Several American newspapers have reportedly received millions of dollars over the past six months from a news agency controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. 

China Daily paid more than $1.6 million to the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, TIME Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine to run advertising campaigns, according to Justice Department disclosures first reported by the Washington Free Beacon. 

The breakdown of the $1.6 million is as follows: $700,000 to TIME, $272,000 to the Los Angeles Times, $291,000 to Foreign Policy magazine, and $371,577 to the Financial Times. It also paid more than $1 million to major newspapers, including the Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune, to print copies of its publications,

CHINESE STATE-OWNED MEDI USE TIMES SQUARE VIDEO SCREEN FOR ADS ON CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE

This isn’t the first time American news publications accepted money from organizations backed by the Communist China Party. Major newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post ended their relationship with China Daily after critics complained they were publishing Chinese-state propaganda. 

China Daily often paid American publications to included inserts titled “China Watch,” which portrayed the Chinese government and China in a positive light disguised as normal newspaper stories. 

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The financial relationship between major U.S news publications and Chinese-state backed groups comes as many mainstream reporters admit the theory that the coronavirus originated from a Wuhan lab is credible, after months of labeling it as a “conspiracy theory.” 

When former President Donald Trump and his administration suggested this theory was credible, many reporters dismissed the claims as being political and Trump’s way of laying blame on the Chinese government. Now, reporters are admitting while the Trump administration might be proven right, Trump bore responsibility for reporters’ skepticism and immediate dismissal of the theory.