been criticized for spreading pseudoscience and the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon.[2] A critical article in The Daily Dot in August 2019 said the Edge of Wonder hosts "embrace QAnon completely" even though "almost nothing QAnon has foretold has actually taken place." The Daily Dot article described incidents of violence by QAnon believers.[31] YouTube removed the channel in October 2020 after updating its policies to curb "conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence".[32][33]

Cultural outreach

As part of its proclaimed mission to promote "appreciation and awareness of traditional Chinese culture," NTD organizes and produces a variety of cultural outreach programs, including Chinese classical dance, martial arts, and culinary competitions. The station frames these activities within a context of reviving "true Chinese cultural and moral traditions that have been lost under Communist Party rule".[citation needed]

From 2004 to 2006, NTD produced and televised an annual Chinese New Year Spectacular, a performance featuring classical Chinese dance and music. The show's performances contained ethnic and folk dances, dances depicting Chinese legends and moral tales, solo musical performances, and messaging and imagery sympathetic to Falun Gong, and included "artistic representations of the persecution of practitioners" in China. These shows have since been continued as traveling stage productions by a dedicated organization, Shen Yun Performing Arts.[citation needed]

In 2008, the station began organizing a series of annual competitions open to ethnic Chinese participants in fields of classical Chinese dance, martial arts, traditional clothing design, painting, music, photography, and Chinese cooking.[34]

Censorship

In January 2008, the Chinese embassy in the United States discouraged viewers from watching or attending NTD's Chinese New Year galas, and accused NTD of spreading "anti-China propaganda" and "distorting Chinese culture".[35]

In June 2008, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, of closing down transmissions of NTD to Asia through its W5 satellite to appease the Chinese government,[36] and appealed to Eutelsat CEO Giuliano Berretta to resume the broadcasts. RSF said it possessed a recording of a Beijing employee of Eutelsat revealing a "premeditated, politically motivated decision".[36] Eutelsat responded that the shutdown resulted solely from a technical failure of its W5 satellite, denied the validity[verification needed] of the conversation alleged by RSF, and said that it still broadcast NTD to Europe.[37][38] The International Federation of Journalists said Eutelsat was capable of resuming NTD transmissions to Asia, and it and members of the European Parliament[verification needed] called on Eutelsat to do so.[39][37]

NTD Canada

New Tang Dynasty Television
NTD Television logo
CountryCanada
Broadcast areaNational
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Programming
Picture format1080i (HDTV)
Ownership
OwnerNew Tang Dynasty Television Canada
History
LaunchedMarch 28, 2012
Links
Websiteca.ntdtv.com

NTD Television Canada officially launched on Rogers Cable on September 30, 2008,[40] on Bell Fibe TV in 2010, and on Shaw Cable on March 28, 2012. It is also available on Novus Entertainment in Vancouver.[41]

On July 25, 2012, NTD Television officially launched NTD Canada, a local Canadian channel for Chinese viewers in Canada.[42] NTD Canada is a multilingual service airing programming in Cantonese, Mandarin, English and French, with the aim of reaching out to second- and third-generation Chinese-Canadians who may not speak Chinese as well as they do English or French.

In June 2010 the Canadian Prime Minister's Office cancelled a press conference that NTD and The Epoch Times would have attended, so that Chinese President Hu Jintao would not come into contact with the broadcaster, allegedly following terms from the Chinese consulate. According to the Toronto Star, such press conferences are usually standard procedure for foreign leaders visiting the Parliament, and the cancellation was seen as an extraordinary measure to keep NTD away from the Chinese President.[43]

See also

  • Falun Gong-related groups:

References

  1. ^ "Falun Gong Fields Media Weapons". Wall Street Journal. April 14, 2004. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times". NBC News. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Roose, Kevin (October 24, 2020). "How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2020. "Ben Smith contributed reporting. Jack Begg contributed research."
  4. ^ "Vaccines Are Not More Deadly Than COVID-19 in Taiwan". POLYGRAPH.info. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "NTD". Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c Chen, Kathy Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire Archived August 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Wall Street Journal November 15, 2007
  7. ^ "NTD About Us".
  8. ^ "Network offers free press for Chinese in US". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  9. ^ "Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
  10. ^ "Not a Pretty Dish". Wall Street Journal. March 17, 2005. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  11. ^ Trotta, Daniel (March 17, 2011). "TV channel trying to change China from New York". Reuters. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  12. ^ ProPublica, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Ken Schwencke, Brandon Roberts, Alec Glassford. "Universal Communications Network Inc - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/ntd-to-launch-on-sky
  14. ^ "Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference". www.falundafa.org. September 5, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  15. ^ NTD
  16. ^ "New Tang Dynasty". May 10, 2006. Archived from the original on May 10, 2006.
  17. ^ https://www.ntd.com/tv-providers.html
  18. ^ "NTD China Uncensored - YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013.
  19. ^ "NTD China Uncensored". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  20. ^ "NTD China Uncensored". NTD. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  21. ^ "China Uncensored". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  22. ^ "About-China Uncensored". Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. China Uncensored is distributed by New Tang Dynasty Television, and broadcasts on its Mandarin-language TV broadcast with Chinese subtitles once a week.
  23. ^ "Canada Has Starring Role In Steve Bannon's Film About Huawei". HuffPost Canada. August 28, 2019. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  24. ^ Television, New Tang Dynasty. "Executive Produced By Steve Bannon, Claws of the Red Dragon, Explosive Film Revealing Ties Between Huawei And Chinese Communist Party, Set To Be Released In September 2019". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  25. ^ "Canadian film company alleges interference by Ottawa after CMF pulls funding on Huawei docudrama with ties to Stephen Bannon". Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  26. ^ Sandra Ozromano. "Interview with Chris Chappell". The Right Angle. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  27. ^ a b "Satirical News Show 'China Uncensored' Censored by Apple in Hong Kong and Taiwan". Global Voices Advocacy. April 10, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  28. ^ "Apple TV censors "China Uncensored" show | Reporters without borders". RSF. April 18, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  29. ^ "America Uncovered".
  30. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  31. ^ Rothschild, Nike (August 27, 2019). "This massive YouTube channel is normalizing QAnon". Daily Dot. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  32. ^ "YouTube is banning some QAnon content, following other social media sites". The Daily Dot. October 15, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  33. ^ "Managing harmful conspiracy theories on YouTube". blog.youtube. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  34. ^ NTD, Global Competition Series Archived July 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 6, 2011
  35. ^ "Enjoy the Holidays and Stay away from the so-called "Chinese New Year Gala" of the New Tang Dynasty Television". Chinese Embassy in the United States of America. January 7, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  36. ^ a b Reporters Without Borders: European satellite operator Eutelsat suppresses independent Chinese-language TV station NTD to satisfy Beijing Archived July 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, July 10, 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  37. ^ a b Eutelsat reaffirms to European institutions the irreversible and purely technical nature of the incident resulting in the interruption of consumer broadcasting services through its W5 satellite Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, January 15, 2009, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  38. ^ Clover, Julian (July 28, 2008). "Eutelsat defends NTDTV position". Broadband TV News. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  39. ^ International Federation of Journalists: IFJ Calls on Eutelsat To End Bar on Chinese NTDTV Broadcasts Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, August 20, 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
  40. ^ "NTD Television Canada's official launch on Rogers in September, 2008". October 16, 2008. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  41. ^ "New Tang Dynasty Multi-Language Channel Launched on Shaw Cable systems in Western Canada".[dead link‍]
  42. ^ "New Tang Dynasty Multi-Language Channel Launched on Shaw Cablesystems in Western Canada". Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  43. ^ Susan Delacourt, "Harper helps Hu keep critics away" Archived October 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Fri Jun 25, 2010
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