The Discovery Channel is producing a show – The Day I Ran China – “under the instruction and supervision” of the Chinese Communist Party, pushing party talking points and promoting tech firms banned by various U.S. federal agencies, The National Pulse can reveal.
The show recently launched its second season with the theme, “Exploring the Development of a New Socialist Countryside to the World.”
The show summarizes itself as allowing young “entrepreneurs from around the world to become apprentices in China’s remote and mysterious countryside, gaining hands on experience with the vast nation’s diverse ethnic groups.”
The show appears to be pushing propaganda on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Communist Party’s provincial government in Hunan boasts the show is a collaborative effort between Discovery and Chinese media company Mango TV but “under the instruction and supervision” of a host of Chinese Communist Party-controlled bodies:
The programme was made by Mango TV and Discovery Channel, and under the instruction and supervision of the Chinese State Council Information Office, National Radio and Television Administration, Hunan Provincial People’s Government Information Office, and Hunan Internet Information Office.
Chinese state-run media outlets have also praised The Day I Ran China, quoting senior party officials who heap praise on the show. Zhou Jihong, Director of the International Cooperation Bureau under the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, celebrated how “the show is new in its angle of seeing China, its content and way of broadcasting.”
The Discovery Channel’s press release on the show’s launch also peddles Chinese Communist Party talking points on its development:
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In the past several years, China’s science and technology, alongside its culture and economy, have gone through stages of tremendous development and witnessed massive changes, bringing about great changes in the country’s industries and jobs.
Mango TV’s press release similarly echoes Chinese Communist Party talking points:
It depicted a vivid image of China’s economic development and building a moderately prosperous society through opening-up to the whole world. […] A picture of poverty alleviation in China is being slowly revealed by presenting these nine areas.
The Discovery network has also recently taken a stake in the pro-amnesty Spectator magazine chairman’s new “GB News” network.
The CCP-linked show also serves to promote Chinese Communist Party-linked businesses such as DJI Drones, which has been identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as “selectively targeting government and privately owned entities within these sectors to expand its ability to collect and exploit sensitive U.S. data.”
These fears prompted the U.S. Department of Interior to ground its entire fleet of DJI drones, citing “increasing concerns about the national security risk from Chinese manufacturers,” and the Department of Defense and U.S. Army have also followed suit.
DJI’s company spokesman has also stated that the company is “complying with requests from the Chinese government to hand over data.”
