The State Department is designating six additional Chinese media outlets as “foreign missions.”
The announcement came on Tuesday after the United States previously designated five Chinese media outlets in February and added four more to the list in June. The media organizations being added on the list are Yicai Global, Jiefang Daily, Xinmin Evening News, Social Sciences in China Press, Beijing Review, and Economic Daily.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the six outlets meet the burden of being considered foreign missions because they are “substantially owned or effectively controlled” by the Chinese government.
Ortagus stressed that the new designations don’t affect the outlets’ ability to publish content but rather allows the U.S. to keep better on the Chinese government’s activities in the U.S. The Foreign Missions Act states the designation entails any mission, agency, or entity in the U.S. “which is involved in the diplomatic, consular, or other activities of, or which is substantially owned or effectively controlled” by a foreign government.
“The decision to designate these entities does not place any restrictions on what these organizations may publish in the United States. It simply recognizes them for what they are – PRC-controlled propaganda outlets,” Ortagus said, referencing China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“Entities designated as foreign missions must adhere to certain requirements that increase transparency relating to their associated government’s media activities in the United States,” she said. “Our goal is to protect the freedom of press in the United States, and ensure the American people know whether their news is coming from the free press or from a malign foreign government.”
“Transparency isn’t threatening to those who value truth,” Ortagus added.
The media organizations previously designated as foreign missions are Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corporation, Hai Tian Development USA, China Central Television, China News Service, the People’s Daily, and the Global Times.
