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New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) (Chinese: 新唐人電視臺) is Chinese language television broadcaster based in New York City, founded in 2001. The company's stated mission is "to foster mutual understanding between Chinese and Western societies" and promote multiculturalism, peace and compassion. Founded by businessmen and professional who practice Falun Gong, NTDTV has a large focus on issues in China such as human rights, and is known to sympathize with Falun Gong and other Chinese dissident groups, while taking a critical line on the Communist Party of China.

NTD regularly airs a video version of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a political editorial condemning the Chinese Communist Party. The station's anti-Chinese Communist Party stance has prompted censorship from the Chinese government, and led to a controversy involving the French satellite network Eutelsat.

History

According to NTDTV, it was founded in 2001, when a group of professionals and businessmen, all practitioners of Falun Gong (FLG), conceived the idea of a television station that would support their views in regard to Chinese culture and Chinese government policies. NTDTV began broadcasting via satellite in North America in February 2002, and expanded its audience into mainland China in April 2004. At present, the station's satellite coverage reaches Asia, Europe, and Australia in several languages. It claims to be the "first and only independent Chinese-language TV." The station broke news of SARS in 2003, three weeks before the Chinese government publicly admitted that there was an epidemic that went on to cause some 350 deaths; it also offered extensive coverage on the death of Zhao Ziyang.

The station was founded in 2001 by "a group of professionals and businessmen connected through their common practice of Falun Gong."

NTDTV in the past produced and televised an annual Chinese New Year Spectacular, a Falun Gong-affiliated celebration of Chinese culture.

The Wall Street Journal writes that NTD's "uncensored news, entertainment and cultural fare theoretically can reach 200 million Chinese speakers, including 50 million in Communist China." The broadcaster broke the news of the SARS virus in China three weeks before Beijing admitted to the problem, and gave over much time to covering the death of Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist Party leader who fell from power after sympathizing with prodemocracy protesters on Tiananmen Square. "For years, Beijing has energetically tried to ensure that views other than its own aren't presented to the Chinese," the Journal says, which has led to it attempting to interfere with NTD.

Censorship

NTD's anticommunist stance and reportage on human rights issues in China has led to interference and political pressure from the Chinese Communist Party and its overseas embassies.

In January 2007, a theater scheduled to host a performing arts show hosted by NTD in South Korea cancelled the troupe's reservations at the last minute; NTD alleged it was because China threatened actions against upcoming Korean shows in Mainland China.

In June 2008, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ("RSF") accused Eutelsat of closing down transmissions of NTDTV through its W5 satellite to appease the Chinese government, and appealed to Eutelsat CEO Giuliano Berretta to quickly reverse its decision to suspend NTDTV’s use of Eutelsat. According to RSF, the NTDTV shutdown was a "premeditated, politically-motivated decision." An RSF employee had called the company's Beijing office posing as an official in the Central Propaganda Department, and had elicited an admission from Chinese Eutelsat staff that taking NTD off its satellite was politically motivated, according to an RSF transcript. Eutelsat claimed that the shutdown was due to a technical failure, and denied the validity of the conversation.

On 20 August, 2008, International Federation of Journalists released a statement calling on Eutelsat restore NTDTV and three radio stations including Sound of Hope. The statement cast doubt on Eutelsat's arguments regarding technical problems, and argued how the approaching Beijing Olympics could have resulted in the Chinese government's increasing pressure to censor the broadcasting of NTDTV. The case was reported in the Wall Street Journal, who said "Beijing's contempt for New Tang Dynasty is no secret."

The European Parliament also called on Eutelsat to reverse their decision to shut down NTDTV. Following this, Eutelsat issued a press release and written declaration, denying all charges of censorship against NTDTV. The company insists that NTDTV's shutdown resulted solely from the technical failure experienced by W5 satellite, and adds that NTDTV is being broadcast across Europe via Eutelsat's HOT BIRD video neighbourhood.

In June of 2010 the Canadian Prime Minister's Office, reportedly in acquiescence to terms set by the Chinese consulate, cancelled a press conference that New Tang Dynasty TV would have attended, so that Hu Jintao would not come into contact with the broadcaster. Usually such press conferences are "standard procedure when foreign leaders visit Parliament," according to the Toronto Star, and the cancellation was seen as an "extraordinary measure" to keep NTD away from the Chinese President.

References

1. Haithman, Diane (7 January 2008). "Ties to Falun Gong add controversy to the Chinese New Year Spectacular". Los Angeles Times.
2. "New Tang Dynasty". Web.archive.org. 2006-05-10. Archived from the original on 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
3. History and Vision, http://english.ntdtv.com/. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
4. "Not a Pretty Dish". Wall Street Journal. 17 March 2005.
5. NTDTV, "History and Vision," accessed 12/24/10
6. Susan V. Lawrence (April 14, 2004). "Falun Gong Adds Media Weapons In Struggle With China's Rulers". Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition). p. B.2I.
7. Chen, Kathy Chinese Dissidents Take On Beijing Via Media Empire Wall Street Journal 11-15-2007
8. Lum, Thomas CRS Report page CRS-8, list of Falun Gong-affiliated media
9. ^ The Wall Street Journal Europe, "Not a Pretty Dish," 17 March 2005
10. "Chinese Regime Tries to Crush Cultural Show in Canada". The Epoch Times. 2007-01-18. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
11. "Chinese Regime Pressures Seoul to Cancel Cultural Show". The Epoch Times. 2007-01-10. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
12. ^ Reporters Without Borders: European satellite operator Eutelsat suppresses independent Chinese-language TV station NTDTV to satisfy Beijing, 10 July 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
13. International Federation of Journalists: IFJ Calls on Eutelsat To End Bar on Chinese NTDTV Broadcasts, 20 August 2008, retrieved on 2009-01-19
14. 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, 15 January 2009, retrieved on 2009-01-19
15. Susan Delacourt, "Harper helps Hu keep critics away", Fri Jun 25, 2010

External links

• NTDTV Official Site
• NTDTV English
• NTDTV French
• NTDTV Vietnamese
• NTDTV Español
• NTDTV Russian
• NTDTV Japanese
• NTDTV Korean
• NTDTV Indo-
• Chinese New Year Spectacular
• The Falun Gong Show: SFist goes to the NTDTV Chinese New Year
• New Tang Dynasty TV at YouTube
• New Tang Dynasty TV in Español at YouTube

• Television stations in New York
• Falun Gong