The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Monday (March 22) that it is considering a request from a rights group to investigate the U.S. arm of China’s official media, China Central Television (CCTV). The group alleges that CCTV’s channels in the U.S. intentionally broadcast false information in violation of relevant FCC regulations. The civil society organization’s complaint, filed in the United Kingdom, helped force CCTV to lose its broadcasting license.
Spain-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders wrote to the head of the agency again on March 17 after filing a 30-page complaint against China’s CCTV with the FCC in December 2019 and receiving no response, the group said Monday on its website. requesting an investigation into CCTV-4 and its English-language channel China Global Television Network (CGTN), which airs in the United States.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Communications Commission said Monday that the agency is considering the request from the Guardian, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a complaint released Monday, the NGO, which works to promote the rule of law and human rights, cites evidence that the CCTV channel has broadcast “known, intentionally distorted programs and obvious lies” in the United States for the benefit of China’s Communist Party. The complaint also states that such “deliberate distortions and obvious lies” were not only broadcast on U.S. television (via terrestrial, satellite, cable and Internet TV), but also posted on CGTN’s U.S. website.
The NGO “Defenders of Protection” was founded in 2016. On its website, the organization says it “works to engage and support local field activities in some of the most hostile human rights environments in Asia to promote the safeguarding of fundamental human rights and the rule of law, and to build the capacity of local civil society and human rights defenders.”
“Defenders’ allegations against China’s official media, CCTV, focus on its practice of “televised confessions,” in which people of various nationalities are forced to express remorse and guilt on CCTV while in the custody of Chinese authorities, and Beijing then broadcasts their televised expressions of remorse around the world. repentance for publicity.
“This is in direct violation of the FCC’s rule that ‘broadcasters must not intentionally distort the news’ and its position that ‘manipulation or distortion of the news is the most heinous act against the public interest. “Protect the TV” said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Communications Commission did not comment on the substance of the group’s allegations.
“The Guardian’s complaint helped force the U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, to revoke China Universal Television Network’s license to operate in the U.K. in February. After receiving the agency’s letter of complaint, Australian radio station SBS said it would suspend CCTV and Global TV’s programs.
China’s CCTV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have not yet commented on the complaint filed by the Protector with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
In a statement to Reuters at the Time following Australian radio station SBS’s decision to suspend CCTV and Global TV, China’s Foreign Ministry said SBS’s move was “typical of political persecution” and said “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media. .”
The expansion of Chinese official media operations in Western countries has raised concerns that Beijing wants to influence public opinion outside of China, as Chinese authorities ban content produced by foreign organizations from appearing in Chinese domestic paper, broadcast and online platforms.
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