GT Progressive News: (THREAD)This is the story of how TV icon Larry King got paid to fake a 2019 interview with a Russian journalist — and ended up ensnared in an international disinformation scheme. In the twilight of his career, he became an unwitting mouthpiece for Chinese propaganda.

Sunday, August 2, 2020

(THREAD)This is the story of how TV icon Larry King got paid to fake a 2019 interview with a Russian journalist — and ended up ensnared in an international disinformation scheme. In the twilight of his career, he became an unwitting mouthpiece for Chinese propaganda.

2/ Jacobi Niv had previously paid Larry King to narrate half a dozen videos for companies or projects in Israel, where King is still a big name. But what Niv wanted King to tape on March 27, 2019, wasn’t the usual infomercial. It was more like a disinfomercial.
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 2, 2020

4/ But Dolgova would not be answering King’s questions — which involved China, a topic Niv’s videos with King had not covered before — live on camera. Instead, her responses would be plugged in separately. pic.twitter.com/sOLQDlenaj
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 2, 2020

6/ Niv’s contact was Itai Rapoport, who runs a production company in Israel that has made China-related videos. Rapoport won’t say who hired him. pic.twitter.com/QkUi4aAHY0
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 2, 2020

8/ The topic is Guo Wengui, a wealthy Chinese dissident who now lives in Manhattan. Chinese authorities say Guo committed rape and kidnapping in China and want him deported from the U.S. In the video, Dolgova echoes China’s position and denounces Guo.
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 2, 2020

10/ Lawyer @SandersonMatt, an expert on the Foreign Agents Registration Act, says it’s “likely” that Niv — and maybe King himself — should have registered as foreign agents on behalf of China.
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 2, 2020