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The Epoch Times

1.10
Lean RightLean Right biasWhat does this mean?

How we determined this rating:

  • Independent Review
  • Editorial Review: Nov 2025, Aug 2025, Aug 2020, Aug 2019
  • Blind Survey: Jul 2025, May 2022
  • AllSides has medium confidence in this bias rating.

Unless otherwise noted, this bias rating refers only to online news coverage, not TV, print, or radio content.

Learn about our bias rating methods
Contents
  1. About The Epoch Times's Bias Rating
  2. What a "Lean Right" Rating Means
  3. Bias Reviews
  4. Confidence Level
  5. Additional Information
  6. Ownership & Funding

About The Epoch Times's Bias Rating

The Epoch Times is featured on the AllSides Media Bias Chart™.

The Epoch Times is a news media source with an AllSides Media Bias Rating™ of Lean Right.

The Epoch Times strongest ideological bias is an anti–Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bias. The Epoch Times and theepochtimes.com were founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese Americans affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement “in response to communist repression and censorship in China.” See more below.

What a "Lean Right" Rating Means

Sources with an AllSides Media Bias Rating of Lean Right display media bias in ways that moderately align with conservative, traditional, libertarian, or right-wing thought and/or policy agendas. A Lean Right bias is a moderately conservative rating on the political spectrum.

Learn more about Lean Right ratings

Bias Reviews

We use multiple methods to analyze sources. Learn how we rate media bias.

 

The Epoch Times Rated Lean Right in Nov. 2025 Editorial Review

A panel of six AllSides reviewers on the left, center, and right conducted an Editorial Review of The Epoch Times in November 2025. All panelists agreed that The Epoch Times demonstrates a slightly Lean Right bias, though many examples of unbiased, Center reporting were present. They rated Epoch Times just barely inside the Lean Right category at +1.1 on the AllSides Media Bias Meter™.

The perception of Epoch Times' bias varied based on panelist bias: Left and Center panelists rated it Lean Right; panelists on the right rated it Center.

EpochTimesEditorialReviewBiasNov2025

Reviewers noted that much of The Epoch Times’ reporting was neutral, with reporting and headlines that avoided spin, slant, subjective analysis, and sensationalism and story choices that were balanced. However, reviewers from all sides identified some slight Lean Right bias patterns, including some story choice biases, some Lean Right bias on word choice in immigration stories, and some omission of critiques of figures on the right.

Panelists agreed the strongest ideological bias was an anti–Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bias, which is reflected across both news and commentary. Reviewers noted this position is rooted in the outlet’s founding mission, and while not inherently partisan in the U.S. context, in practice it often aligns with right-of-center foreign policy priorities. They noted a "China" section on the homepage, a "Chinese regime" section, a "Social Control" section within the China section, and story emphasis on the Chinese government's persecution of Falun Gong practioners and regime overreach.

Panelists noted the tradition and lifestyle sections showcased traditional family living and European culture and history, "which unfortunately is seen as being on the right these days," said a Lean Right panelist.

Panelists noted a tendency to select Associated Press reprints that appealed more to the right (AP was rated Left at the time of review) and gentler framing toward Trump or Trump-aligned actors. For example, criticism of Trump related to the Epstein files, common in Center, Lean Left or even farther Right reporting and commentary at the time, was largely absent during the time of review. A story, Democratic Lawmakers Call on Military Members, Intelligence Community to ‘Refuse Illegal Orders’, was largely neutral but barely explained Democrat's point of view, showing some bias by omission. Panelists noted slightly more emphasis on Democratic wrongdoing than Republican wrongdoing: The piece Florida Congresswoman Charged With Stealing $5 Million in FEMA Funds was cited as an example, though notably, Epoch Times did not show bias in the headline by not identifying her as a Democrat, which a stronger Lean Right/Right outlet would likely have done.

The outlet’s immigration coverage was another source of slight Lean Right bias. While the reporting itself is often balanced, reviewers saw a focus on immigrant-linked crime and the use of terms such as "illegal immigrant" and "criminal aliens," both seen more on the right. Articles titled “Man Accused of Setting Woman on Fire on Chicago Train Is Charged With Terrorism,” and "More Than 250 Arrested in Immigration Enforcement Operation in North Carolina" were cited as examples. 

While panelists did not review video content in depth, after a cursory glance they suspected video and documentary content may have a stronger Lean Right bias than written content, pointing to a sympathetic piece on conservative activist Charlie Kirk and a piece about lack of religious freedom in China.

Pieces reviewed included:

The Epoch Times Rated Lean Right in August 2025 Editorial Review

An Editorial Review of The Epoch Times by a panel of six reviewers on the left, center, and right trained to spot bias returned an average rating of Lean Right (1.0) for The Epoch Times; this rating is on the border of Lean Right and Center. The panel also took into account the Center (0.54) rating from the June/July 2025 Blind Bias Survey of Americans, and moved Epoch Times' overall AllSides Media Bias Rating from 2.5 to 1.0 — still in the Lean Right category, but more toward the center.



During the Editorial Review, both reviewers on the right argued The Epoch TImes was showing a Center bias, though on the right side of Center, giving an average rating of 0.5. The reviewers on the left and in the center argued it was Lean Right, with both bias groups giving an average rating of 1.4.

Many articles were noted to be balanced and not contain bias.

The main type of bias seen was story choice bias, appealing to the right. The panel also noted some word choice bias in ET's use of the terms "illegal immigrant," "gender-confused children," "youths who identify as transgender,"  and "gender ideology," which reveal a Lean Right viewpoint (the left is more likely to take transgender youth as a fact, not something one identifies as, and are more likely to use the term "migrants" in regard to unauthorized immigrants.)

A Center panelist said, "Top story choices include [Make America Healthy Again] cause, the Treasury sanctioning cartels, big companies investing more in US. All lean right as a choice, but articles were pretty balanced."

A Lean Left panelist said, “I agree with [a Center reviewer that] "premium reports” may be more biased to the right than other news. This review made me feel like Epoch Times is like the opposite of Lean Left outlets trying to be balanced but missing the mark [such as Reuters, which rates on the left side of Center]."

A Lean Right panelist stated, "I do not see bias in this outlet. A few years ago I saw clear Lean Right bias, but I don't see that now. They source everything, balance things out by quoting the left and right, quote people in full., and do not show spin, slant, or sensationalism. It seems to me like traditional journalism. I don't even see Lean Right story choice like I used to in the days of the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots. The only indication of Lean Right bias I saw today was that they quoted Dr. Robert Malone generously and didn’t treat him like [someone unacceptable], also used term illegal immigrant."

Articles reviewed included but were not limited to:


 

The Epoch Times Bias Rated Center in June/July 2025 Blind Bias Survey of Americans

The Epoch Times was rated Center (0.54) by 623 people across the political spectrum in the June/July 2025 Blind Bias Survey. This differed from AllSides' rating of Lean Right at the time, triggering further Editorial Review.

Respondents self-identifying as Left rated The Epoch Times as Lean Right, on average, while all other groups rated the outlet as Center. Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all rated the outlet as Center, on average.

 

The Epoch Times Bias Rated Lean Right in May 2022 AllSides Blind Bias Survey

The Epoch Times was rated Lean Right by people across the political spectrum in the May 2022 AllSides Blind Bias Survey.

On average, respondents who self-reported being on the left rated The Epoch Times as Right. Respondents in the Center and on the right rated The Epoch Times as Lean Right. 

Democrats rated The Epoch Times as Right, on average, while Independents and Republicans rated The Epoch Times as Lean Right.

A total of 881 people from across the political spectrum rated the bias of The Epoch Times. The weighted average was 2.58, which is in the Lean Right category. The middle 50% of responses lied between -0.02 (Center) and 4.13 (Right).

During a Blind Bias Survey, people from all sides of the political spectrum and a diverse array of ages and geographic locations rate the bias of content from a media outlet blindly, meaning all identifying branding information is removed. Sign up for a Blind Bias Survey here.

 

The Epoch Times Bias Rated Between Center and Lean Right in Aug. 2020 Blind Bias Survey

On average, people from across the political spectrum rated the bias of The Epoch Times as between Center and Lean Right in our Aug. 2020 Blind Bias Survey, though closer to Center. Pluralities across all groups of survey respondents — conservatives, centrists and liberals alike — rated The Epoch Times as Center.

On average, people who self-reported a Center or Lean Right bias rated The Epoch Times as Center, while people who rated their own bias as Lean Left, Left, or Right on average found it to be just between Lean Right and Center.

This discrepancy of rating from the survey results (Center-Lean Right) and the AllSides Media Bias Rating of The Epoch Times at the time (Right) prompted the team to conduct a full Editorial Review, which ultimately resulted in us moving The Epoch Times from a Right to a Lean Right bias rating in Aug. 2020.

65% of all survey respondents rated The Epoch Times as Center. (Normalized data).

Pluralities across all groups of survey respondents rated The Epoch Times as Center. On average, people who self-reported a Center or Lean Right bias rated The Epoch Times as Center, while people who rated their own bias as Lean Left, Left, or Right on average found The Epoch Times to be just between Lean Right and Center.

 

The Epoch Times Bias Rated Lean Right in Aug. 2020 Editorial Review

An AllSides Editorial Review of The Epoch Times took place on August 27, 2020 as the result of seeing the data from the Aug. 2020 Blind Bias Survey. AllSides concluded The Epoch Times’s Media Bias Rating is Lean Right.

An Editorial Review is when the AllSides team, which includes an equal number of people from the Left, Center and Right of the political spectrum, reviews the works of a source, looks for common types of media bias, and comes to a general consensus on its bias. For the most part, the AllSides team, which includes people across the political spectrum, concluded that the Epoch Times has a Lean Right bias, mostly revealed via story choice.

AllSides looked at The Epoch Times’ content over six months. We found the newspaper to be absent many common types of media bias.

 

Aug. 2020 Editorial Review: The Epoch Times Reporting Absent Many Types of Bias

The Epoch Times did several things right in its reporting. Multiple AllSides panelists noted that the publication did a good job of citing multiple sources across the political spectrum and of using full quotes in its reporting — not snippets or phrases taken out of context. The publication did not display common types of media bias such as spin, sensationalism, opinion presented as fact, unsubstantiated claims, flawed logic, or omission of source attribution. In today’s increasingly polarized media landscape, the panel agreed it was good to see Epoch Times journalists presenting full quotes from both sides of the aisle in order to present a fair and balanced story.

One team member noted The Epoch Times always used the word “said” or “told reporters,” and avoided common spin words and phrases that confer judgement upon the speaker, such as, “admitted,” “tirade,” “refused to say,” “conceded,” or “bragged.” Much of The Epoch Times’ reporting was balanced; its right bias was mostly displayed via story choice.

 

Aug. 2020 Editorial Review: Lean Right Story Choice

Members of the AllSides team from the Center, Left and Right found that The Epoch Times had a slight conservative lean in its story choice.

The publication typically covered stories generally of interest to people on the right and showed conservatives in a positive light, and covered stories that show the left in a more negative light.

The Epoch Times is somewhat transparent about its values and bias: its tagline is “truth and tradition,” and traditional ideals are typically associated with conservatives. Example: While coverage of President Trump focused around Trump's accomplishments, coverage of Former Vice President Biden focused on a communist party leader endorsing him.

 

Anti-Chinese Communist Party Bias

The AllSides panel noted that The Epoch Times had a clear anti-Chinese Communist Party and anti-communist bias. It’s worth noting the anti-Chinese Communist Party bias is linked to The Epoch Times’ history. The publication was founded in 2000 by John Tang, who was affiliated with the Falun Gong religious movement, which has been heavily persecuted in China. Tang founded the website as a response to the persecution of the religious group within mainland China.

The Epoch Times labeled the COVID-19 coronavirus as the “CCP virus,” or “Chinese Communist Party virus,” and in March 2020 its editorial board wrote an op-ed explaining the decision and urging other publications to join them. The Epoch Times said it chose this name to “distinguish the victims from the victimizer. The people of Wuhan and of China are the victims of the CCP’s arrogance and incompetence, expressed in this viral pandemic.” The editorial board continued:

“...the CCP virus reminds the people of the world that the source of the virus is itself evil. This is a communist virus, and with the name CCP virus, The Epoch Times reminds the world of the cure: ending the CCP.” Most newsrooms have consistently referred to the virus as COVID-19 or coronavirus. The Epoch Times’ break from this in favor of “CCP virus”shows a clear focus on and critique of Chinese communism, as well as countries with close ties to the nation, which amounts to a viewpoint and a bias.

Some AllSides team members noted that being critical of China is not necessarily a liberal or conservative position — people on either side may be critical of China. However, it can also be argued that an anti-Chinese communist bias is becoming a view typically associated with conservatives or traditionalists. While the website covers news from all across the world, AllSides team members noticed a clear focus on China, with “China” being a subsection on The Times’ homepage. One team member on the Left noted seeing advertisements for a documentary about how the Chinese Communist Party censored Coronavirus coverage, as well as a petition on The Epoch Times’ homepage to reject the communist party.

In sum, The Epoch Times bias leaned to the right as of Aug. 2020, yet was absent many types of media bias.

 

Past AllSides Media Bias Ratings™ of The Epoch Times and Community Feedback

In July 2019, AllSides gave an initial bias rating for The Epoch Times as Lean Right, following an independent review by an AllSides staffer. Following an editorial review in Aug. 2019, AllSides rated The Epoch Times as Right. As of early August 2020, 1,482 AllSides community members who voted in disagreement with our Right rating on average indicated they saw The Epoch Times as Lean Right.

 

August 2019 Editorial Review: The Epoch Times Rated Right

On August 28, 2019, AllSides conducted an Editorial Review of The Epoch Times. An Editorial Review is when the AllSides expert panel — which includes people from across the political spectrum — reviews the works of a source and comes to a general consensus on its bias. These reviews always include a diversity of individuals covering the range of bias from left to right. The team determined The Epoch Times had a Right media bias.

The AllSides team found The Epoch Times was clearly critical of left-wing ideas and policies such as open borders, the sexual revolution, abortion, and multiculturalism on its news and opinion pages. It wrote favorably about freedom of speech, gun rights, immigration control, and other topics. It was openly critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

During the Aug. 2019 Editorial Review, The AllSides team found The Epoch Times did not employ much spin, another type of media bias, as evidenced by the paper providing full coverage of Democratic policies and proposals and quoting people on the left in full in its reporting. For example, an article about 2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's comments on abortion included the politician's comments in full, not phrases or short snippets. Likewise, AllSides noted that The Epoch Times often quoted President Trump in full and with accuracy, devoting multiple paragraphs to feature his comments in their entirety. This was in stark contrast to many U.S. media outlets, which quoted only small portions or phrases of politicians' comments, in order to spin the story, often in a misleading way.

AllSides found The Epoch Times sometimes framed stories with right viewpoints — for example, in an article detailing the Southern Poverty Law Center's lawsuit over immigrant detentions, The Epoch Times led the story with a few paragraphs highlighting right criticisms of the SPLC, without attributing the criticisms to a specific group or individual (omission of source attribution).

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Confidence Level

Confidence is determined by how many reviews have been applied and consistency of data.

As of June 2026, AllSides has medium confidence in our Lean Right rating for The Epoch Times. An Editorial Review or Blind Bias Survey has affirmed this rating, or multiple reviews have returned differing results. If we perform more bias reviews and gather consistent data, this confidence level will increase.

Additional Information

The Epoch Times, published by The Epoch Times Association, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. On its website, it says it is "dedicated to seeking the truth through insightful and independent journalism." According to The Epoch Times, it is the largest Chinese-language newspaper outside of Mainland China and Taiwan. The English edition of The Epoch Times launched in September 2003 on the web, and in August 2004 as a newspaper in New York.

The Epoch Times' Self-Desribed Anti-Communist Bias

Just before the Nov. 2020 presidential election, The Epoch Times Editorial Board published a piece stating that the publication would continue its tradition of not endorsing any political candidate, and that it stands strongly against communism and in favor of a "traditional culture [that] helps humanity to flourish." Epoch Times wrote in part:

"We believe that traditional culture helps humanity to flourish. The beginning of the Declaration of Independence famously says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."

When we understand ourselves as created by God, we have in our common origin a basis for unity and fellow feeling. Compassion flows naturally to those who share the same origins. Within a divine creation are implicit standards for how we should treat one another, and these guide and shape our societies. In the case of the Declaration, these are “unalienable rights,” which guarantee individuals’ rights to life and liberty.

When we seek to understand ourselves in light of the divine, we necessarily look upward, measuring ourselves by the highest standards. We experience both humility and gratitude, and the aspiration to live up to our beginnings.

Recently, the concept of socialism has become increasingly popular in the United States. Socialism is the initial stage of communism. As Vladimir Lenin stated, “The goal of socialism is communism.”

Communism is antithetical to traditional culture; it degrades and divides humanity. For every country in the world that has followed its path, despair has followed.

The most prominent communist party in the world today is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It teaches atheism, materialism, and a philosophy of struggle. While traditional culture uplifts humanity by pointing toward God, communism denies divinity. Instead, it reduces human beings to their atoms, providing no basis for unity or morality."

In July 2019, The Epoch Times' About page explicitly stated it had an anti-communist bias and stood for traditional values and awareness of virtues.

"We stand against the systematic destruction of traditional culture by destructive ideologies such as communism, which continues to harm societies around the world," it read. "We are inspired in this mission by our own experience. The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 to bring honest and uncensored news to people oppressed by the lies and violence of communism. Fulfilling this mission is our passion and our greatest honor."

"Having witnessed events like Tiananmen Square and the persecution of the spiritual group Falun Gong, and at a great risk to themselves and their loved ones, a group of Chinese-Americans started publishing The Epoch Times in Chinese in May 2000 in New York City," its website read. "Some reporters in China were jailed, and some suffered severe torture. Yet despite the risks, they could see the growing need for uncensored coverage of events in China."

As of Aug. 2020, the Epoch Times' About page no longer included this specific language, instead reading in part, "The Epoch Times was founded in the United States in the year 2000 in response to communist repression and censorship in China. Our founders, Chinese-Americans who themselves had fled communism, sought to create an independent media to bring the world uncensored and truthful information."

Third Party Claims of Bias, Misinformation

Factcheck.org (Center bias) has accused the Epoch Times of spreading false information about the COVID-19 vaccines multiple times.

In 2020, the New York Times (Lean Left bias) called the Epoch Times a "leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation."

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The Epoch Times Ownership and Funding

Funding and ownership do not influence bias ratings. We rate the bias of content only.

Owner: Epoch Media Group

The Epoch Times and theepochtimes.com were founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese Americans affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement “in response to communist repression and censorship in China.” The Epoch Times is owned by Epoch Media Group. The Epoch Media group owns the New Tang Dynasty TV station as well. John Tang is the CEO of The Epoch Times. 

DonorsTrust, an American nonprofit donor-advised fund, gave $26,000 to the Epoch Times Association for general operations in 2024, per its 2024 IRS tax filing. The Epoch Times Association funds The Epoch Times. According to DonorsTrust's website, "We – and the conservative- and libertarian-minded donors with whom we work – believe in preserving the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise." [Retrieved Dec. 16, 2025 12:41pm ET]

Financing and ownership information last updated December 18, 2025. If you think this information is out of date or needs to be updated, please contact us.

Epoch Times CFO Arrested in 2024 for Alleged Money Laundering Scheme 

Epoch Times chief financial officer Weidong Guan, also known as Bill Guan, was arrested in June 2024 after a federal grand jury charged him with money laundering and bank fraud. Federal prosecutors alleged Guan conspired to launder $67 million in stolen money to benefit himself and The Epoch Times. Specifically, Guan allegedly managed the company's "Make Money Online" team, which used cryptocurrency to "knowingly purchase tens of millions of dollars in crime proceeds." The Epoch Times suspended Guan, who pleaded not guilty.