UK Revokes CGTN's Licence; China Blasts BBC

Britain's media regulator, Ofcom, said on Thursday that it has revoked China Global Television Network's (CGTN) licence to broadcast in the UK

In a statement, the regulator also said it expected to shortly conclude separate sanctions proceedings against CGTN - the overseas arm of mainland state broadcaster CCTV - for "due impartiality and fairness and privacy breaches" regarding its coverage of Hong Kong's protests in 2019.

Ofcom said an investigation had found that Star China Media Limited, which holds the licence for the CGTN service, does not have editorial responsibility for the station's output and is therefore not a lawful broadcast licensee.

It said there had been an application for the licence to be transferred to an entity called "China Global Television Network Corporation", but crucial information was missing from the application and in any case, the entity is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party so it would be disqualified under UK broadcasting laws.

"We have given CGTN significant time to come into compliance with the statutory rules. Those efforts have now been exhausted," the statement said.

"Following careful consideration, taking account of all the facts and the broadcaster’s and audience’s rights to freedom of expression, we have decided it is appropriate to revoke the licence for CGTN to broadcast in the UK."

Ofcom said revoking CGTN's licence would not affect sanctions proceedings against the station for "failing to preserve due impartiality in its coverage of the Hong Kong protests", as well as a "serious breach" of its fairness and privacy rules.

It said a decision on this is expected to be reached shortly, adding that it has three other investigations underway regarding the content of CGTN's services.

Last July, Ofcom warned CGTN that it faced sanctions over a forced confession it broadcast involving British citizen Peter Humphrey.

Simon Cheng, a former worker at the UK consulate in Hong Kong, also filed a complaint to the regulator over a confession he said he was forced to make after being tortured while in detention on the mainland.

Shortly after the British regulator announced the revocation of CGTN's licence, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had lodged "stern representations" to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) over what it said was "fake news" coverage of Covid-19, and urged the broadcaster to publicly apologise.

In a statement, a ministry spokesperson said that the BBC had recently "linked the pandemic to politics" and "rehashed theories about covering up by China". (Additional reporting by Reuters)

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