I’m amused by everyone on the American Right scrambling to figure out and explain what Phoenix TV is.

It’s a classic case of not knowing much at all about China then scurrying to fit whatever facts you do discover into a preexisting narrative.

I can’t say the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and Phoenix TV is really that different from the relationship between Trump and Rupert Murdoch.

They both know where their bread is buttered, and what kind of coverage would interfere with that.

One way it is different, to be fair, is that China can and does prevent other outlets offering less favored perspectives from being heard, outright.

Of course people are treating this thread as a defense of Phoenix TV. How ridiculous. What it is is a criticism of the kind of insta-informed takes people have on facts or stories from China that feature any complexity.