Doesn't the fact that it's reported in state-owned media suggest, although not prove, that it's not state driven? Why would they invite extra scrutiny to their disinformation campaign by publishing an article about it?
Regardless, I only posed it being state-driven as a hypothetical anyways. But state media reporting on the matter does little-to-nothing towards disproving that hypothesis.
[1]: https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/ivy-lee-and-the-origins-of-...