Foreign state agent registration CGTN America initially claimed that it had "editorial independence from any state direction or control". This claim was debunked by
The New York Times reporter Paul Mozur in interviews with "current and former CGTN employees [who] say CCTV editors in Beijing often dictated plans for covering China. American employees sometimes pushed back, they said, and Ms. Ma allowed some flexibility when Beijing's orders didn't specifically forbid or dictate content. But three people interviewed said they had little choice but to air propaganda clips when Beijing said so". In addition, CGTN America has broadcast "exclusive" coerced confessions of people accused of a wide variety of crimes in China, most notably the example of a Briton, Peter Humphrey. The
United States Department of State characterized "CGTN America's relationship with a foreign government and a foreign political party as one of interest to Washington". The United States Department of Justice was concerned about an "expanding influence campaign being waged by Beijing through the global arms of state media outlets" like CGTN and Xinhua News Agency. In putting pressure upon Xinhua and CGTN, a senior US official noted that US grievances towards the lack of reciprocity from Beijing on trade and media access as many American and international news outlets are blocked in China. The Justice Department directed CGTN America and Xinhua News Agency to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). CGTN America registered under FARA on 1 February 2019, but said that it disagreed with the Justice Department's decision, but nevertheless registered as a foreign agent. In 2020, the United States Department of State designated CGTN and its parent company, CCTV, as well as Xinhua News Agency,
China Radio International, the distributors of the official ''
People's Daily and English-language China Daily'', as
foreign missions, requiring them to submit lists of all employees and to seek approval to buy any property.
Airing of forced confessions In November 2018, amid growing international criticism of China's imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in internment camps, CGTN America aired a piece portraying the camps as successful vocational training and antiterrorism centers and Uyghurs as grateful. In addition, CGTN America has broadcast "exclusive"
forced confessions of people accused of a wide variety of crimes in China, most notably the example of a Briton, Peter Humphrey. == Awards ==