Speaking truth to power (terms and conditions may apply)
Becket Adams
The news website Semafor launched in 2022 amid great fanfare, promising to “fix the crisis of trust in the news” by delivering a unique blend of fearless and insightful journalism.
Semafor announced this week it has partnered with Chinese Communist Party interests, including communist front groups, “dovish” business leaders, Chinese government officials, and a group that even describes itself as a “chamber of commerce led by the Communist Party of China.”
Nothing says “fix the crisis of trust” in the U.S. media quite like an American newsroom joining forces with Chinese communist-affiliated groups and leaders.
“As geopolitical tensions between the US and China escalate, the space for conversation and cooperation on global issues is narrowing,” the newsgroup announced in a statement. “Semafor’s ambitious new initiative ‘China and Global Business’ will create a new platform … for global business leaders seeking a way forward amid growing calls in the US for economic ‘decoupling” from China, and China’s parallel pursuit of economic ‘self-reliance.’”
The statement adds, “Semafor will be building a unique, journalistic institution that provides prominent figures across a range of industries and sectors with the ability to engage in open dialogue to find real solutions to deep-seated challenges on a neutral platform. The initiative will be powered by Semafor’s newsroom and we retain full and independent editorial and commercial control.”
At the bottom of a statement is a post-script, which reads, “Semafor’s ‘China and Global Business’ has been developed in partnership with the China Center for Globalization.”
The center is a key fixture in a larger propaganda effort by the Chinese Communist Party to influence “universities, think tanks, scholars, [and] journalists” in the West, which raises the obvious question: What does Semafor mean when it says the “China and Global Business” initiative has been “developed in partnership with” the center? How much cash, if any, has traded hands?
The advisory board of Semafor’s new project includes center founder Wang Huiyao, who is affiliated with Chinese communist groups the FBI claims specialize in stealing U.S. trade secrets. The advisory board also includes former Chinese Minister Chen Deming, former Chinese Ambassador and Uyghur genocide apologist Cui Tiankai, as well as the chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, which bills itself as “a mass organization and chamber of commerce led by the Communist Party of China.”
Semafor co-founder Ben Smith — yes, the same Ben Smith who, as the then-editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, made the decision in 2017 to release into the public domain the raw, unedited Steele Dossier, a work of political opposition research most likely linked to Kremlin operations — explained the partnership thus, “National politics in many western countries is entering a cycle of politicians competing to be the most hawkish voice. But the role of journalism is to explore the complex reality of a situation without clear historical precedent.”
He adds, “This moment has little in common with Cold War analogies — except, perhaps, for how high the stakes are. That’s why these gatherings and the journalism that emerges from them are so important. We’re offering our global news platform for an open discussion … based on our values of transparency, journalistic independence, and openness to multiple perspectives.”
Pressed by the Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross to clarify whether the Center for China and Globalization and Chinese advisers are funding the project, Smith declined to comment, referring the question instead to a Semafor spokeswoman.
As of this writing, the spokeswoman has responded to neither the Washington Examiner nor the Washington Free Beacon.
Refreshing Honesty
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and the FBI announced recently they believe a lab leak in Wuhan, China, started the COVID-19 pandemic.
And to think: It wasn’t so long ago the U.S. commentariat wrote off this exact theory as the stuff of unhinged right-wing fever swamps. Perhaps as frustrating (or amusing) as the fact a legitimate and reasonable theory for the virus’s origins was dismissed out of hand by Western journalists and commentators is the fact some of these same naysayers remain unrepentant regarding their initial knee-jerk reactions, even in the face of the Department of Energy’s and the FBI’s shared assessment.
“The simple reason why so many people weren’t keen to discuss the ‘lab leak’ theory is because it was originally conflated by the Right with ‘Chinese bio weapon’ conspiracies and continues to be conflated by the Right with anti-Fauci conspiracies,” complained MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan. “Blame the conspiracy theorists.”
He added, “It’s hard to have a good-faith disagreement about a major issue if the issue itself has been hijacked by bad-faith folks.”
Elsewhere, CNN columnist Jill Filipovic bemoaned, “Not trying to be salty, just saying that there was a moment of anti-Asian bigotry and I think it’s fair to say that Trump fueled part of it. Does that justify liberals writing off the lab leak theory? Of course not. Is it one explanatory factor? I think so.”
It continues to be fall-down funny people such as Filipovic believed it was less racist towards Asians to blame the pandemic on the consumption of diseased, exotic animals in Chinese wet markets than to blame a handful of negligent and sloppy government scientists. As if accusing the Chinese people of being generally unsanitary and prone to filthy backstreet diets is somehow the “inclusive,” “progressive,” and less-racist take.
If nothing else, we should thank people such as Hasan and Filipovic for their refreshing honesty. At least they’ve come right out and admitted they are the bad faith actors, motivated entirely by political allegiances.
This is some refreshing honesty.
It’s as if to say: “We refused to consider the possibility that sloppy and irresponsible Chinese communist bureaucrats created a pandemic that killed nearly 7 million people, and we shouted down anyone who did because then it would’ve looked like we agreed with right-wingers! Don’t blame us for stifling legitimate debate. Blame our political enemies, whom we oppose on principle, regardless of the topic.”
Bold and brave, folks. Bold and brave.