RATE THIS EXAMPLE FROM "BENEFICIAL" TO "HARMFUL"

BENEFICIAL HARMFUL

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China Iowa

Background Information
China's propaganda machine has taken aim at American soybean farmers as part of its high-stakes trade war with the Trump administration. The publication last month of a four-page advertising section in the Des Moines Register opened a new battle line in China's effort to break the administration's resolve. U.S. farmers are a key political constituency for Trump, and Beijing has imposed tariffs on American soybeans as retaliation for Trump's tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese imports. China regularly disseminates propaganda in the West through its China Daily newspaper to try to influence public opinion. But the advertorial in the Register was unusual for deploying not a national publication in New York or Washington but a newspaper in the farm state of Iowa. "It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this in a heartland city," said Matt Schrader, who edits the China Brief newsletter for the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington research institute that monitors China's actions.

The Iowa newspaper section was explicitly labeled a product of China Daily, China's official English language newspaper. The articles were clearly geared to try to soften the image of China and its president, Xi Jinping. With headlines ranging from "Dispute: Fruit of a president's folly" and "Book tells of Xi's fun days in Iowa" to Kung Fu skill helps light up life path" and "China seeks pacts on robotics," the message was a not-very-subtle one about the friendly way Beijing wants to be seen in the farm belt.
Technique Used
Attack Opponents
This is propaganda because
This piece is a form of propaganda that is defending China.

Comments

  1. user-avatar
    NayNay
    Mon, 11/04/2019 - 13:38
    NayNay
    Context can help makes sense of this little video. I found it on China Uncensored, which is a group of three journalists who publish stories about China that are critical of the CCP and its sometimes oppressive treatment of its people. Chris Chappell, Producer Matt Gnaizda, and Humor Ninja Shelley Zhang are all former China journalists who seek to cover topics in a way that is both accurate in detail and correct in the larger context. In 2012, they decided to turn to comedy to make China news more engaging for people around the world. Thus, China Uncensored was born. With as much a focus on solid research as satirical humor, the China Uncensored team does their best to show compassion for the people who endure the CCP’s oppression, tolerate different opinions, and respect traditional Chinese culture.
  1. user-avatar
    Allison Lantagne
    Wed, 11/06/2019 - 19:36
    Allison Lantagne
    I rated this piece of propaganda as mildly harmful because I do feel that it is problematic to have foreign governments interfering in American elections, particularly when they are somewhat obstructed by a third party organization and not easily recognizable as an act of government. This obfuscation of the source makes it more difficult for observers to critically analyze the information presented by the propaganda.

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