China Daily Paid Major US Media Outlets to Publish Beijing-Friendly Content, Report Finds - Vision Times
White House reporter Natalie Winters recently published aninvestigative reportrevealing thatChina Daily, an official newspaper overseen by the CCP Central Propaganda Department, has for years made payments to. . .
White House reporter Natalie Winters recently published aninvestigative reportrevealing thatChina Daily, an official newspaper overseen by the CCP Central Propaganda Department, has for years made payments to prominent U. S. media organizations, includingTIME, theLos Angeles Times, and theFinancial Times. The payments were made in exchange for publishing Beijing-friendly propaganda in the form of “China Watch” supplements and branded content. The articles were designed to look almost indistinguishable from ordinary news reports in terms of layout, headlines, images, and bylines. According tofilingssubmitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by China Daily’s distribution company, a document from November 2021 showed that, in just six months, the company had paid substantial advertising fees to several U. S. media outlets. TIMEreceived $700,000, theFinancial Timesreceived $292,900, theLos Angeles Timesreceived $272,000,Foreign Policyreceived $268,000, andUSA Todayreceived $57,500. China Daily also paid theLos Angeles Timesan additional $103,200 to print the newspaper in Los Angeles. During the same reporting period, the distribution company disclosed receiving more than $5. 5 million from its headquarters in Beijing. The relationship has continued to the present. According to aFARA filingsubmitted in May 2026, between November 2025 and April 2026, China Daily paid $210,360 to theFinancial Times, $136,000 to theLos Angeles Times, $123,000 toTIME, and $53,750 toUSA Today. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERFor the best of our weekly content！There is something wrong, please try again laterSuccessYou are now signed up for our newsletterSuccessCheck your email to complete sign upThe same filing also disclosed payments for printing in multiple U. S. cities and international markets, including more than $91,000 toThe Boston Globe, $83,900 to theLos Angeles Times, and approximately $69,000 to theHouston Chronicle, as well as printing expenses involving media outlets in Hawaii, Seattle, Miami, Chicago, and other locations. READ MORE:DOJ Probes Harvard Over China-Linked Scholarships That May Exclude US StudentsReuters: Chinese Military Uses OpenAI, Anthropic Outputs to Train Defense AIThe investigation found that theLos Angeles Timesmaintains a dedicated “China Watch” section, which is labeled as “paid content. ” A disclaimer states that the content is produced by the advertising department or provided by advertisers and that the newsroom was not involved. However, the content is presented in a format that is almost indistinguishable from ordinary news reports. One article promoted Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s proposal for a “constructive strategic stability” in U. S. -China relations, claiming that meetings between the two countries’ leaders had strengthened mutual trust and “sent a positive signal to the international community. ” Another article praised “grassroots Party affairs workers” for using livestreaming and government training programs to promote rural revitalization. Yet another described agriculture as the “ballast stone” of U. S. -China relations. TIMEalso has a China Daily-sponsored content section. It explicitly states that “this content is paid for and produced by China Daily, an official publication of the People’s Republic of China,” and notes that neither the editorial nor advertising departments were involved in its production. The section has featured articles promoting China’s consumer market and the performance of foreign luxury brands in China, as well as a previously published article promoting DJI agricultural drones. DJI is a Chinese technology company that has come under heightened scrutiny from the U. S. government on national security grounds. The analysis notes that although the FARA filings do not link each individual payment to specific articles, they clearly reveal the central fact: a Chinese state media organization paid major U. S. media companies for access to their website platforms, audiences, and brand credibility. By Meng Hao, Vision Times