Thread by @EpochTimes

‼️ BREAKING:
Last week, @EpochTimes was contacted by two NBC reporters who posed a series of highly inappropriate questions about the religious beliefs of our staff.

Here is our open letter response. theepochtimes.com/our-response-t…

The NBC reporters questioned the religious beliefs of some of our @EpochTimes 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.

Unfortunately, the bane of #Journalism today is the all-too-common practice of writing news to conform to a pre-existing narrative or agenda. The best journalism of the past had the truth as its standard, not political advantage.

NBC’s questions seek to dig out what they assume is our agenda by asking about our coverage of President Donald Trump and our relationship with the spiritual practice of #FalunGong.

It certainly does appear that @NBCNews has an agenda with respect to covering the Trump presidency.

A study by Harvard Kennedy School's @ShorensteinCtr on Media, Politics and Public Policy found NBC’s coverage of Trump’s first 100 days was 93% negative. shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-…

The plain truth is that because our coverage of Trump differs from NBC, two reporters have sought to hunt for an agenda that would discredit us.

For weeks, ex-staff members have been contacting us to let us know that NBC was asking about their work at The Epoch Times.

Would @NBCNews ask about the role of the faith in the work of a @nytimes reporter who happened to be Jewish?

These questions are meant to root out the agenda NBC is looking for. It tramples on our society’s long-held conviction that matters of conscience are rightly private.

NBC’s characterization of #FalunGong puts its beliefs in a false light, is similar to the #Chinese #Communist Party’s #propaganda attacking the spiritual practice.

In its quest to “eradicate” #FalunGong, the CCP uses aggressive rhetoric to demonize and dehumanize practitioners.

As @NBCNews itself recently reported, an Independent Tribunal found that #FalunGong practitioners have been systematically murdered by the #Chinese state for their organs. nbcnews.com/news/world/chi…

Our free press has special privileges in our society, and in order to defend those privileges, the press must show it is acting in a responsible manner.

In response to NBC’s questions, we issue the statement below.