China bans BBC World News in retaliation for UK license blow
Patrick Wintour
11 February 2021
BBC World News has been banned from airing in China, a week after Beijing threatened to retaliate for the recent revocation of the British broadcasting license for China’s state-owned CGTN.
In a statement published at midnight Beijing time on Friday, China’s National Radio and Television Administration said BBC World News’s coverage of China had violated requirements that news reporting be true and impartial and undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.
In response, the BBC said: “We are disappointed that the Chinese authorities have decided to take this course of action. The BBC is the word’s most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favour.”
