The same news outlets that love to push Big Tech companies to censor “misinformation” online have lined their pockets with cash taken to publish Chinese propaganda disinformation articles.
The latest documents that were filed with the US Department of Justice reveal that the Washington Post as well as The Wall Street Journal took millions of dollars from a Chinese propaganda outlet to run ads that seemed like news reports to the untrained eye. As a matter of fact, it can be seen that the China Daily has paid more than $4 million to the Post and $6 million to the WSJ since November 2016.
The English-language newspaper China Daily is a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party and is directly overseen by the party’s publicity department, which is largely responsible for spreading Chinese propaganda in the world. Over time, China Daily, or rather the CCP, has spent millions in spreading Chinese propaganda in US news outlets and the outlets have gladly accepted the cash, creating grave conflicts of interest.
Several scholars that research Chinese influence and propaganda activities in the US in a report published in 2018 said that it was “hard to tell that China Watch’s material is an ad,” but the Post says it’s “clearly labeled” – according to Epoch.
“China Watch” is the name of the supplements that are run as ads across popular US news outlets such as the Journal, The New York Times, and the Post. While China Daily kept submitting financial information about its spending on American news outlets under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the recent filing is the first time it includes a clear breakdown of the money spent on each outlet.
What’s more, the Chinese news outlet has spent more than $11 million for advertising in the US alone.
China Daily has registered as a foreign agent under FARA act back in 1983 as the US government required foreign entities to submit copies of all propaganda material “circulated among two or more persons”.
Over the last decade, the Chinese Communist Party has spent more than $6 billion in propaganda efforts alone, according to the letter sent by US lawmakers to the DOJ earlier this year.
As of now, the State Department has designated China Daily as well as four other Chinese state-run media houses as foreign missions due to their role of spreading CCP propaganda in the US.
