Major media outlets continue to receive millions from Chinese propaganda front

Andrew Kerr, DCNF

A Chinese Communist Party-controlled news outlet paid major newspapers and magazines over $1.95 million between November and April to run advertisements stylized as news stories, according to a Justice Department disclosure filed Monday.

Time Magazine received $700,000 from the outlet, China Daily, for “advertisement expenses” during the six-month time period, the filing revealed. The Chinese propaganda outlet also paid a combined $1.26 million for advertisements in The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, The Globe and Mail and the Financial Times during the timeframe, according to the filing.

China Daily spent an additional $883,000 with newspapers across the U.S. for printing expenses, the filing shows.

The filing reveals that China Daily has increased its advertising spending substantially over the past six months. The propaganda outlet had previously reported to the Justice Department spending $881,000 for advertising campaigns in western newspapers and magazines between May 2020 and October 2020, and another $759,000 for ads between November 2019 and April 2020.

The Monday filing was first reported by The Washington Free Beacon.

The revelation that China Daily boosted its advertising spending in western newspapers and magazines comes weeks after the International Federation of Journalists warned that China is using its vast media influence to spread narratives portraying China in the best possible light.

The report specifically addressed China’s distribution of China Daily advertorials in newspapers across the world.

Other pro-democracy groups such as Freedom House and the Hoover Institution have called attention to the China Daily inserts in warnings about the Chinese government’s attempts to push propaganda through American news outlets.

China Daily is one of many Chinese Communist Party-operated news organizations with a foothold in the U.S.

Chinese foreign agents reported spending nearly $64 million in propaganda operations in the U.S. in 2020, a nearly six-fold increase over the $10 million reported in 2016, according to Axios.

The Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported that China Daily had paid nearly $19 million to major American media outlets for advertising and printing expenses between November 2016 and April 2020.

Former outlets that ran China Daily advertorials include The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, Justice Department filings show.

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