Freedom House ¢ Chinese censors sent out guidelines listing sub- guages and through many cable packages. Russia has jects that should not be covered or not covered also launched Sputnik, an international news service, in a negative way during parliamentary sessions in multiple languages. These outlets tend to be more in 2016. Included on the list were the wealth effective than Chinas at imitating the production styles of parliamentary delegates, military budgets, and intentionally contentious formats now employed compliance with international human rights by many major outlets in democratic countries. conventions, air pollution, church demolitions, and jokes about parliamentarians’ proposals.!® The degree to which RT and other arms of the Russian global media apparatus actually influence the debate * Censorship officials quashed coverage of the about Russia is unclear. RT makes grandiose claims “Panama Papers,” the trove of documents leaked of high viewership, but some analysts believe that its in 2016 that listed the offshore holdings of the audience in the United States and elsewhere is much global elite, including the relatives of top Chi- lower than asserted, and that its sizeable audience on nese officials.2° YouTube may be inflated by enticing video clips with little political relevance.” e China added Time and the Economist to the list of blocked media websites in 2016, apparently When it was launched in 2005, RT's programming in retaliation for articles that were critical of Xi stressed the achievements of Russia and the strong Jinping’s accumulation of power.2! leadership of Vladimir Putin. Subsequently, the focus changed to negative messages about the West, - In February 2016 visits to China Central Tele- especially the United States. Programs have chroni- vision (CCTV), the Xinhua news agency, and cled American poverty, inequality, political hypocrisy, the People’s Daily newspaper—the flagships of racial injustice, and other real or perceived flaws