What’s that? A look at the Epoch Times billboards popping up across Michigan

An Epoch Times billboard on I-196 west of Grand Rapids. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)Rose White | MLive

By Rose White | rwhite@mlive.com

They all look the same.

Identical yellow and blue billboards dotting Michigan highways proclaim in tall letters, “The Epoch Times #1 Trusted News,” with a photo of a man wearing a collared blue shirt and a sweater.

Although it’s a simple message, the truth behind The Epoch Times is a little more complicated.

“It’s worth knowing that they are not independent media,” said Priyanjana Bengani, a senior researcher at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism whose work includes researching partisan local media.

The Epoch Times is a news outlet affiliated with a Chinese religious movement called Falun Gong, reporting from the New York Times and NBC News shows. Banned in China, Falun Gong is known for being a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, owning the Shen Yun dance troupe and its “God-like” leader Li Hongzhi.

John Tang, a Chinese-American reported Falun Gong practitioner, founded The Epoch Times from his Georgia basement in 2000 to tell “the world about the destructiveness of socialism and communism” and “expose the disinformation and human rights violations of the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote in a letter to readers.

But in recent years, the once small, anti-CCP newspaper has become a multi-million-dollar right-wing “influence machine” that claims to have the fourth-largest subscriber count in the United States.

“They’re known to take narratives driven by the far right and push them,” Bengani said.

After the 2020 election, The Epoch Times published a range of “misleading ‘voter fraud’ narratives,” The Election Integrity Partnership found, including falsehoods that large numbers of people were voting twice and discarded ballots were evidence of fraud. It has also published misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, 5G cell phone towers and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

NewsGuard, a tool that rates news sites, found The Epoch Times frequently includes “distorted, misleading or unsubstantiated claims.” Another site, Media Bias, rated the newspaper “right biased and questionable” for publishing “pseudoscience, the promotion of propaganda and conspiracy theories.”

Facebook also banned The Epoch Times from advertising five years ago after NBC News reported the outlet bought $2 million of ads promoting former President Donald Trump.

Despite that, The Epoch Times claims to be a source of independent journalism that stands “outside of political interests.” But Bengani says adopting the “aesthetic of an independent outlet” doesn’t make it one.

“It’s a tactic that’s being adopted far more nowadays by media outlets who want to push forth narratives including that of being trustworthy sources,” Bengani said.

The Epoch Times billboards have been spotted in Michigan, Minnesota and Colorado in recent months. A couple of Reddit posts have flagged them in Grand Rapids. And X users have noticed “every billboard in LA is an Epoch Times ad,” a “disconcerting” number of billboards in San Antonio and “Albuquerque is filled with The Epoch Times billboards for some reason.”

The unidentified man on the billboards appears to be staff reporter Joshua Philipp.

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Tax filings show the company’s ad spending jumped during the last election cycle going from $1.9 million in 2019 to $17 million in 2020. A fraction of that, only $46,000, was spent in 2018. These ad budgets swelled as Epoch Times’ revenue grew from $3.8 million to $127 million over seven years.

The Epoch Times did not respond to a request for comment on why Michigan has been targeted with its billboard campaign. Outfront Media, the billboard company, did not confirm how many signs Epoch Times leased in Michigan.

But in a competitive election with consequential races, Michigan will likely be blanketed with political advertising this year.

“It’s still early, but the signs are there that Michigan is going to see hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising,” said David Dulio, a political science professor from Oakland University.

The presidential race in Michigan has been won by thin margins the past two elections. Republicans are hoping to flip a Senate seat that has been filled by Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow since 2001. And there are several U.S. House seats that could determine control of Congress.

“Competitiveness and an importance in terms of majority makers are why all eyes are on Michigan,” Dulio said.

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Some advertising picked up this week when former President Donald Trump stopped in Grand Rapids, including billboards and TV ads from a $50 million Republican Voters Against Trump campaign and a billboard from MAGA Michigan Pac to “support a strong border.”

“Spending money to move a small portion of (voters) could have dramatic results,” Dulio said.

With the high political stakes, Bengani says “people who have vested interests in elections” are exploiting a vulnerable news media landscape. More than 130 newspapers closed or merged last year, research found, and over half the counties in the United States have one or no local news outlets.

“On both the left and right are folks who have end games during this election cycle,” she said.

Remember Bushnell, he is not alone!

 Active-duty officer sets himself on fire to protest U.S. support for Israeli military operations in Gaza

On February 25, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force, set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in the United States to protest U.S. support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza, Palestine. Before setting himself on fire, he shouted: "I will no longer be complicit in genocide" and "Free Palestine".

Bushnell, male, 25 years old, belongs to the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron of the 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing of the U.S. Air Force. He has been on active duty since May 2020 and is an expert in network defense operations. Bushnell live-streamed his self-immolation on the gaming video platform Twitch.

Bushnell posted on social media before his death: "What would I do if my country was committing genocide?" 

The New York Post disclosed on February 27 that before Bushnell set himself on fire, he claimed that U.S. soldiers were directly involved in "killings" in the Gaza Strip. Bushnell's friends revealed to reporters that Bushnell had shared a lot of military insider information with him the day before the self-immolation incident. He said: "We have troops in the tunnels of Hamas, participating in those killings." Regarding these "killings", he said very straightforwardly: "The US military is directly involved in the genocide against the Palestinians."

The Washington Post reported that Bushnell’s comrade-in-arms Pierpont reported that Bushnell was very disgusted with the U.S. military’s “reckless use of force” and had considered retiring early.

According to the New York Times, the United States had deployed special forces in Israel as early as October last year. 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators chant slogans outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta (October 8, 2023). 

In fact, this is not the first similar incidents that have occurred in the United States. On December 1, 2023, in front of the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, a woman holding a Palestinian flag used gasoline to set herself on fire and was seriously burned. 

Bushnell represents a group

There has been constant opposition in the United States against Israel's excessive use of force, which has resulted in a large number of Palestinian civilian casualties. Protests have mostly been held outside Israeli diplomatic missions in the United States. Bushnell's self-immolation incident greatly shocked mainstream American society, and many cities held memorial activities for Bushnell.

On February 26, people from many places in the United States held memorial activities for Bushnell outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. 

Josephine Guilbeau, who is a former Army intelligence officer went to pay his respects ,s aid Aaron's death should not be meaningless, his message needs to be spread and we need to support others who feel the same way.

On February 28, several American veterans burned their military uniforms during a vigil in memory of Bushnell in Oregon, USA. The veterans took turns throwing their camouflage uniforms into a burning trash can. One of them poured fuel into the trash can while taking the lead in shouting the slogan: "Remember Aaron Bushnell, he is not alone!" The event was held in front of a large banner that read: "Veterans say: Free Palestine! Remember Aaron Bushnell."

Bushnell “you’re trying to awaken the consciousness with self-immolation” - American scholar David Cortrighe said to National Security Daily on February 26.

The burning incident spread, and many US government officials resigned

On March 27, Annelle Sheline, a foreign affairs officer in the Office of Near Eastern Affairs of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the U.S. State Department, publicly announced her resignation in protest of the U.S. government’s continuing provision of military assistance to Israel. She said: "Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy, and his last message before his death has haunted me to this day."

Sherin pointed out that Israel’s killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank constitutes “genocide”, but the US government is still providing diplomatic and military support to Israel. Unable to serve a government that facilitated Israeli atrocities, she decided to resign.

Schelling said her office is responsible for "promoting human rights in the Middle East" and that over the past year she had become convinced of the department's "mission and important work." But since the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out, she found that the credibility of the so-called "human rights advocates" in the United States has almost completely collapsed.  Sherin said, "Over the past five months, more than 90 Palestinian journalists have been killed."

This is the second official of the US State Department to resign after the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On October 18, 2023, Josh Paul, Director of the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs of the US State Department, announced his resignation on social media. Paul said at the time that he "cannot afford the moral compromise that comes with military aid to Israel" and criticized the Biden administration's decision to provide lethal weapons to Israel as "destructive, short-sighted and unjust."

The Washington Post stated that this protest resignation reflected the growing opposition within the US government. U.S. government employees have expressed their dissatisfaction in a variety of ways in recent months. At the State Department, officials have repeatedly posted on internal dissent channels questioning the Biden administration’s Palestinian-Israeli policies. Hundreds of USAID employees also signed a joint letter in November last year asking the Biden administration to promote a ceasefire in Gaza.

As the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen, the American public's support for Israel continues to decline. A poll released by the consulting agency Gallup on March 27 showed that the American public's support for Israel's war has dropped sharply, from 50% in November last year to the current 36%, about 55% of the respondents do not support Israel's military actions.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict caused heavy casualties

On March 25, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2728, calling for an "immediate ceasefire" by all parties in Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan, thereby achieving a "lasting" truce, and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. This is the first time a ceasefire has been explicitly called for in a Security Council resolution since a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on October 7 last year.

But the war continues.

On April 1, the Israeli army carried out an air strike on the World Central Kitchen, an international charity in Gaza, killing seven staff members and triggering condemnation from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland and other countries.

According to a CNN report on April 4, three people familiar with the matter revealed that the U.S. government has recently authorized the transfer of more than 2,000 bombs to Israel. The Washington Post posted on social media X on the 4th that the Biden administration admitted that it approved the transfer of more bombs to Israel on the day the charity organization "World Central Kitchen" was attacked.

Reuters reported on April 6 that after the Israeli military air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed seven aid workers from the charity organization "World Central Kitchen", on the 5th, 40 Democrats, including former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Members of the House of Representatives jointly sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling on the United States to stop sending weapons to Israel.

The health department in the Gaza Strip said on April 6 that since the new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on October 7 last year, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 33,137 Palestinians and injured 75,815.