China's National Radio and Television Administration have ironically banned BBC World News from airing in the country for spreading "fake news" on reports regarding its abuses, a local media outlet announced.
Xinhua News said BBC World News is taken off the air "for serious content violation." The National Radio Television Administration said the international media giant has "seriously violated" radio and television management regulations for its "China-related reports" overseas.
BBC World News, as per Xinhua News, "undermined China's national interests and ethnic solidarity" by going against the news reporting requirement to be "true and impartial."
"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," the National Radio and Television Administration of China said in a statement as quoted by Xinhua News.
"BREAKING: BBC has been banned in China. The report said the BBC was responsible for a 'slew of falsified reporting' on issues including Xinjiang and China's handling of coronavirus. It went on to say that 'fake news' is not tolerated in China," BBC World News Anchor Yalda Hakim tweeted on Friday, prompting followers to ask if the move was in retaliation to the CGTV ban in the U.K..
BREAKING: BBC has been banned in China. The report said the BBC was responsible for a 'slew of falsified reporting' on issues including Xinjiang and China's handling of coronavirus. It went on to say that 'fake news' is not tolerated in China
"” Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) February 11, 2021
The Blaze said China's banning of BBC came a week after the U.K. media regulator Ofcom cancelled the broadcast license of CGTN, which is the China's broadcaster CCTV English language service. Ofcom found CGTN for violating its license agreements after discovering it is controlled by the Communist Party of China.
According to The Blaze, the content violation of BBC World News pertain to its reports on the Uighur genocide and the coronavirus failures that made China look bad. BBC ran several reports on the Uighur genocide, with the most recent being an expose on "systematic rape, sexual abuse, and torture of Uighur women in Chinese internment camps."
BBC World News reported during the said expose that "more than a million men and women have been detained in the sprawling network of camps, which China says exist for the 're-education' of the Uighurs and other minorities" ever since China President Xi Jinping ordered an "absolutely no mercy" attack on the Uighurs in 2014.
The Blaze cited reports from the New York Times that China denied the Uighur genocide that was acknowledged by the United States as "lies and absurd allegations."
While BBC's report on the coronavirus, The Blaze added, stressed that China's officials mishandled the situation when it broadcasted, "A year ago, the Chinese government locked down the city of Wuhan. For weeks beforehand officials had maintained that the outbreak was under control - just a few dozen cases linked to a live animal market. But in fact the virus had been spreading throughout the city and around China."
In a statement sent to Variety, BBC World News expressed "disappoint" for China's actions against them.
"We are disappointed that the Chinese authorities have decided to take this course of action. 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 favor," BBC World News said.
