Republicans are raising concerns after it was discovered that a reporter who had an exchange with President Trump during a White House press briefing on Monday works for an outlet with ties to China’s propaganda apparatus. This comes as right-of-center outlets have been denied seats at these events.
During Monday’s briefing, the reporter, employed by the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, directed remarks at the president related to medical supplies being provided to the U.S. by China in order to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
“Only last week, there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies,” the reporter stated. “Companies like Huawei and Alibaba have been donating to the United States, like 1.5 million N95 masks and also a lot of medical gloves, and much more medical supplies.”
“Sounds like a statement more than a question,” President Trump said, cutting her off.
When the reporter then asked if the president was willing to work “directly” with China, he replied that the communist regime must honor its trade deals with the U.S.
As the president went on to extol his recent China-policy, which aims to reduce America’s trade deficit with that nation, the reporter continued to ask whether he is “cooperating” with China.
“Who are you working for, China?” Trump asked her. “Who are you with?”
Smiling, the reporter replied, “”Um no, I’m working for—Hong Kong Phoenix TV.”
“Who owns that, China? Is it owned by China? Is it owned by the state?” the president pressed.
“No its not, It’s a privately-owned company,” the reporter insisted, to which President Trump answered “Ok, good.”
Liberals were quick to excoriate the president’s questions as racially tinged. Bill Palmer of the left-wing Palmer Report tweeted:
Donald Trump just accused an Asian-looking reporter of "working for China." What a sick racist fuck this guy is.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) April 6, 2020
Yet a little digging soon revealed that President Trump’s instincts were correct: Phoenix TV’s links to China’s communist regime are much stronger than the reporter acknowledged.
Mere minutes after the exchange in the White House briefing room, consultant Elliot Schwartz noted that in 2018, former Phoenix TV news director Chung Pong testified as part of an FCC filing that the outlet is virtually under the control of China’s Communist Propaganda Department and has instructions not to report positively on the United States.
In his testimony, Pong stated:
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 instructions from the government “included directives to remove specific items of news that violated the ‘Party’s news guidelines’ or positively reported [on] the United States or events in the United States.”
Pong claimed to have been fired from Phoenix TV in 2002 on order from then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The Hoover Institution considers Phoenix TV a “quasi-official” broadcaster with “links to the PRC’s Ministry of State Security.”
And a 2017 report from Freedom House, which is by no means right-wing, found that Phoenix TV is “owned by a former military officer [Liu Changle] with close ties to Beijing officials” and generates coverage that is “typically favorable to the CCP.”
“Moreover, over the past two years, it has been used as an outlet for airing televised confessions by various detained CCP [Communist Party of China] critics, most notably all five Hong Kong booksellers abducted by Chinese security forces in late 2015,” the report continued. “Such coverage is perhaps not coincidental, considering that CCTV [China Central Television] reportedly holds a 10 percent stake in Phoenix.”
Republicans immediately called for action. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted that “Phoenix TV has been waging information warfare in the US for [years].”
Give the obscure commies one of limited seats, and boot a much more conservative network with climbing ratings.
Dont give them any questions Mr. President.
And the left wing media, who usually pretends to oppose foreign interference and misinformation, but now they call Trump “racist” for asking who she worked for. While Trump was suspicious of the nature of the question, all the left says is skin color or eye lids.
And, once again… Trump is RIGHT and they are WRONG.
CNN and the NYT’s China’s little Propapaganda artists just like Walter Kornkite did during Vietman Nothing has changed with those M.S. Scoundrels
Yeah. The White House Correspondents Association removed Chanel Rion, the One America News correspondent, because she slipped into the press room in defiance of coronavirus protocols limiting the total number of correspondents who could attend each briefing. She had access on a rotational basis, just like everyone else.
White House Correspondents Association removes far-right outlet from briefing room rotation
One America News is far right of center, by the way, and Chanel Rion is even farther right than most. She asserts that mainstream media journalists are in league with the Chinese Communist Party, and reported that coronavirus had originated in a North Carolina bio-lab. I’m not sure how that claim squares with the assertion presently being pushed by the right that coronavirus is all China’s fault.
@Greg: You appear to be generally aware that press briefings are held but have never witnessed one. The corrupt left wing media IS in league with CCP propaganda.
OAN is non partisan. While that puts them far to the right of the liberal media, they themselves are not “far right”.