China Daily, a propaganda outlet for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), paid millions of dollars to the Daily newspapers and magazines in the United States to buy media influence, an independent analyst reported citing documents filed with the US Justice Department.
China daily is a state-run English newspaper that also serves as a propaganda tool for the CCP. According to the US Justice Department files, the Chinese news outlet paid several hundred thousand dollars to some of the most prominent newspapers and magazines in the US in order to buy influence, news agency ANI reported. These news publications include Time magazine, Foreign Policy magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
Times magazine got the biggest chunk of money out of all the outlets, which amounts to around $700,000. Meanwhile, the Financial Times got $371,577, Foreign Policy magazine received $291,000, Los Angeles times got $272,000 and over a million dollars in total to some other publications.
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China also paid for advertising in several other US newspapers including the New York Times, which received $50,000; the Foreign Policy newspaper received $240,000; The Des Moines Register received $34,600; CQ-Roll Call received $76,000.
However, some of the most prominent news publications which is renowned all over the world received the most money. According to a report by The Daily Caller, China Daily paid $4.6 million to The Washington Post and $6 million to The Wallstreet Journal. Both of these newspapers reportedly published paid supplements that China Daily produces called "China Watch.". The inserts are designed to look like real news articles, though they often contain a pro-Beijing spin on contemporary news events.
It spent a total of USD11,002,628 on advertising in US newspapers, and another USD265,822 on advertising with Twitter.
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For a long, the US Justice Department has required China to disclose its activities every six months under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The most recent filing, which China Daily submitted on June 1, is the first to include detailed breakdowns of payments to American news outlets. The outlet disclosed those expenditures for the period between November 2016 and April 2020.
The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle and The Boston Globe are all listed as clients of China Daily.
