Several current New York Times staffers were previously employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled English-language newspaper China Daily, which has in recent years paid U.S. media millions of dollars to publish its state-approved content.
Current employees at the New York Times who formerly worked for the Chinese state-run media outlet include; Jonah Kessel, Director of Cinematography at the Times; Diarmuid McDermott, a current Staff Editor and Designer at the outlet; and Europe culture reporter Alex Marshall, the National Pulse found.
In now-deleted Twitter posts, Kessel, who took on the role of China Daily’s Creative Director from July 2009 to November 2010, wrote that working for the CCP sometimes has its “benefits.” He also mentioned that he was “psyched” for starting the role, which included “redesigning” the propaganda arm of the CCP.
He had disclosed in several posts that he was “working for” and “getting paid” by Chinese state media.
“You know you work for the PRC [The People’s Republic of China] when the first word that comes to your mind when asked to describe your work place is ‘harmonious’ #china,” Kessel wrote in a Twitter post in November 2009.
According to McDermott’s LinkedIn profile and personal website, he worked as editor and designer for China Daily in a Hong Kong-based role for eight years—from November 2012 to November last year. He assumed the same role at the NY Times last year, and is still based in Hong Kong.
