New Media in Wash DC Metro Area Celebrate Growth

ROCKVILLE, MD.—Congratulations poured in from elected officials and well-wishers at the Hilton Washington, D.C. on the evening of Oct. 26. New Tang Dynasty-Television and The Epoch Times have had a successful decade, and so the two media companies threw a party. The Maryland Asian community endorsed the event, including the Asian Community Center and Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

New Tang Dynasty Television and The Epoch Times passed two milestones. NTD Television is now broadcasting on mainstream cable TV (WDCW 50.3 and Verizon FiOS channel 482). NTD Television began broadcasting via satellite in North America in February 2002.

The Epoch Times is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. The English edition of the paper started printing in the D.C. Metropolitan area in January of 2005. The global newspaper is now published in 17 languages in 33 countries across five continents.

“For our Chinese edition, it's almost as if, wherever there are Chinese, there is The Epoch Times!,” said CEO Jenny Jing, Epoch Times, Capital Region, Inc.

CEO Jing said that the Epoch Times has become “one of the steadily rising stars,” and noted that it is one of the rare media companies whose development has not been impeded by the economic downturn.

Dong Xiang, executive director of NTD-DC gave away the secret of NTD Television’s success story.

“NTD stands for ‘Never take a day off,’” joked Mr. Xiang. “Yes, that’s how we work. That’s helped us to get to where we are today, and we love it.”

Xi Lei, VP, Public Relations from the NTD headquarters came down from NYC to congratulate the DC team.

“NTD began nine years ago when scholars, businessmen and media people realized the need to have an American TV network, broadcast in the Chinese language, because the only Chinese programs available to Chinese people at the time came from Taiwan, Hong Kong or Mainland China. They do not represent American values or journalistic standards,” Ms. Xi said.

In April 2004, it became the only independent Chinese-language TV network to broadcast uncensored programming into China. At present, the station's 24/7 satellite coverage reaches Asia and Europe in several languages.

Ms. Xi emphasized that the NTD-DC is to serve the 100,000 Chinese Americans in the greater Washington, D.C. area. “It is our job to inform and also to entertain them.”

NTD-DC delivers news, information and entertainment to local Chinese community, nearly all programming is in Mandarin. Currently, NTD has two global programs, Asia Brief and World News, Monday through Friday, each of which is one-half hour that is in English. Additionally, there is some programming on the Internet at NTD Television website that is in English.

Business Opportunities with Inside Language Media
This affair was not only about marking two milestones for NTD-Television and The Epoch Times, but was an opportunity for businesses to network with the local Asian communities.

“We are company diverse,” said Evannah Johnson, a job recruiter for State Farm Insurance, who was among several that had booths at the celebration. Johnson pointed out optimistically how her company is growing and is 23rd listed as a Fortune 500 company.

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