Thank you very much for this question.
For us, it's been very important, and I think from our complaints you will see that we have specifically targeted, in a way, although targeted is not the word.... We have called out CCTV-4 and CGTN for the airing of these forced televised confessions. When it comes to other complaints—for example, the one on the Hong Kong protests as aired by CGTN and the object of complaints in the U.K. and sanctions by the regulator Ofcom—those go more into the bias and disinformation area of things.
We are dealing with the same question. We understand that this is very difficult. However, in the case of CGTN and CCTV-4, we are very clearly dealing with what are blatant human rights violations.
Very briefly, if you'll allow me, I will recall the CRTC's statements in 2006 when, after a lengthy review, they made the decision to allow the addition of CCTV-4 to the digital broadcast list. They said:
...the Commission has found several instances of the service broadcasting content that in its view constitutes abusive comment, these date back to 1999 and 2001, and there is no evidence of such instances aired by CCTV-4 since that time....
In light of all of the above, the Commission approves the request...[and] considers it unnecessary to impose specific conditions on its distribution in addition to those usually applicable to such services on such lists.
Now, when it added CGTN, the commission noted that these packages should obey “the laws of every country in which its services are broadcast” and “will comply with the provisions of the relevant codes that govern Canadian broadcasts”. However, the commission “will be prepared to exercise” its right to remove the service from the list “if it finds that abusive comment has been aired on the service while it is distributed in Canada.”
Those were the statements by the CRTC at the time, and they're the kinds of statements we look to when it comes to this airing of forced televised confessions, which are clearly a violation that has been taking place, including on Canadian airwaves.
It's not a complete response as to how we deal with disinformation—and propaganda, which is another question still—but this is really about upholding broadcasting regulations and making sure that no human rights violations are actually being aired through Canadian airwaves.