Rights Groups Warn of Chinese Propaganda Risk via Proposed Telegraph Takeover

Press freedom groups urge the UK government to stop the potential acquisition of one of the most prestigious UK media outlets and initiate an investigation into potential Communist Chinese influence.

Mary Man

Published: 8/13/2025, 1:41:25 PM EDT

Rights Groups Warn of Chinese Propaganda Risk via Proposed Telegraph Takeover — In this photo illustration, coverage of the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is seen on the front page of Britain’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London on Sept. 20, 2022. (Rob Pinney/Getty Images)

Press freedom groups urged the UK government to stop the potential acquisition of one of the most prestigious UK media outlets and initiate an investigation into potential communist Chinese influence.

A group of nine human rights and freedom of expression organizations wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy on Aug. 13, calling for RedBird Capital Partners’s proposed takeover of The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) to be blocked and investigated, due to concerns about “public interest and potential foreign media influence.”

The TMG publishes The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential conservative newspapers in the UK, with a 170-year-old history.

RedBird, a U.S.-based private investment firm, announced an in-principle agreement on May 23 to acquire The Telegraph for approximately £500 million ($675 million). However, the deal remains subject to regulatory approval and faces potential challenges.

RedBird did not immediately respond to NTD's request for comment.

Concerns have been raised by NGOs about RedBird Capital Partners’ Chairman John Thornton’s ties to China, including his role on the International Advisory Council of the China Investment Corporation—China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, and his chairmanship of Silk Road Finance Corporation—both seen as channels for Chinese financial influence.

He also has a connection with the Confucius Institute, which was identified by the Henry Jackson Society and Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation in a 2022 report as an extension of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Propaganda Department in the UK.

In a 2023 University of Texas talk on U.S.-China relations, Thornton advised Chinese officials on how to shape international narratives by engaging with English-language media channels.

The terminology of “telling China’s story well,” the NGOs said in their letter, is itself a “central external propaganda directive,” first delivered by Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the 2013 National Propaganda and Ideology Work Conference.

The rights groups, including Article 19, Reporters Without Borders, Index on Censorship, and Hong Kong Watch, said that RedBird’s links to China “threaten media pluralism, transparency, and information integrity in the UK.”

They also pointed out that RedBird operates a regional office in Hong Kong, which falls largely under Beijing’s jurisdiction. “We believe that there is reasonable ground to suspect the Telegraph acquisition by RedBird Capital raises both public interest and potential foreign media influence concerns,” the signatories said.

They called on Lisa Nandy to issue intervention notices to the Competition and Markets Authority and the Office of Communications, the UK’s communications regulator.

This is not RedBird’s first attempt to acquire TMG. On Jan. 26, 2024, former Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer issued a public interest intervention notice citing the risk to “the accurate presentation of news and free expression.”

“My role as Secretary of State in this process is quasi-judicial and procedures are in place to ensure that I act independently and follow a process that is scrupulously fair, transparent and impartial,” Frazer said during a parliamentary debate.

In June, a cross-party group of MPs and peers, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Alton, called for an investigation into the funding of RedBird Capital Partners’ £500 million takeover bid.

In a letter to Lisa Nandy, they expressed concern that it was “conceivable, and increasingly likely, that funds could be sourced directly or indirectly from foreign state actors,” including China.

The group, which also included signatories such as Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine and former Labour shadow minister Alex Sobel, urged a “full and transparent investigation” to ensure the deal does not compromise the UK’s public interest in accurate news and free expression.