Making Propaganda Legitimate: Xinhua in the Wall Street Journal

The Chinese regime’s asymmetric war against the West recently made use of the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal.

An opinion piece by someone named Li Congjun argued for a new global media order, or a Media U.N., on the grounds that the current disposition of global media favors developed countries over developing countries.

Who is Li Congjun? Li, as a note to the article made clear, is president of the Xinhua News Agency. Whatever the merits of Li’s views on the global media order, they are not his personal views, and they are not offered disinterestedly. Li’s job is to speak for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and any article he publishes is meant to advance the Party’s goals.

The official Xinhua website lists four major functions for the news agency: First, it is the mouthpiece of the CCP and its people; second, it serves as a state-owned national news agency; third, it is said to be a complete collection of news; and fourth, it is a worldwide news agency.

The website explains that the Xinhua News Agency works directly under the leadership of the CCP. It boasts that Chairman Mao wrote over 100 news articles for Xinhua and that many other top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party have written articles and edited news pieces for the agency.

In 1955, Mao told the Xinhua News Agency to cover the whole world, have our voice be heard all over the world. Current leaders of the CCP expect Xinhua to continue promoting the CCP by directing public opinion domestically and influencing the rest of the world.

Borrowing Credibility

One key for Xinhua is for it to be seen as something other than the propaganda agency that it is. By simply having an article published in the Wall Street Journal, Li has helped accomplish this.

Both Li and the Xinhua News Agency are elevated by appearing in the Journal’s pages. Rather than being seen as the Party hack that he is, Li appears to be a statesman, invited to give his views in one of the West’s great newspapers.

Rather than being seen as the tyrant’s weapon that it is, Xinhua appears to be, like the Wall Street Journal, a credible news source.

Li’s opinion piece is comparable in this way to how China Daily has bought itself a place on the Washington Post’s website and in its print edition. This content may be clearly labeled as a paid supplement, but nonetheless the CCP-run China Daily appears under the banner of the Washington Post. China Daily is made to look like a legitimate newspaper.

The fact that Li’s article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the media coverage it received inside China has a strong impact on the thoughts of the Chinese people. Even while Li attacks Western media, he gains prestige at home by appearing in the Journal. And China’s state-run press, by quoting the directors of news agencies from Russia, Pakistan, and Nigeria, have given the impression that his message was well-received around the world.

On the Attack

Li’s article challenged the West on the fairness, justice, and transparency of its media. In doing so, Li played an old propaganda trick that goes back to Mao’s identification of China with the Third World.

Li puts China in the role of defending the oppressed of the world against the West’s imperialism. By inviting others around the world to find common cause with the Chinese regime, Li converts resentment against the West into support for the CCP.

By attacking, Li diverts attention from the reality of the media environment inside China—which is anything but fair, just, and transparent.

Going on the attack in this way is also a common CCP trick. If an American complains to a CCP official about how the Tibetans are treated, the official will likely respond by saying, “what about the American Indians?” This is not honest debate, but the verbal equivalent of throwing sand in someone’s eyes.

Even so, now that Li has laid out his attack on the West’s media, one should not be surprised to find some Western intellectuals will soon take the bait and discuss Li’s ideas as though they were worth taking seriously. But depend upon it, next week, if the need arises, Li will argue the opposite with a straight face. That is what propagandists do.

Continued: Western Media Need Not Apply