London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Ofcom investigates CGTN over coverage of Hong Kong protests

Ofcom investigates CGTN over coverage of Hong Kong protests

UK regulator to look at whether Chinese state-backed channel broke impartiality rules

The Chinese state-backed news channel CGTN is under investigation by the British media regulator over claims its coverage of protests in Hong Kong breached broadcasting rules.

Ofcom announced on Monday that it was looking at whether the station “broke our rules requiring news to be presented with due impartiality” on four occasions in August and September while covering anti-government demonstrations in the city, which has seen millions of people take to the streets.

The investigation is the latest regulatory setback for the English-language outlet, which says its mission is “reporting news from a Chinese perspective”. The station is the international arm of state broadcaster China Central Television.

The channel has been aggressively hiring hundreds of staff in the UK for the launch of its London-based operation, offering substantial salaries to staff from the likes of Sky News and the BBC. The new set-up is due to formally launch in the coming weeks but the channel now faces being drawn into the same regulatory quagmire which has plagued the Russian state-backed news channel RT.

CGTN is already the subject of an ongoing inquiry into claims the channel aired the forced confessions of prisoners, including one of a British citizen who was arrested while he was based in China.

A spokesperson for Ofcom confirmed that the new investigations into the content of CGTN’s Hong Kong coverage were launched after in-house “routine monitoring”, rather than in response to complaints from members of the public.

The channel attracts a limited audience in the UK and is only available to watch on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat.

To add to its woes, last week the Guardian revealed that former Ofcom board member Nick Pollard, who had been hired by CGTN as a consultant to help deal with the channel’s regulatory issues, had quit amid concerns over the channel’s coverage of events in Hong Kong.

The channel has criticised the alleged bias of the BBC’s reporting on the Hong Kong protests and has also turned to the likes of George Galloway to provide commentary. The former MP told the channel that ”absolutely no country will allow an existential threat to emerge on its territory, to its own sovereignty, without responding in a way that brings the situation under control”.

Last year a reporter for the channel’s sister station CCTV was arrested at the Conservative party conference after allegedly slapping a man at a fringe event discussing Hong Kong. They were later released without charge, after strongly-worded criticism from the Chinese embassy in London which claimed Britain was cracking down on freedom of the press.

The Hong Kong protests have drawn attention to China’s attempts to increase its influence in western media. Outlets including the Daily Telegraph and the New York Times sell space to state-backed outlet China Daily and run their material on their websites and in paid-for print supplements.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×