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On a clear Wednesday morning in March 2016, Steven Klett was sitting on the New York subway when he suddenly remembered the lyrics from his album Guns and Roses. Camelot, 27, was rushing from her Brooklyn apartment to a newspaper for a job interview. He wore a green buttoned shirt and blazer, black pants underneath, and shoulder-length auburn hair tied into tight, low ponytails. He desperately needed the job.
The position of "Breaking News Web Content Reporter" is not his ideal job. Camelot has earned a Master of Arts degree in poetry, and his collection of poems, A Field Full of Mirrors, was published in 2015 with some acclaim. He once dreamed of becoming a full-time poet. But now he's writing for a PR firm every day and makes $10 per article. He was a well-organized, trained writer who sought employment in respected media outlets such as Mother Jones (a left-leaning American women's periodical magazine) and Slate (a well-known Online Magazine in the United States, founded in 1996 for its political commentary, bizarre news, and artistic features). It was his first interview.
Before seeing this message online, Camelot had never heard of the Epoch Times. Browsing his website, he found that most of the articles were short news stories excerpted from elsewhere, with content leaning toward the Conservatives. Camelot considered himself an anarchist, but he was prepared to set aside his political beliefs like a desire for poetry, so that he could neither go hungry nor earn rent.
One detail that may seem unusual is that the newspaper is full of reports of alleged human rights abuses against China, especially about a group called Falungong. Camelot hadn't heard of "Falungong," and he did a cursory search. With the noise of the subway operating under the East River, the music of Guns and Roses resounded in his mind.
Camelot came to a 12-story brick building on West 28th Street and took the elevator up to the 5th floor. The newspaper's human resources manager and two senior editors hosted him there. Cindy Drukier has a slightLy Canadian accent, and Jasper Fakkert, a tall, thin man, scratches his ginger beard nervously from time to time. At the beginning of the interview, Drewger noted that the two works submitted by Camelot focused on politics. She asked him what were the channels for getting the news? He said from The Atlantic and The Washington Post that he wanted his answers to move as closely as possible to the ideology of the Epoch Times. The editors nodded.
After asking about educational background, work experience, writing skills, and poetry, the conversation turned to current affairs. Just the night before, Donald Trump had convincingly defeated his party rival on Super Tuesday, and the prospect of becoming a presidential candidate was becoming clearer, and Hillary Clinton had already beaten Bernie Sanders. Like many Americans, Camelot believed that Hillary Clinton was highly likely to be elected.
In a Dutch accent, Farkt explains that he only wants to hire journalists who can do news in a fair and impartial manner. He asked Camelot if he could write from a perspective that was at odds with his own.
Camelot was prepared for this. A few months ago, he explained, a manager at his public relations firm asked him to write a short blog post about Mr. Trump's appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Camelot personally felt trump lacked humor and rhetoric, but the manager told him that candidate Trump's son, Eric Trump, was a client of the company. "I do my best to take a neutral stance," Camelot said of the final draft of his article. "To strip one's point of view from the article, I think it's an exercise and a challenge."
The editors smiled and thanked him for coming. Later that day, they gave him the job.
On a cold December night in December 2019, amid the harsh sound of Christmas music, Camelot sat on a high stool in a sports bar and leaned over so I could hear his soft whispers. His long hair was spectacular, fluffy and disheveled, and he looked very much like Axl Rose (lead singer of the American Band Guns and Roses), except that he had a long scar on his forehead. His memory is staggering, and he recalls his experiences at the Epoch Times, bit by bit. During his tenure, Camelot learned that what he did there was more than just reporting on "Falungong."
While reporting on its plight, the "Falungong" exaggerates the world outlook of its leader, Li Hongzhi. Li Hongzhi claimed that his teachings were rooted in ancient beliefs and practices and promised to bring health, freedom and moral integrity to believers. Some see it as a virtuous group, while others see it as a cult. Critics say Mr. Li is a narcissistic liar who recruits honest and honest believers to embrace his conservative views of society.
But while Chinese state media often portray Falun gong as deviant, the positive image of Falun gong is largely attributable to its own media outlets. When Western journalists report on "Falungong," in order to pursue objectivity, they often use the arguments of both sides at the same time. If every report is fabricated to serve different ideologies, what can it be that results other than a contradictory propaganda war?
In the ongoing information war, the Epoch Times is a key player. In fact, the newspaper is the cornerstone of the media empire that Falungong has built over the past 25 years. (The journal has repeatedly asked for interviews and comments, but the Epoch Times and the editors mentioned in the report have not responded.) ）
Camelot had no idea when he was hired. Nor did he realize that The Epoch Times was embroiled in another power struggle, which was taking place in the United States. As the 2016 election approaches, the newspaper has transformed into a pro-Trump megaphone. In a later article on his personal blog, Camelot compared the work he did at the newspaper to that of the Russian cyber trolls, which "spread discord in the name of radicalism, reduce talking points and political agendas, and focus only on the conflicts they provoke and their stories." Just before the 2020 election, The Epoch Times was working harder on this strategy than ever before. An NBC survey found that in the first half of 2019, the newspaper spent $1.5 million on Facebook to run about 11,000 support ads for Trump, second only to the Trump campaign itself. More recently, the newspaper also peddled reports of covid-19, arguing that China was the culprit of COVID-19 and that Trump was the likely savior.
Camelot is no longer employed by the newspaper, but he sent me documents from when he worked there, as well as the contact details of friends and former colleagues, who could testify on his behalf. How did he become part of this fast-growing propaganda machine? Why was he there when the newspaper's history and prejudices became clear? These stories give us a glimpse into this right-wing news producer that is disrupting the media landscape. The story tells the story of the dangers of title parties and disinformation, as well as the consequences of apathy and alienation, as well as how byzantine complex and intricate and rigid interest groups have helped Trump usher in the presidency.
During his tenure at The Epoch Times, Camelot said, he witnessed firsthand the cognitive crisis sparked by Trump's ascension to power that made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between reality and political fiction. "In the first interview, I said I could be neutral, and at the time I was honest, and I really believed it was possible," Camelot admitted. We were looking for a quiet bar along a street in Brooklyn, and he put his hand in his pocket. "Just a few days before the election, when I left [the Epoch Times], I realized that everyone was still facing the problem."
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"There is no difference between journalism and publicity. Whoever has power holds 'objectivity'. (To be continued)