“China is taking its place on a very short list of countries alongside North Korea and Iran that have explicitly and totally blocked BBC News coverage,” said Jamie Angus, director of the BBC’s World Service Group on Sunday ” Trusted Sources ”
China is not on that list, Angus said, adding: “The Chinese are very foreign-oriented. They want to understand international news from around the world, but crucially, they want to see how their own country is being reported by the BBC. “
Angus told CNN correspondent head of media Brian Stelter that “it is not acceptable for them to be completely blocked from accessing BBC news channels”.
In a statement, China’s NRTA said that BBC World News broadcast reports about China that “violated the principles of truthfulness and impartiality in journalism”
It is unclear how much impact China’s ban on BBC World News will have on mainland China because the BBC was never allowed to broadcast in mainland China or in Chinese homes. BBC World News was only available in international hotels.
But some people in China are still trying to find ways to get around the ban. “Of course, you can always access the BBC’s digital services with some kind of VPN configuration,” Angus told Stelter on Sunday. But China is making it more difficult for people, and access to the BBC’s digital services in English and Mandarin has been increasingly blocked in the past 18 months.
“It is very telling when countries try to block real news coverage, as is the case with the BBC in China,” said Stelter.
Philip Wang and Jonny Hallam of CNN contributed to this report.