Help NTD Bring Uncensored Information
into and out of China

Why Independent Reporting on China Matters

By the late 1990s, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Chinese communist regime was taking control of overseas Chinese language media one by one—putting out its propaganda message across Chinese television, radio, and newspapers around the world. Even once-independent Chinese media were starting to bow to business and political pressure from the regime.

By the end of the '90s, no major Chinese language TV network dared to report with complete independence on all of the forbidden "three Ts"—Tibet, Tiananmen, and Taiwan—and the Party's brutal persecution of Falun Gong (a popular Chinese spiritual practice).

Then, in late 2001, a group of Chinese Americans—connected through their common desire to bring freedom of the press and independent reporting back to Chinese language media—created New Tang Dynasty Television.

NTD Is the Alternative to China's State-run Media

At NTD, we value the fundamentals of good journalism: to provide our audience with facts, context, and perspective so that an informed citizenry can make the best decisions in their lives. Our independent reporting on China provides an important alternative to the state-run media.

In China, the media were established specifically to be the "throat and tongue" of the Communist Party, and they continue to serve this purpose today.

• China's State-run Media Promotes Anti-American Sentiment
Even as China modernized, its state-run media never ceased to encourage anti-American sentiments. After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, state-run Beijing Television produced a special program called Attack America that said, "This is the America the whole world has wanted to see. Blood debts have been repaid in blood."¹

• China's State-run Media Covered up SARS
When the SARS epidemic broke out in 2003, China's state-run media covered it up for months. NTD was the first Chinese TV station to cover it, breaking the story fully three weeks before Party officials admitted to an outbreak.²

• China's State-run Media Covers up Food Safety Scandals
When thousands of children were getting sick or dying because of tainted milk in the summer of 2008, China's state-run media covered it up to avoid a scandal ahead of the Olympics. Soon, China's leadership banned independent reporting on the topic. NTD began reporting on the topic months ahead of China's state media, warning people of the safety issues.

The Chinese communist regime routinely blocks media reports on serious threats to people in China and the rest of the world. It also blocks information on its own human rights abuses, including the persecution of Christians, Tibetans, Falun Gong, and rights activists.

Reporters Without Borders ranks China among the worst 4% of countries for press freedom.

NTD acts as a watchdog on this authoritarian regime, bringing you the stories that no other TV station dares to.
 

What We Have Accomplished

What began in a tiny basement in Elmhurst, New York has become a global phenomenon. NTD now has reporting teams in more than 70 cities, providing 24 hours of content daily. NTD's satellite signal broadcasts directly into parts of mainland China.

"New Tang Dynasty TV was founded in 2001 and has gained an international reputation for its objective and timely reporting of political, economic, and cultural stories in Chinese." ³

—International Federation of Journalists

"The pioneering US-based channel, New Tang Dynasty TV, is the only truly independent Chinese-language TV reaching tens of millions of private satellite dishes across China." ⁴

—93 Members of U.S. Congress

"[NTD's] programmes are very different from the content on China's state TV stations. There is a great deal of coverage of human rights issues, including the repression in Tibet and of religious groups such as Falun Gong and the underground Christian churches." ⁵

—Reporters Without Borders

In addition to NTD's Chinese language content, its English language programming on China is bringing critical information about modern-day China to the West, with award-winning investigative programs like Zooming In and A Decade of Courage.

Why Your Help Matters

NTD's rapid growth has been supported almost entirely through donations—small and large—from people like you. More than half of donations made through NTD's website are $100 or less. Every donation makes a difference.

In 2009, China's communist regime earmarked $6.6 billion for delivering its own propaganda message through media around the world in Chinese and other major languages.⁶ That is why your support is now more urgent than ever—to help NTD compete against this propaganda Goliath.
 

Our Viewers Need Your Support

"We need truthful news, just like people need to breathe fresh air. Fortunately NTD brings us truthful and objective news and lets us learn about many facts we could never know from the media in China."

—Li Qing, Viewer in Zhejiang Province

"I am a peasant in China. I've been saving my money by living frugally so that I can have money to buy a satellite dish… I have just bought a dish to watch NTD secretly with the people in my village, to let more people in my village know more about the truth outside [China]."

—Deng Hangcheng, Viewer in Guangdong Province

"NTD is the only window for Chinese people to know the truth about mainland China."

—Chen Guang, Viewer in Fujian Province

"I did not know what real news was until I installed NTD."

—Sun Sheng, Viewer in Zhejiang Province

"Should there be another plague or earthquake, that regime won't care a bit about the life and death of the people. NTD… You are the hope of the Chinese people."

—Helen, Viewer in Hunan Province

 

Capital Campaign

To compete with the Chinese regime's $6.6 billion earmark for media propaganda, NTD seeks to raise the equivalent of 1% of that, or $66 million, by the end of 2012.

The money will be used primarily to expand NTD's operations, purchase equipment, rent office space, and recruit new talent. NTD's progress over the past several years has demonstrated that it can make a huge impact with very little money; the 2010 annual budget was less than $7 million. Imagine what NTD could do with more!

Donate Now

Please support NTD by making a donation now. Help us keep Chinese media free, strong, and independent.
 

1. Attack America. Beijing Television special program and DVD. 2001.

2. "REVIEW & OUTLOOK Editorial: Not a Pretty Dish." The Wall Street Journal Europe. March 17, 2005.

3. "IFJ Raps Eutelsat Over Ban on Chinese Network: 'Censorship and a Craven Sacrifice of Principle'". March 15, 2005. http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-raps-eutelsat-over-ban-on-chinese-network-censorship-and-a-craven-sacrifice-of-principle

4. 93 Members of U.S. Congress in a letter to President Bush, April 12, 2005.

5. "European satellite operator Eutelsat suppresses independent Chinese-language TV station NTDTV to satisfy Beijing." July 10, 2008. http://en.rsf.org/china-european-satellite-operator-10-07-2008,27818