Discovery Channel Laments Co-Producing Chinese Propaganda Covering Up Uyghur Genocide
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., the parent company of the Discovery Channel, appeared to express remorse in a letter to members of Congress made public on Thursday about its decision to co-produce a travel program with Chinese state media focused on occupied East Turkistan, where the Communist Party has been engaging in genocidal activities since at least 2017.
The Discovery Channel entered an agreement with CGTN, a Chinese government propaganda outlet, to produce a documentary released in January called World’s Ultimate Frontier, showcasing the breathtaking desert and mountain landscapes of East Turkistan. China refers to East Turkistan, a formerly free state colonized by mass murderer Mao Zedong, by the Mandarin name “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” or XUAR. The documentary claims to portray the “real Xinjiang,” as opposed to the reality that human rights activists and journalists have uncovered throughout the past decade of a genocidal police state littered with concentration camps, slave-worked farms, and high-tech mass surveillance.
“What comes to mind when you think of Xinjiang? Vast expanses of desert, towering mountains, diverse minorities living in harmony, cultures fusing together?” CGTN asks in its promotional video on the documentary.
“The fact is that Xinjiang has so many facets that its charm can hardly be captured in words! Thankfully anyone interested in experiencing the real Xinjiang is in for a treat when the documentary World’s Ultimate Frontier is aired on January 19.”
CGTN deleted its preview article and video on the documentary series shortly after its debut, as it attracted the attention of members of Congress, who questioned the Discovery Channel’s role in promoting the series. The series remains online, however, on CGTN’s YouTube channel, with no overt mentions of the Discovery Channel’s role in the production.
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