CGTN: UK Regulator Criticized for 'Act of Censorship' by Banning CGTN
10.3.2021 16:24:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Britain's communications regulator Ofcom has been criticized for its decision to ban and fine China Global Television Network (CGTN) for political reasons.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210310005537/en/
CGTN headquarters building in Beijing. /CFP
A group of journalists, filmmakers and artists recently challenged Ofcom's "act of censorship" in an open letter published by the No Cold War campaign and the Morning Star.
"The decision by Ofcom to remove the broadcasting license of CGTN is an act of censorship which is not in the interests of Britain and its people," the open letter said, calling the move an "attack on free speech."
Ofcom revoked the license of CGTN to broadcast in the UK in early February on the grounds of its ultimate control and its political attributes. Beijing slammed the move as political repression against Chinese media.
In their letter, the signatories questioned Ofcom's justification for banning CGTN.
"Ofcom's justification for taking CGTN off air is that any holder of a broadcasting license in Britain must not be controlled by political bodies. However, this law is only selectively applied. Numerous private and state channels have clear political agendas or control – the BBC itself, for example, which had its staff vetted by MI5, has not had its broadcasting license revoked," it said.
The letter urged Ofcom to reverse its decision and reinstate CGTN's license.
CGTN committed to balanced reporting
A spokesperson for CGTN on Tuesday called on the British regulator to calmly listen to the opinions expressed in the letter and end its political crackdown on Chinese media.
The spokesperson said that as an international news channel, CGTN is committed to providing "accurate, timely and objective news and information with diverse and balanced views" for its global audiences.
"China is increasingly connected and engaged with the rest of the world including the UK," the spokesperson said in a statement. "It is our responsibility to present Chinese viewpoints and perspectives in our news reporting, which is what our viewers expect and is also in the interest of the public."
'The world should be able to hear China's voice'
In a separate statement on Tuesday, CGTN said it is disappointed with and firmly opposes Ofcom's latest sanction decisions and adjudications against it.
Ofcom on Monday fined CGTN 225,000 British pounds (about $310,933) for "breaching rules on fairness, privacy and due impartiality" just weeks after it stripped the network of its right to air in Britain.
"CGTN believes its coverage of the 2019 violent protests in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was fair, truthful and duly impartial," the statement said.
"As a news outlet from China, CGTN made it possible for global audiences to see and hear a more complete picture of events in Hong Kong by reporting on the voices opposing violence and destruction," it stressed. "The fact that CGTN has been sanctioned by Ofcom for its objective coverage of the event is unjust."
"It is in the public interest that the world should be able to hear China's voice and perspective and see the true picture more clearly," it added.
At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian urged Ofcom and certain individuals to immediately cease engaging in political manipulation and correct their mistakes, slamming the move as "blatant political oppression."
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210310005537/en/
Contact information
Media:
Jiang Simin
jiang.simin@cgtn.com
+86 18826553286
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Airship Announces Results Guarantee; Releases Commissioned Study Finding 476% ROI for Composite Organization22.7.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Airship, the mobile-first customer experience platform leader, today announced its Airship Results Guarantee, a corporate commitment to achieve predetermined business outcomes for new customers. Concurrently, the company released the results of a separate, commissioned Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Airship, July 2026. The study found that a composite organization based on interviewed customers achieved a 476% Return on Investment (ROI) with a payback period of less than six months. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260722832535/en/ Airship has launched a new results guarantee offer to stand behind its value. Alongside this offer, the team shared the results of a new Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study commissioned with Forrester Consulting illustrating that a composite organization achieved a 476% ROI with a payback period of less than six months. “We introduced
Arrakis Comes out of Stealth With $38M to Help Industrial Enterprises Compete in the AI Era22.7.2026 16:56:00 EEST | Press release
Arrakis, the AI deployment company helping industrial companies install AI agents for mission-critical operations, today announced a $30 million Series A led by Blossom Capital, with participation from existing investor Accel, which also led the company's $7.5 million seed round. The round brings total funding to around $38 million and includes backing from prominent technology leaders, including Olivier Pomel, founder and chief executive of Datadog, Olivier Godement, OpenAI’s Head of business products and Junaid Hussein, founder of Cambridge Aerospace. Founded in January 2026 by former Accel investor Rafael Quintanilla, together with co-founders Haroun Beltaifa, Romain Fouilland and Mikhail Galkov - alumni of Palantir, DeliveryHero, Revolut, Datadog and ASML - Arrakis helps industrial companies deploy AI into core operational workflows across aerospace, energy, logistics, manufacturing, construction and telecommunications markets. Across the US and Europe, governments and businesses a
Vultr and AMD Support the University of Cambridge's TESSERA AI Project to Accelerate Global Environmental Monitoring22.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vultr, the world’s largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company, and AMD, a leader in high-performance and AI computing, have announced their support for the University of Cambridge's Energy & Environment Group in developing TESSERA, a groundbreaking AI foundation model designed to monitor environmental change internationally at unprecedented scale. Vultr is providing the computational infrastructure, based on AMD Instinct MI325X accelerators, necessary to generate global embeddings covering Earth's land surface from 2017 to 2025, enabling applications in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and renewable energy infrastructure monitoring. The collaboration represents a significant advancement in applying artificial intelligence to planetary conservation challenges. TESSERA processes data from European Space Agency Sentinel satellites to create detailed embeddings - compressed AI representations - of every 10-meter square of Earth's surface. TESSERA represents the most accurat
Omilia Appoints Ryan Kam as Chief Marketing Officer to Lead Global Brand and Growth Strategy22.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Omilia, a global leader in Self-Learning Agentic CX, today announced the appointment of Ryan Kam as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Ryan will be responsible for Omilia's global brand, demand generation, and marketing strategy as the company scales its go-to-market presence across enterprise markets. In his new role, Kam will own Omilia's global marketing function, spanning brand strategy, demand generation, product marketing, analyst relations and communications. He joins at a moment of significant commercial momentum: Omilia has seen accelerating enterprise demand across all industries and is investing in a marketing engine built to match the pace of its growth. Ryan Kam brings more than 20 years of marketing leadership across some of the most recognized names in enterprise technology. Most recently, he served as CMO at Egnyte, a leader in cloud content security and governance. Prior to that, Kam held the CMO role at LogicMonitor, where he drove growth for one of the leading infrastruc
Echodyne Announces ATAK Integration for MESA® Radar Platform22.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Echodyne, the radar platform company, today announced the availability of an Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) plugin for its MESA® radar platform. The integration enables users to configure, control, and visualize data from Echodyne radars within the ATAK environment, supporting military, public safety, and security operations that rely on TAK for shared situational awareness. The plugin extends radar management and visualization capabilities to ATAK users, allowing high-fidelity radar data and system controls to be accessed through a familiar operational interface. By integrating radar data into existing TAK workflows, organizations can streamline deployment, reduce operator workload, and improve access to real-time situational awareness. TAK is a government-developed geospatial platform used across U.S. military, federal, state, and local government organizations, as well as by U.S. partner nations. According to the U.S. Army TAK Product Center, the TAK ecosystem supports 15 Departm
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom