A new report by the Europe-based rights group Safeguard Defenders, released September 10, 2026, details internal censorship and propaganda practices at China Global Television Network (CGTN), based on interviews with eight former employees conducted in 2022–2023. All spoke anonymously; some still have family in China.
The 29-page report, “China’s Party-State Global TV in Focus,” covers forced televised confessions, internal newsroom operations, “telling China’s story well” campaigns, and content-control mechanisms. One former scriptwriter recalled that footage of Hong Kong consulate employee Simon Cheng’s 2019 “confession” arrived just before airtime, with orders from above to broadcast it regardless of staff objections. Cheng later said he was tortured and coerced into recording multiple confessions while detained by Chinese police. The report says CGTN and its predecessor aired at least nine such confessions between 2013 and 2019, including British businessman Peter Humphrey and Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai.
A Chinese law lecturer told Radio Free Asia that televised confessions amount to compelled self-incrimination, violating basic principles of criminal justice, especially when made without legal counsel or freely given consent.
Former staff also described heavy scripting of coverage, with one estimating three-quarters of programming centered on Xi Jinping, and describing extensive advance-prepared news meetings and scripted teleprompter delivery, with punishment for deviation. Coverage of Xinjiang was cited by one former employee as the reason for leaving CGTN, amid increased reporting after 2018 framing mass detention facilities as “vocational training centers.”
CGTN states on its website that it adheres to principles of objectivity and balance. A Safeguard Defenders researcher said the report shows CGTN remains under direct Chinese Communist Party control despite denials, using its programming to advance Party propaganda and political aims.
Source: Radio Free Asia, September 10, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhengzhi/renquan/2026/09/10/china-safeguard-defenders-televised-confessions-censorship-cgtn/