China · Bias: State propaganda
Chinese Communist Party (via China Media Group)
China's state broadcaster reaches an estimated 160-plus countries in as many as 65 languages, making it one of the largest state-media megaphones on Earth — built entirely to project a positive image of China to the outside world. In February 2021, British regulator Ofcom stripped CGTN of its UK broadcasting license entirely, ruling that the nominal license-holder had no genuine editorial control and that the channel was, in fact, run directly by the Chinese Communist Party through China Media Group. It covers real global news competently right up until a story might embarrass Beijing — at which point it simply doesn't run.
Between 2013 and 2018, CGTN aired what it presented as voluntary on-camera "confessions" from detained foreigners, including British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey, Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, and a UK consulate employee in Hong Kong, Simon Cheng. The purpose was to broadcast state-approved narratives about people China had accused of crimes, using the appearance of a real interview to lend the confessions credibility. UK regulator Ofcom later ruled the "confessions" were forced and obtained under duress by Chinese police working alongside CCTV/CGTN journalists — a factor in Ofcom's 2021 decision to strip CGTN's UK broadcasting license entirely. It remains one of the most concrete, regulator-confirmed examples of a state broadcaster manufacturing propaganda out of real people's captivity.