NBC urged to drop Beijing Olympics broadcast and focus on covering CCP rights violations

NBCUniversal is expected to drop its broadcast of Beijing Winter Olympics it’s only two months away and instead shine the spotlight on the regime’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, US lawmakers told the broadcaster.

“The nearly $ 1 billion that NBCUniversal and its affiliates have invested in these Games means the organization bears responsibility for addressing the impact of human rights violations in China,” said the senator. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) And Rep. James McGovern (D -Mass.), Chairman and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Executive Committee on China, wrote in a Dec. 16 letter to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made 73 percent of its revenue over the past four years from the sale of broadcast rights. About 40 percent of this income came from CNB alone.

The fact that Olympic sponsors have broadly endorsed the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights has created a responsibility for these companies to address the impact of their products and services on human rights. lawmakers said in the letter.

“Athletes, support staff and members of the media will be present in a country where an active genocide is taking place, and in adhering to the Games Charter to promote ‘respect for universal and fundamental ethical principles’, NBCUniversal must reflect on what it means for those participating in Beijing and for Chinese citizens, ”the letter said.

The Epoch Times has contacted NBCUniversal for comment.

International companies have was reluctant take a public stand against human rights violations in China.

At a congressional hearing in July, senior executives from Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Procter & Gamble and Visa, the four U.S. sponsors of the Olympic Games who have declared their support for human rights around the world, did not have not specified whether they would support moving the Olympics to another country or postponing the Games.

“As long as governments allow athletes to attend the games, we will be there to support and sponsor them,” said an executive. told officials.

In November, rights group Human Rights Watch said it wrote to all of the IOC’s major sponsors, as well as NBC, asking them why they had remained largely silent about the climate for rights in China. the answer only came from IOC assurance partner Allianz saying they “support the Olympic Movement and our long-standing support for its ideals will not falter”.

Although Beijing vouches for China’s fundamental freedoms when hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, China’s human rights record has continued to collapse as the regime clamps down on democracy. in Hong Kong, suppressing faith groups and dissidents using high-tech surveillance, and waging a genocidal campaign against Uyghur groups.

Human rights watchdog Freedom House gave China a score of 9 out of 100 in its latest Freedom in the World report, calling the regime “the most populous dictatorship in the world.”

The United States, joined by allies such as Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, have announced that they will not send official delegations to the Beijing Olympics to protest the regime’s atrocities in Xinjiang.

Pressure has grown for NBC to drop the broadcast deal as the Games date draw near.

In June, a coalition of 200 human rights groups collectively called on NBCUniversal to take action to avoid legitimizing abuse and “promoting the ‘Genocide Games’.

Earlier this month, Tibetan and Hong Kong activists also staged a protest outside NBC’s headquarters at Rockefeller Center in New York City, marking the two-month countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Activists cited Beijing’s censorship of Chinese Olympian Peng Shuai after she made sexual assault allegations against a former senior Chinese official.

The Women’s Tennis Association has withdrawn from china on Beijing’s handling of Peng, and NBC should follow suit, they said.

From The epoch of time