CCP paid DC radio station $4.4 million to air China state propaganda: report

The propaganda branch of the Chinese Communist Party paid a Washington, D.C.-area radio station to broadcast pro-China content for years, according to a report in The Washington Free Beacon.

Potomac Media Group was paid $4.4 million over two years in a deal with China’s International Communication Planning Bureau, according to foreign agent filings last Thursday with the Department of Justice. Potomac Media’s DC-area AM radio station, WCRW, broadcasted content from China Global Television Network (CGTN), produced a series of talk shows that portrayed China in a positive light, and promoted them on social media as part of the deal.

The International Communication Planning Bureau is an agency in the CCP’s Propaganda Department that could review broadcasts and verify programming, according to the contract disclosed in Potomac Media’s filing.

This incident highlights the scope of CCP propaganda in the United States as China tries to muddle narratives about its human rights abuses, like the Uyghur genocide in Xinjiang province, the ongoing campaign to discredit tennis star Peng Shuai’s sexual assault, extraditions from Hong Kong and allegations against a powerful former CCP official.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was passed in 1938 and requires anyone representing a foreign power in any “political or quasi-political capacity” to disclose their relationship and any related activities to the Justice Department. Originally a hedge against Nazi propaganda, FARA has risen to prominence recently as China expands its influence operations in the U.S. The Department of Justice forced CGTN to register as a foreign agent in 2019, doubling down with a stronger "foreign mission" designation the following year that treats them as arms of the Chinese government. 

WCRW has aired content from state-run China Radio International since 1992 but had not registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department.