In an attempt to dominate the global narrative, China’s propaganda outlet China Daily has reportedly paid millions of dollars in funding to prominent US newspapers and magazines in the last six months. What is seen as an attempt to buy media influence, the disclosures were made by an independent analyst report citing documents filed with the US Justice Department.
Controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, the state-run English-language newspaper China Daily paid several hundred thousand dollars to prominent American publications like Time Magazine, Foreign Policy Magazine, Financial Times, Washington Post and more, revealed the report.
Amounts paid to US dailies and magazines
As per reports, Time Magazine received $700,000, $371,577 was paid to the Financial Times, $291,000 to Foreign Policy Magazine, $272,000 to Los Angeles Times and over $1 million to other such prominent media publications.
To add to it, as per the Justice Department, China Daily has also been paying these publications for advertising. This includes paying The New York Times $50,000, Foreign Policy $240,000, The Des Moines Register $34,600 and CQ-Roll Call $76,000.
It spent a total of $11,002,628 on advertising in US newspapers, and another $265,822 on advertising with Twitter despite the microblogging site being banned in China itself.
Some more publications that reflected as China Daily’s clients include The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle and The Boston Globe.
The revelations were made after the China Daily submitted its first detailed breakdown of payments to American news outlets in its recent June 01 filings. The Justice Department had allegedly for years required China Daily to disclose its activities semi-annually under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The outlet disclosed the expenditures incurred for the period between November 2016 and April 2020.
The Daily Caller in a report last month also revealed that the China Daily paid more than $4.6 million to The Washington Post and nearly $6 million to The Wall Street Journal since November 2016. Both these publications reportedly carried paid supplements that China Daily produces called “China Watch.”
While the design of the inserts was made to look like real news, they often contained pro-Beijing spin on contemporary news events.
The Hindu publishes full-page advertorial
On July 1, the Hindu published a full-page advertorial paid for and planted by China on the occasion of the centenary anniversary of the Communist Party of China. The paid content appeared on the third page of the paper.
Interestingly, the paid content by China that the Hindu has published appears just like any other routine report for an untrained eye. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that the full-page feature was content paid for by China.
In less than two days, two editorials were published by the Hindu exalting Communist Party of China and its supreme leader Xi Jinping.
These payments to influential media houses are revealed amidst the global pandemic where China has been trying to deflect blame for mismanagement of the Covid cases in its initial days by delaying investigation and responses, eventually leading to a global pandemic.
