Last week, US Vice President Mike Pence accused China of political meddling ahead of the US mid-term elections. He referred at the time to the newspaper supplement paid by China Daily, which is China's only official English-language newspaper with international circulation. It was printed in the Des Moines  Register. CGTN'S Dan Williams spoke to the paper's executive editor. Journalists at the Des Moines Register prepare the latest edition of the Iowa-based daily newspaper. Last month, the paper generated national headlines after it printed an "advertorial"-an advertisement in the form of news and analysis. It was paid for by The China Daily. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence publicly mentioned the supplement, amid claims that China is politically meddling ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, a suggestion given little weight at the newspaper itself. 

CAROL HUNTER DES MOINES REGISTER EXECUTIVE EDITOR "The experts that we interviewed, the academics, political scientists say that seems a bit of a stretch. Every nation takes different steps to try to put forth its perspective. America has things like voice of America. I think farmers are a very savvy bunch. They are very much up on issues like international trade. I don't think they saw anything new in that advertorial."   

The four-page supplement appeared in the middle of the newspaper and included a story about the ongoing trade dispute. 

CAROL HUNTER DES MOINES REGISTER EXECUTIVE EDITOR "Here at the Des Moines Register, we treated it as we would any other advertiser coming to us. My concern as editor was mainly that the supplement be labelled very clearly. That this was sponsored by China Daily. It was also perspectives that had been reported widely in the mainstream press."

DAN WILLIAMS MAXWELL, IOWA "This is the Kimberley farm in nearby Maxwell, the farm that President Xi visited while on an official trip to the U.S. in 2012. The Kimberley's doubt many Iowa farmers would have read too much significance into the supplement."

GRANT KIMBERLEY KIMBERLEY FARMS "Quite frankly some people might not have seen it. But certainly, a lot of people might have heard about it after the fact. And I think most people, it didn't make an impact one way or another. Most people just looked at that, it was just a newspaper insert. It didn't make a difference to sway an opinion one way or another." 

With harvest season now in full swing, the various trade disputes continue to make front page news in Iowa. Many farmers here simply hope for a solution to the trade issue. Dan Williams, CGTN, Des Moines, Iowa.