On Wednesday, August 13, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focusing on human rights and freedom of speech jointly sent a letter to the UK Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, urging her to halt and investigate a potential media acquisition involving Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infiltration.
Nine human rights organizations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Hong Kong Watch, and Human Rights in China (HRIC), pointed out in the public letter that the proposed acquisition of one of the mainstream British newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, by the American private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, has ties to the CCP and could threaten the diversity, transparency, and information integrity of the UK media.
The letter highlighted that John Thornton, the chairman of RedBird Capital, is a member of the International Advisory Council of China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC), and was also the chairman of Silk Road Financial Holdings in Hong Kong, both of which are considered by the organizations as tools for the CCP to seek financial influence.
In May of this year, RedBird Capital agreed to acquire Telegraph Media Group for £500 million (approximately $670 million), which owns The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.
Public information reveals that RedBird Capital has a regional office in Hong Kong, which is primarily under Beijing’s jurisdiction.
The UK government’s 2024 guidance on overseas business risks in Hong Kong stated that the political environment in Hong Kong poses challenges for business operations, with some companies facing pressure to publicly support the CCP’s stance on Hong Kong.
The public letter expressed concerns that as a foreign company operating in Hong Kong, RedBird Capital may be influenced by CCP political pressure and emphasized the need to strengthen the review of human rights risks.
Furthermore, Thornton has served as a senior advisor to Beijing’s Confucius Institute. Since becoming a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2003, Thornton has led the university’s Global Leadership Program to date. In 2008, Thornton was awarded the Friendship Award by the Chinese government, the highest honor given to foreign experts by the CCP authorities.
The public letter disclosed that in 2023, during a lecture at the University of Texas at Austin, Thornton suggested to senior CCP officials to shape international public opinion through English-language media to “tell China’s story well” and counteract the global narrative disadvantage. This recommendation echoes a propaganda directive issued by CCP leader Xi Jinping in 2013.
Human rights organizations listed reasonable grounds for the UK government to investigate this case in the public letter.
The letter stated that based on international, European, and domestic UK standards, the UK government must ensure media plurality. The European Commission’s 2018 recommendations on media plurality and ownership transparency call for comprehensive regulatory frameworks in all countries to consider media ownership and control, ensure transparency, and prevent potential foreign influence on domestic media to safeguard the public interest.
The public letter contended that there are legitimate reasons to suspect that the TMG acquisition by RedBird Capital involves public interest and foreign influence, urging the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to issue a “public interest intervention notice” to the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to initiate an investigation and submit a report containing “recommendations and suggestions on media public interest” and ensure that the investigation involves experts familiar with the CCP’s overseas information manipulation and influence activities.
According to a report by The Guardian on August 13, a spokesperson for RedBird Capital stated that there was “no involvement or influence from China (CCP)” during the acquisition process.
The spokesperson added that the company’s stance on media independence has always been clear, and after more than two years of “regulatory challenges,” it is now time to complete the acquisition and ultimately position The Daily Telegraph for growth.
Former Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer issued a public interest intervention notice on January 26 last year regarding RedBird Capital’s plan to acquire Telegraph Media Group.
During a parliamentary debate in March 2024, Frazer stated that the move was aimed at ensuring “the accurate representation of news and the freedom of expression of newspapers.”
Additionally, a group of 13 lawmakers led by Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Lord David Alton wrote to Nandy in June expressing serious concerns about the CCP potentially exerting influence through RedBird Capital.