According to a new document submitted by the Department of Justice, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) propaganda outlet has maintained to pour millions of dollars into American periodicals to boost its sway.
A report dated May 24, China Daily, an English-language news organization overseen by Beijing's propaganda arm, spent roughly $3 million for critical Western outlets and publication firms over the previous six months, reported the Epoch Times.
Reported payouts to media outlets
The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, and Time Magazine each got approximately $1.6 million in advertising dollars. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, earned a further $329,898.
China Daily also invested approximately $1 million on getting their newspaper produced, with most of the money going to the United States. The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune, and Houston Chronicle are also just several notable recipients of the funding.
From November 1, 2020, and April 30, 2019, the cost for printing, advertising, and other expenses averaged $5.56 million, increasing $1.1 million overall the previous half-year.
A year ago, the State Department designated and over a dozen Chinese state-run news organizations as foreign missions of the Communist Party of China, requiring them to register their employees and U.S. assets.
Based on calculations made by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based government transparency group, CCP pays millions for propaganda in the U.S. has grown six-fold in the last few years, from just over $10 million in 2016 to around $64 million in 2020, Cited Open Secrets Org.
The Epoch Times quoted Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) as claiming, "China Daily's sole purpose is to whitewash for the Chinese Communist Party's unabated misdeeds.", mentioned Newzillo.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) author a bill on Chinese propaganda in U.S. news outlets last February in the S-319 that need disclosure for those involved.
Several prominent American media outlets have stopped their advertorials from the Chinese daily in the aftermath of greater scrutiny of Chinese disinformation.
Remarks by the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported on the FARA disclosure, the New York Times deleted hundreds of paid content pieces from its online site after terminating its agreement with China Daily.
Paper associated with China Daily did not give any statement after the fallout from dealing with the Chinese publication.
Chinese PR activities in the west
For years, the Chinese leadership has devoted millions of dollars publishing supplements in major Western newspapers together under the names "China Watch" or "China Focus." CCP pays millions to for propaganda to this end
Though China Watch supplements have small print warning labels indicating that the content is created by China Daily, not the host newspaper, average readers might well be misinformed, according to international nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its 2019 report, "China's Pursuit of a New World Media Order."
Even with proof that the government practice of harvesting organs from inmates persists to this day, Beijing has pushed its narratives on the country's consensual organ donation program in China Watch.
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