China's Campaign To Shape What You Think And How You Behave

Hoover Institution Fellow, Markos Kounalakis, exposes how China is aggressively expanding its state-controlled media operations worldwide to spread propaganda and undermine Western democracies. This information offensive fills the void left by declining Western news bureaus in places like Africa and Latin America, using reporters that also serve as spies. To counter this effort, the West must expose Chinese disinformation, rebuild local journalism, and raise public awareness of foreign influence. Be sure to visit The Hoover Institution at https://www.hoover.org/ and PolicyEd at https://www.policyed.org/

China’s news organizations in the United States are really spy agencies

A decade ago, I first saw signs that Chinese news organizations were operating as global spy dens and diplomatic outposts. Last week, America decided not only to call them out for what they do, but to punish them further for this activity within the United States. 

It’s about time.

It’s also time to counter China and help American journalism survive.

My 2018 book “Spin Wars & Spy Games: Global Media and Intelligence Gathering” detailed how China’s global news organizations are used to advance its national interests. China — and also Russia — uses its foreign news bureaus as fronts for editors and journalists to work as both witting and unwitting spies. My research over the years shows that these news bureaus’ primary responsibility is to report to their countries’ political leadership in Beijing. READ MORE