LONDON (CU)_The United Kingdom on Thursday (Feb 4), revoked the national broadcasting license of the Chinese state-owned TV channel, after an investigation found it to be lacking editorial controls and having links to China’s ruling Communist party.
UK’s communications watchdog, Ofcom, said regulators initiated the investigation against China Global Television Network (CGTN), after receiving a complaint from a human rights group, Safeguard Defenders, regarding the ownership of the channel.
CGTN is an international English-language satellite news channel, which had been available on free and pay TV in the UK.
Ofcom says it also continues to investigate several other complaints received against the channel, including one made by a British corporate investigator and another by a former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong, claiming CGTN aired their forced confessions while they were detained in China.
However, CGTN has not yet responded to requests for a comment on these allegations and the British watchdog says its rulings are still pending.
This recent decision to revoke the license of the Chinese state-owned channel is expected to further strain relations between Britain and China, already tensed by UK’s calls to address human rights abuses against the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, and London’s efforts to widen residency rights for the people of Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Ofcom says it found the entity that held CGTN’s license, Star China Media Limited, was merely the channel’s distributor, and didn’t have editorial responsibility for the CGTN’s output, which is a licensing requirement. The watchdog said it gave CGTN “significant time” to comply but those efforts “have now been exhausted.”
“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 U.K.,” Ofcom said.
