CRTC Keeps Chinese State-Run Media on Air Despite MPs’ Calls for Ban

Commuters ride bicycles near the China Central Television (CCTV) building in the central business district in Beijing, Sept. 1, 2022. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has retained several Chinese state-run media outlets on its list of approved content for cable and satellite broadcasting in Canada, despite MPs urging a ban on “China-influenced media in Canadian diaspora communities.”

In its revised list of approved non-Canadian programming services and stations released on Jan. 8, the federal broadcasting and telecommunications regulatory agency has retained Chinese state-run media such as China Central Television, Beijing TV, Charming China Entertainment, and China Yellow River TV, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. In 2022, the CRTC banned the state-run Russia Today due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a May 2023 report by the House of Commons Special Committee on the Canada–People’s Republic of China Relationship (CACN), MPs highlighted the Chinese regime’s “attempts to ’mobilize and weaponize' the Chinese diaspora in Canada through influence, surveillance, and intimidation.”

The report, citing testimonies the committee has received, highlights the Beijing-led United Front Work Department’s “effective control of almost all Chinese language media in Canada,” mirroring its actions in other nations and affecting the sizeable ethnic Chinese diaspora of 50 million. A 2020 study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, cited by Public Safety Canada, identifies the United Front as China’s primary foreign interference tool.

Despite having a presence in Canada through its party-state media including People’s Daily and Xinhua News, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks to broaden its influence through other entities, the report stated.

“Witnesses voiced concern that the state of Canadian Mandarin and Cantonese language media is being compromised by the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” the Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations wrote in a report last May 17. “Their concerns were primarily based on China’s acquisitions of Chinese Canadian traditional media and the use of China-controlled social media applications to spread disinformation.”

To address these concerns, MPs on the committee proposed recommendations in the report. This includes identifying the ownership and activities of media organizations linked to the Chinese regime in Canada, with a focus on misinformation campaigns, censorship, and intimidation. They have also called for measures to minimize or eliminate the presence of Chinese state-controlled social media in Canada, identifying and addressing misinformation and censorship on applications like WeChat and TikTok.

The CACN report also recommended the Heritage Minister direct the CRTC to “a new broadcasting policy of general application that authoritarian state-controlled broadcasters not be on the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution.” Cabinet did not comment on the recommendation, according to Blacklock’s.

The CTRC has pledged to hold a special hearing on the licensing of all foreign cable and satellite TV services available in Canada.

“We are going to hold a broader hearing–that is forthcoming–on how we treat foreign services that are operating in Canada,” Vicky Eatrides, CEO of the CRTC, testified before the House of Commons Heritage Committee in November 2023.

No specific date has been set for the hearing.