New York Times accused of running Chinese 'propaganda' puff piece for Xi Jinping ahead of Winter Olympics

In media news today, Peter Doocy says Biden called his cellphone to ‘clear the air,’ Whoopi Goldberg goes off on Bill Maher for his pandemic comments, and Sarah Palin tests positive for COVID delaying her defamation case against the New York Times.

The New York Times raised eyebrows with a report critics say offers over-the-top praise for China and its leader ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

On Saturday, Times Beijing bureau chief Steven Lee Myers, Shanghai bureau chief Keith Bradsher and global sports reporter Tariq Panja co-authored an article titled "China’s Games: How Xi Jinping Is Staging the Olympics on His Terms," bolstering how China "managed to fulfill its promises and cow its critics."

The report began with Chinese President Xi Jinping's heavy push seven years ago for the International Olympic Committee to select Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games despite China's limited snowfall and lack of experience in winter sports. 

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"Mr. Xi pledged to resolve all of this, putting his personal prestige on what seemed then like an audacious bid. ‘We will deliver every promise we made,’ he told the Olympic delegates meeting in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur," the Times wrote. "With the Games only days away, China has delivered. It has plowed through the obstacles that once made Beijing’s bid seem a long shot, and faced down new ones, including an unending pandemic and mounting international concern over its authoritarian behavior."

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at a meeting commemorating the 110th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China