US designates 4 more Chinese media organisations as ‘state propaganda outlets’
- China Central Television, China News Service, People’s Daily and Global Times to be treated as foreign missions on American soil
- The announcement follows similar moves against other Chinese media organisations in February
The United States has designated more Chinese news organisations as “propaganda outlets”, putting them on par with diplomatic missions and building on restrictions the countries have already imposed on each others’ journalists.
The US State Department’s announcement on Monday – targeting China Central Television; China News Service; People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official mouthpiece; and Global Times, a tabloid published by People’s Daily – follows a similar move against five other Chinese media outlets, including state news agency Xinhua, in February.
“In designating these outlets as foreign missions, we are formally recognising the China party state’s effective control over so-called media entities, including those that operate here in the United States,” David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters.
“While the Chinese Communist Party has always tightly controlled China’s state news agencies, its control has actually tightened in recent years,” he said. “These four entities are not media but propaganda outlets.”
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The earlier round had designated China Radio, the English-language newspaper China Daily and CGTN, an English-language broadcaster, as the equivalent of government functionaries. Hai Tian, also included in the first round, is the New York-based distribution agent for People’s Daily.