China Global Television Network (CGTN) had its broadcasting license in the UK revoked by Ofcom on Thursday (4).
Ofcom revoked the license of China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Thursday (4), citing state control of editorial control. CGTN issued a statement saying it had been “politically suppressed”, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the British decision was based on “ideological bias” and “political motives”. China will take all necessary actions. Commentators believe the British decision will deter Xi Jinping‘s “China Dream” false propaganda.
A statement issued by Ofcom on Thursday said that Star China Media Ltd, which holds the broadcast license for the China Universal Television network, had no editorial responsibility for the network’s broadcasts and had no involvement in operational decisions or access to any of its staff in day-to-day operations. China Universal Television also admitted in the investigation to being the de facto decision maker for editorial control.
The statement also revealed that CCTV is also the sole shareholder of the entity, and that CCTV is determined to be officially controlled by China. According to the Broadcasting Act enacted by the British Parliament, broadcast licensees must fulfill responsibilities such as editorial and supervisory control, plus broadcast licensees cannot be controlled by political bodies.
Ma Jian, a British Writer, told the station that his friends worked for the China Global Television Network, and that they were constantly receiving instructions from CCTV headquarters and the Communist Party’s propaganda department in the course of their work. The UK’s decision has hit the Chinese Dream, which is the main medium for promoting Xi Jinping’s “China Dream”.
Ma Jian said: “The Chinese Communist Party is only doing its own kind of propaganda, and this is indeed a tumor planted by the Chinese Communist Party in London, which is very dangerous indeed! Not only do they control the Chinese here, but it will also go to Europe. The British government is right to do this, not only to stop their foreign propaganda, but also to control the development of Xi Jinping’s so-called “Chinese dream” in Britain, because it has reached a point where we can no longer tolerate it.
But Ma also worries that the Communist authorities will not stop so easily, and that China Global Television Network will probably “go public” again.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Friday that the British side’s withdrawal of China Global Television’s license was based on “ideological bias” and “political motives” and that China demanded that the UK correct its mistake and that it would take all necessary actions in response. China will take all necessary actions.
In a statement, the Chinese network expressed regret and firm opposition to the UK’s decision, saying that the British side had shown early signs of “political suppression” and that Ofcom was “manipulated by some extreme right-wing organizations and anti-China forces” to investigate its landing permit. The Chinese Embassy in the UK has not replied to this report.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK did not respond to our request for comment.
Taiwanese media personality Yang Xianhong said he has discussed with former U.S. President Donald Trump‘s deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger the global infiltration of China’s official media, which uses Western media freedoms and some legal loopholes to enter Western countries and propagate Chinese Communist Party ideology. Yang Xianhong believes that this decision by the UK defends an important bottom line of media freedom and ethics.
Yang Xianhong said: “There is a very important line in media freedom and ethics: the party, government and military are absolutely not allowed to be in it. The country’s own party, government and military should not interfere with the media, let alone the party, government and military of other countries coming to interfere with the media, or the mouthpiece and ear of other countries coming into your country and continuing to serve the party, government and military of its Home country.
Ofcom’s statement reveals that China Global Television Network intends to work with CCTV to reorganize the new “China Global Television Network Corporation” (CGTNC) and applied for a license to be transferred to the reorganized entity last September; the document clearly indicates that the proposed reorganized company is controlled by CCTV, which is also the sole shareholder of the entity; and that CCTV was determined to be controlled by the Chinese Communist authorities.
A spokesman for Ofcom said that the license issued to CTV was in the hands of an entity that did not have editorial control over its own programming, and that the British could not grant the license to CTV because they were ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. This is not allowed by British broadcasting regulations.
China Universal Television Network was formerly known as CCTV English Channel International. It currently consists of six television channels, three overseas branches, a video news agency and a new media cluster.
In February 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping explicitly asked the official media of the Communist Party of China to “tell the Chinese story well and make efforts to build a flagship media for foreign propaganda with international influence”. “The China Global Television Network (CGTN) was announced in late December of that year.
In September 2019, Ofcom announced that it had launched four investigations into CTV’s coverage of the “Hong Kong anti-sending China protests” in August and September of that year to determine whether it had violated the “fair reporting” principle. In the same year, Ofcom also investigated the Chinese network’s broadcast of a “confession video” of Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist and private detective detained by the Chinese side.
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