GOP House Members Reportedly Send Letter to NBC Execs Questioning China’s ‘Extent of Influence’ on the Network’s Olympic Coverage
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Two Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent a letter to NBCUniversal ahead of its coverage next week of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Axios first reported the Jan. 24 letter on Tuesday.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Robert Latta (R-OH), the ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, sent a four-page letter to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Gary Zenkel, president of Olympics and Business at NBCUniversal. The Republicans asked the executives how the network will utilize its coverage of the Olympics “to shed light on China’s history of human rights abuses.”
“Like our athletes competing abroad, we believe all companies doing business in the U.S. must be examples to the world, as their success has been benefited from our country’s respect for the rule of law, human rights, and entrepreneurial enterprise,” added Rodgers and Latta.
The letter goes on to criticize China’s atrocious record on human rights such as its genocide against the Uyghur Muslims. “These well-documented facts should startle every American and garner more attention in your corporate boardroom,” wrote the GOP members of Congress.
“In the United States, we have a rich history of ensuring the public has access to a multitude of diverse, and often conflicting, ideas and ideologies,” said Rodgers and Latta. “Our rules and regulations for broadcast licenses have centered on promoting the battle of ideas.”
“Given China’s history of censorship and government control, and the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stands to benefit financially from NBCUniversal’s coverage of the games, we are concerned about the extent of influence the [Chinese Communist Party] may have over NBCUniversal’s coverage of the games,” they added.
Rodgers and Latta asked Shell and Zenkel to submit answers to their nine questions that include asking whether “the IOC or the CCP [have] taken any steps to influence [NBCUniversal’s] coverage of the games relating to reported human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province.”
