China’s broadcasting regulator has banned the BBC World Service from airing there, according to a report in Chinese state media. The news follows a move by Britain’s communications regulator last week to strip the state-run China global television network of its broadcast license in the U.K.
According to the state news agency Xinhua, China’s National Radio and Television Administration said BBC World News “was found to have seriously violated regulations on radio and television management and on overseas satellite television channel management in its China-related reports which went against the requirements that news reporting must be true and impartial, and undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.”
Xinhua quoted a statement from the regulator: “As the channel fails to meet the requirements to broadcast in China as an overseas channel, BBC World News is not allowed to continue its service within Chinese territory. The NRTA will not accept the channel’s broadcast application for the new year.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the move “unacceptable.”
“China’s decision to ban BBC World News in mainland China is an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom,” Raab tweeted. “China has some of the most severe restrictions on media & internet freedoms across the globe, & this latest step will only damage China’s reputation in the eyes of the world.”
Source : NPR News
