I can't find the original article which outlines the funding connections at the moment, but to summarize the National Endowment for Democracy which is a US government organization that was set up by the CIA and is used to spread propaganda (
At one point the NED funded an organization called 'Friends of Falun Gong' which was made by an American diplomat to fund Epoch Times.
Regarding c), why would the CIA just give money to a media organization if it did no good for them? Are they just very charitable people?

Declassified UK
'CIA sidekick' gives £2.6m to UK media groups
A US government-funded agency that claims to promote democracy but which helps undermine governments independent of Washington has moved decisively...
