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Britain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Ofcom) said in a statement Thursday that the broadcasting right was essentially granted to “Star China Media Limited”, which in fact “does not exercise any editorial responsibility for content broadcast by CGTN.”
He added that it was not possible to accept the request to transfer this license to the entity that actually controls the channel because it is “subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party.”
The authority also said: “We have given CGTN enough time to comply with the rules,” which specifically prohibit broadcast license holders from associating with any political entity, according to Ofcom.
The “CGTN” expressed its “condemnation” of the decision on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, noting that it had displayed “objectivity, rationality and impartiality” since its launch in 2000.
The channel condemned this action, which was caused by “manipulation by far-right groups and anti-China forces”, stressing that it will provide “detailed clarifications” to Ofcom. The British decision may further worsen relations between the UK and China.
Shortly after its announcement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused, without speaking of the issue of the public channel, the British network “BBC” of spreading “fake news” and “ideological bias” for showing a video about the epidemic in China. .
The Chinese Foreign Ministry asked the British network to apologize and said in a statement that “China reserves the right to take additional measures.”
The BBC, in turn, rejected the “unfounded accusations”, underlining that it addressed “with precision and fairness” the events in China.
Relations between the two countries had already deteriorated due to London’s condemnation of the controversial Chinese security law in Hong Kong and the crackdown on pro-democracy movements in the city, prompting London to grant citizens a special passport. from the former colony.
China responded that it would not recognize the passports that were surrendered after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to extend residence rights for Hong Kong citizens on British soil.
Amid this tense context, London also condemned China’s “brutality” towards the Uighur minority and announced in early January measures to prevent goods believed to be the product of forced labor by this Muslim minority in Xinjiang from reaching the British consumer. .
The tension between the two parties also increased after London excluded the Chinese company “Huawei”, which Washington accuses of being a spy tool for Beijing, from the development of the fifth generation network for the Internet in its territory. He was supposed to present a bill last November to Parliament on the matter.
The British authority (Ofcom) also said that it would launch “soon” a mechanism to impose sanctions on the Chinese government channel for its coverage, which it considers biased, unfair and contrary to respect for privacy.
In July, the regulator concluded that the channel had violated neutrality by covering the issue of the arrest of British journalist Peter Humphrey in China.
Humphrey, who worked as a private investigator in China for the pharmaceutical company “GlaxoSmithKline”, was arrested in August 2014 and sentenced to two years in prison for violating Chinese privacy laws, then was released and expelled from the country in 2015.
Humphrey filed a complaint with the British Communications Regulatory Authority for having been subjected to “unfair treatment” and “violation of privacy” in connection with the broadcast of the channel, which was called “CCTV News”, two programs in August 2013 and July 2014, which Humphrey filed as a “suspect.” Culpability.
In May 2020, Ofcom adopted “CGTN” a bias in the coverage of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019.
