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DOJ brands Chinese-owned U.S. newspaper a foreign agent

25 August 2021
 Dan Ackermann

The Justice Department has forced a major Chinese-owned newspaper's U.S. subsidiary to register as a foreign agent, records show.

Why it matters: The DOJ has stepped up scrutiny of foreign-owned media in recent years, and its demand that Sing Tao U.S. register as a foreign agent comes amid high tensions between Washington and Beijing over the latter's influence efforts in the U.S.

What's new: Sing Tao disputes its status as a foreign agent, but according to filings this week under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the DOJ determined the newspaper's U.S. operations qualified as foreign influence efforts.

  • "The Department of Justice's FARA Unit has concluded that [its U.S. activity] constitutes political activity for purposes of the FARA," Sing Tao wrote.
  • According to Sing Tao, the Hong Kong-based company is privately owned and not controlled or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.

Background: Sing Tao's parent company operates the oldest Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong.

  • In June, the daughter of a wealthy mainland property developer purchased a majority stake in the company.
  • Sing Tao's U.S. operations consist of newspapers in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a radio station based in Burlingame, California.
  • More than half of Sing Tao's U.S. content is purchased from a Chinese company called Star Production (Shenzhen) Limited, according to its FARA filings.

Be smart: The Chinese government exerts significant influence over domestic media coverage.

  • It's also stepped up more overt media crackdowns of late, particularly in Hong Kong, where the publisher of a leading opposition newspaper was recently sentenced to 14 months in prison.
  • The Chinese government has also stepped up its media influence operations abroad in recent years.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.