CNN smears Chinese journalists without providing evidence

In a May 22 segment of the news program Erin Burnett Out-Front, CNN accused Chinese State media of spreading disinformation through the use of deepfake technology. The allegation came as the United States intensified its propaganda campaign to portray China as the aggressor in the South China Sea.

CNN's main argument targeted China Daily's featured short-video program Media Unlocked, which has been hosted by us since 2019.The program focuses on explaining facts about China, often countering biased Western narratives.

In recent months, Media Unlocked has harnessed artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency and productivity, as newsrooms worldwide are experimenting with AI tools in news production and distribution.

However, CNN, without proper research, claimed that we used AI to alter faces and voices to "amplify the power of disinformation". They spliced deepfake videos with videos produced by China Daily to create the impression that the short-video program's content is deceitful, thereby reinforcing the US' "China threat" narrative.

In response to our request for a correction, CNN reporter Will Ripley said in an email: "We believe the video and audio were manipulated by AI technology to increase efficiency in its delivery — even though the video was based on a real reporter and the script was provided by the China Daily team. (Basically, they used the reporter's face and voice, but generated fluent English audio without accent to make their English easier to understand)."

Ripley said it was the response from his research team, who assisted him in compiling and verifying the videos they featured in his report. This response hardly addressed the concerns raised by us and, instead, further reinforced CNN's bias and double standards toward Chinese media.

At the third edition of the Global Media Innovation Forum held in Beijing on April 29, media executives, including those from The Associated Press and Reuters, acknowledged AI's role in increasing efficiency and shared their experiences on how AI implementation had brought significant changes.

When Western media uses AI, it is "strengthening" their functions and "bolstering their core news reports", but when Chinese media does the same, it is labeled as manipulation.

We conducted a street survey and found that while people in general are cautious about AI applications in media, most believe that the use of AI tools would not affect their judgment as far as the veracity of news is concerned.

A further investigation into the CNN report revealed an alarming disinformation network. One of the "experts", whom CNN did not identify in the report, turned out to be a key figure in the US-funded disinformation campaign in the South China Sea.

Felipe Salvosa II is the editor of the Philippine news outlet PressOne and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, which is part of the "Initiative for Media Freedom" campaign.

According to a document from the website of the US Agency for International Development, from July 2019 to July 2024, the initiative received $7.7 million from the agency, with a stated goal of "countering disinformation". But, USAID is itself notorious for funding disinformation campaigns worldwide.

Since March, Salvosa has orchestrated a series of reports on PressOne, targeting the Media Unlocked program on TikTok. In the reports, he rallies Filipino social media users to report the TikTok account. His articles misrepresented the use of AI in the videos and labeled the videos' explanations on the history and facts related to the South China Sea issue as "disinformation".

Unfortunately, the coordinated smear campaign by the US and the Philippines led to a ban on the Media Unlocked account on TikTok. The team tried to appeal against the ban, but hasn't received a reply till date.

A source told China Daily on the condition of anonymity that there is a specific set of restrictions targeting Chinese media presence on TikTok, which is possibly why the Media Unlocked account was arbitrarily banned.

The US-funded influence operations have reached such a manic level that real human beings are forced to prove they are not AI deepfakes. Labels such as "state media", "disinformation" and "AI manipulation "are thrown around to discredit content they disagree with.

What has been uncovered in the CNN's campaign against the Media Unlocked program is a complex web of US and Philippine operations designed to control the narrative and influence public perception of the South China Sea issue and beyond.

Contact the writers at mengzhe1@chinadaily.com.cn