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Las Vegas Public Radio, the 'People's Voice of Las Vegas,' is a registered lobbyist for Chinese tech giant Huawei
Yuichiro Kakutani - APRIL 27, 2020 5:00 AM
At first glance, Las Vegas Public Radio (LVPR) looks like any other local FM radio station. It has local community sponsors, vaguely right-wing talk show hosts, and a website begging for a makeover. But there's a disclaimer on the bottom of that website noting that, contrary to the name, the station is not an NPR affiliate.
That disclaimer makes no mention of the fact that LVPR, the self-proclaimed "People's Voice of Las Vegas," is registered to lobby for Huawei Technologies, a Chinese company widely considered a national security threat to the United States.
Funded in part by Nevada taxpayers, according to its founder, LVPR has also developed close ties with Chinese officials and, under the guise of a local American radio station, it has become a voice for a Chinese technology giant that the Trump administration and other national security experts have identified as a threat to the global communications network. Federal disclosures show that the station is registered to lobby for Huawei and, in that capacity, has scheduled programming to push back against mounting concerns that the company could serve as a conduit for Chinese espionage if it builds the 5G network in the United States.
"We'll tell the American people that Huawei is being f—ed in America by politicians," LVPR founder and president Gregory LaPorta told the Washington Free Beacon. "They are no different from Qualcomm and Google … [Huawei] wants a place in the world like anyone else."
As the United States and China engage in a global messaging battle over the origins and spread of the coronavirus, the strange story of how the Chinese government has leveraged the small radio station underscores the heterodox techniques Beijing is using to broadcast their message to Americans.
The station’s existence has already sown confusion. LVPR lists several major wire services such as the Associated Press as its "affiliates" on its website. One of the wire services listed, the federally funded international broadcaster Voice of America, told the Free Beacon that the radio station is not an affiliate. The AP did not respond to a request for comment about its relationship with the station.
LVPR, which ostensibly serves the local Las Vegas community, has also hammered out a plan to open an office in China to promote ties between Las Vegas and the communist regime, according to lobbying disclosure forms, which state that LaPorta is developing a plan for "a specialized pilot project located in a select Chinese city to make the American Public Broadcasting System readily available in China."
MORE:
The Strange Story of a Las Vegas Radio Station Co-Opted by China
Yuichiro Kakutani - APRIL 27, 2020 5:00 AM
At first glance, Las Vegas Public Radio (LVPR) looks like any other local FM radio station. It has local community sponsors, vaguely right-wing talk show hosts, and a website begging for a makeover. But there's a disclaimer on the bottom of that website noting that, contrary to the name, the station is not an NPR affiliate.
That disclaimer makes no mention of the fact that LVPR, the self-proclaimed "People's Voice of Las Vegas," is registered to lobby for Huawei Technologies, a Chinese company widely considered a national security threat to the United States.
Funded in part by Nevada taxpayers, according to its founder, LVPR has also developed close ties with Chinese officials and, under the guise of a local American radio station, it has become a voice for a Chinese technology giant that the Trump administration and other national security experts have identified as a threat to the global communications network. Federal disclosures show that the station is registered to lobby for Huawei and, in that capacity, has scheduled programming to push back against mounting concerns that the company could serve as a conduit for Chinese espionage if it builds the 5G network in the United States.
"We'll tell the American people that Huawei is being f—ed in America by politicians," LVPR founder and president Gregory LaPorta told the Washington Free Beacon. "They are no different from Qualcomm and Google … [Huawei] wants a place in the world like anyone else."
As the United States and China engage in a global messaging battle over the origins and spread of the coronavirus, the strange story of how the Chinese government has leveraged the small radio station underscores the heterodox techniques Beijing is using to broadcast their message to Americans.
The station’s existence has already sown confusion. LVPR lists several major wire services such as the Associated Press as its "affiliates" on its website. One of the wire services listed, the federally funded international broadcaster Voice of America, told the Free Beacon that the radio station is not an affiliate. The AP did not respond to a request for comment about its relationship with the station.
LVPR, which ostensibly serves the local Las Vegas community, has also hammered out a plan to open an office in China to promote ties between Las Vegas and the communist regime, according to lobbying disclosure forms, which state that LaPorta is developing a plan for "a specialized pilot project located in a select Chinese city to make the American Public Broadcasting System readily available in China."
MORE:
The Strange Story of a Las Vegas Radio Station Co-Opted by China
