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An independent media organization claims it is unable to secure money as a result of allegations that it supports the US and Chinese governments.
Taiwan’s Taipei Due to financial issues brought on by “politically-motivated attacks,” The China Project, an independent media organization renowned for its impactful coverage of Chinese politics and society, has announced that it will close.
In light of the worsening US-China relations, editor-in-chief Jeremy Goldkorn stated on Tuesday that the site’s coverage of China has grown in significance, but it has also placed “several targets on our backs.”
In a statement posted on the website, Goldkorn and three other senior employees said, “We have been accused many times in both countries of working for nefarious purposes for the government of the other.”
In addition to incurring significant legal expenses, defending ourselves has made it harder for us to draw in sponsors, advertisers, and investors. We are not yet in a position to rely on these revenues to sustain our operations, despite the fact that our subscription offerings have been growing strongly and consistently. The media industry is unstable, and our position is made worse by the politically motivated attacks we face from different interested parties.
According to the statement, the company had started the legal process of winding up the business and would give a more thorough update the following week.
Founded in 2016 as “SupChina,” the New York-based news site has gained recognition and respect in China-watching circles for both its Sinica Podcast and its content.
The China Project is “a jewel in the crown of China reporting,” according to a testimonial written by former US Ambassador to China Max Baucus and posted on the organization’s website.
Journalists and scholars expressed shock and gratitude on social media upon learning of the site’s closure.
The BBC’s China correspondent, Stephen McDonell, called the news “depressing.”
He posted on X, the former Twitter platform, saying, “If anyone knows somebody with a big pot of money they wanna put to a good cause, here it is.”
Stanford University researcher and writer Tianyu Fang stated that the publication had “tried very hard to be reasonable, empathetic, and honest.”
China Human Rights Defenders’ advocacy coordinator, William Nee, commended the website for its “humanitarian spirit of empathy and breadth of coverage.”
According to its website, the China Project employed 235 authors from 35 countries to publish more than 1,800 articles annually throughout its nearly eight-year existence.
The business also branched out into corporate records database ChinaEdge and events, such as the yearly NextChina conference.
SOURCE: ALJAZEERA
