China bans BBC World News from broadcasting

Authorities in China have banned BBC World News from broadcasting in the country.

The news follows a move by Britain’s communications regulator to strip the state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN) of its broadcast license in the U.K. last week. The CGTN was also found in breach of British broadcasting regulations last year, for airing the footage of UK citizen, Peter Humphrey ‘confessing to a criminal offence’ after he was allegedly forced to do so.

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.””

The BBC said it was disappointed with the decision by Chinese authorities.

“The BBC is the world’s most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favour,” it said in a statement.

Yasmin Qureshi, a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China UK, said “The decision to ban the BBC from airing in China is yet another example of the intolerance that the Chinese government has towards those who reveal the truth about its authoritarian rule.”