Beijing on Thursday lashed out at the BBC, accusing broadcaster of producing ‘fake news’ time and again, and saying the organisation was already unpopular for its coverage of flooding situation in central China.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian while responding to allegations related to harassment of foreign journalists during coverage of the floods in Henan said: “Do you know that the Chinese netizens refer to BBC as ‘Bad-mouthing Broadcasting Corporation’?”
BBC is known in China as the “Bad-mouthing Broadcasting Corporation”. pic.twitter.com/2W4rnCJu99
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) July 29, 2021
“Having long been clinging to its ideological bias against China, BBC has produced fake news time and again, spread false information on issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and COVID-19, attacked and vilified China in serious deviation from the professional ethics of journalism. Everything happens for a reason,” he added.
Days of heavy rain last week triggered flooding in the Henan province, claiming lives of 99 people.
The spokesperson said that the BBC has long been reporting on China through tinted glasses, which has chipped away its credibility bit by bit.
“Robin Brant, BBC journalist stationed in Shanghai, continued to put ideology above facts in his report about the torrential rain in Henan, turning a blind eye to the fact that the Chinese government has been sparing no efforts in conducting rescue work and local residents have been volunteering help,” he highlighted.
Naturally, BBC reports with preconception gain no popularity among the Chinese people and only end up hurting the media’s own credit.
Rejecting criticism on reporting environment in the country, he said: “The reporting environment for foreign correspondents in China is open and free. Communication channels between foreign journalists in China and competent Chinese authorities are open and unfettered”.
As long as foreign journalists abide by the law and do reporting in compliance the law and regulations, there is no need to worry.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/bbc-makes-apology-for-using-deception-to-secure-1995-interview-with-diana/
