In 1976, Network blew the whistle, sort of, on Saudi influence over mainstream media. Despite being a controversial and whimsical movie about the cynicism of American media, it also acted as a private joke among television executives who saw the satirical take on their industry as being not very far from the truth.
Fast forward three decades and the Saudis still had plenty of control in media, but that control was waning. The Chinese Communist Party was deep into their own worldwide campaign of pro-China propaganda and the vacuum left by the Saudi’s quiet exit in the U.S. allowed the CCP to swoop in and fill the void. But they went further than being minor influencers of the news as the Saudis were. They strove to control the narrative, and bit by bit they’ve been able to do so increasingly over the last two decades.
Today, they control many if not most of the American media outlets. Oh, they don’t control them through ownership or even infiltration. They control them through censorship. The risk of being forced out of the second most lucrative market in the world is too daunting for most major media outlets to ignore. They have to keep a CCP-approved narrative at all times while suppressing any hints of anti-CCP narratives from coming forward.
The Chinese Communist Party is fickle, after all, and they’ve flexed their muscles to American mainstream media outlets on a regular basis. Cross them and you will be punished.
But it isn’t just the executives at Disney and the like who are intimidated by China. “Journalists” are individually controlled. Some are paid. Others are bribed by access that only the CCP can give. There are those who speculate much of the rising Chinese espionage efforts in the United States is geared towards gathering blackmail-worthy dirt on journalists. The control mechanisms they employ have yielded a flurry of stories recently like these:
I hope people are paying attention to what’s happening in the American media right now pic.twitter.com/OmQxc5MZmQ
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 29, 2020
It’s no longer about amplifying pro-CCP news and muting dissent. They are outright promoting the Chinese Communist Party’s styles of management and totalitarian rule as models for the United States to appreciate and even adopt. This is a “quick creep,” a rapid removal of subtleties and nuances in reporting that is being replaced by blatant promotion of the CCP as superior to America’s constitutional republic system.
We will see more and more articles, television, radio, and podcast reports in coming weeks that tout China’s efforts to “successfully” contain the coronavirus. We are already seeing the shift away from reporting the CCP’s unambiguous guilt in allowing the coronavirus to become a worldwide pandemic. In the EU, speaking ill of China regarding the coronavirus is anathema. In the United States, such sentiment is becoming a reality as well.
Many conservatives have assumed the pressing of the lockdowns and the subsequent destruction of our recently-vibrant economy are all geared towards defeating President Trump in November. This is partially true. But there are two other major factors to consider. First, the push for authoritarianism is a leftist principle that is made easier to achieve when the populace is ready and willing to comply and to become dependent on government. Second, the CCP believes if they can open up for business faster than the United States, which they are, then they will be able to get a leg up when the caution flag is lifted and the race begins again.
NBC Provides Platform for Chinese Propaganda Bashing U.S. Pandemic Response
On Wednesday, NBC’s Today show provided a megaphone to the Chinese Communist Party to spread propaganda about the coronavirus pandemic and bash the United States. Throughout a softball report on China rejecting criticism from President Trump, a top official of the authoritarian regime was repeatedly allowed to push misinformation without challenge.
“And now to the war of words that’s erupted between the U.S. and China, after the President suggested the Chinese government should compensate the rest of the world for mishandling the coronavirus outbreak, leading to this pandemic,” co-host Savannah Guthrie announced, framing the effort to hold China accountable as just another international political squabble.
In the segment that followed, NBC’s Beijing-based correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer conducted an exclusive interview with Chinese Executive Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, who promptly attacked Trump: “Those claims are preposterous, they present an out-and-out political farce.”
It is incumbent on every patriotic American citizen to push back against this incessant push by mainstream media to echo the Chinese Communist Party’s talking points. We cannot assume everyone will recognize it for what it is. Unfortunately, there are too many sheep among us who are dying to be herded wherever the left and the CCP want us to go.
News organizations like CNN and The Atlantic are no longer worried about keeping up false pretenses. They are owned, operated, and propagated by the Chinese Communist Party. They have been for a while, but now they’ve stopped pretending otherwise.
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