GOP sounds alarm after ‘quasi-official’ Chinese outlet gains access to coronavirus press briefing, promotes Beijing

Share:

Republicans are sounding the alarm after a reporter with ties to China’s propaganda machine gained access to Monday’s White House coronavirus press briefing and used the platform to promote Beijing’s efforts — even as right-leaning outlets, including One America News Network (OANN), were being denied seating privileges at the briefings.

Several lawmakers said late Monday that the possibility China was spreading propaganda in the White House clearly merited immediate action, especially given Democrats’ stated concerns about foreign interference in U.S. politics.

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), an independent affiliation of journalists, nominally controls which reporters have access to the briefings, although the Trump administration has unilaterally invited OANN to the events after the WHCA revoked the network’s privileges.

But it turns out that Phoenix TV, which has aggressively sought to expand in the United States, has closer ties to the Chinese government than the reporter let on.

Within minutes of the exchange in the briefing room, consultant Elliot Schwartz flagged that in 2018, a former Phoenix TV news director testified as part of an FCC filing that the outlet is essentially controlled by China’s Communist Propaganda Department, and follows a directive to not report positively on the United States.

Specifically, the former director, Chung Pong, remarked: “I know from personal experience that Phoenix TV’s content is subject to the dictates of the leadership of the Central Communist Propaganda Department, Central Communist Overseas Propaganda Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which often directly sent instructions to Phoenix Satellite TV.”

Pong said he was fired in 2002 on orders of then-Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.

And, The Daily Caller‘s Chuck Ross found that the Hoover Institution has said it considers Phoenix TV a “quasi-official” broadcaster with “links to the PRC’s Ministry of State Security.” – READ MORE

Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --

Share:
No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply

2021 © True Pundit. All rights reserved.