China Central Television

In 1954, Mao Zedong put forward that China should establish its own TV station. On 5 February 1955, the central broadcasting bureau reported to the State Council and proposed the program of establishing a medium-sized television station, later on premier Zhou Enlai included in China's first five-year plan the planned introduction of television broadcasts. In December 1957, the central broadcasting bureau sent Luo Donghe and Meng Qiyu to the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic for the inspection of their TV stations, such as Television in the Soviet Union and Deutscher Fernsehfunk, then the duo returned to Beijing to prepare for the establishment of the TV station. The station officially signed on for the first time as Peking Television on 1 May 1958, and began airing on 2 September of the same year.

Peking Television was formally renamed China Central Television on 1 May 1978, and a new logo was unveiled, in time for its 20th anniversary. Until the late 1970s, CCTV held only evening broadcasts, usually closing down at midnight. During the summer and winter academic vacations, it occasionally transmitted daytime programming for students, while special daytime programs were aired during national holidays.

In 1980, CCTV experimented with news relays from local and central television studios via microwave. It also had its first international collaboration that year, production of the documentary series Silk Road with Japan's public broadcasting company, NHK. In 1984, CCTV established the wholly owned subsidiary China International Television Corporation (CITVC). A one-year deal with U.S. network CBS was signed in June 1983 to supply the network with 64 hours of shows.

By 1985, CCTV had already become a leading television network in China. In 1987, CCTV grew due to the adaptation and presentation of Dream of the Red Chamber, the first Chinese television drama to enter the global market. In the same year, CCTV exported 10,216 shows to 77 foreign television stations.

Initially, the CCP's Central Publicity Department issued directive censorship of programs. During reform in the 1990s, it adopted new standards for CCTV, "affordability" and "acceptability", loosening the previous government control. Affordability refers to purchasing ability of programs, while acceptability requires that a program has acceptable content, preventing the broadcast of material that contains inappropriate content or expresses views against the CCP. In 2001, an Australian author argued that increasing commercialization of CCTV had enhanced its propaganda abilities.

In March 2018, as the nation began marking the 60th year of television, CCTV ownership changed hands to a new state holding group, the China Media Group, as part of the deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions.

Overseas broadcasting

In 1990, CCTV subsidiary, CITVC, established China Television Corporation in California to distribute CCTV content in the U.S. In 2000, CCTV's all-English channel, known as CCTV-9 or CCTV International, was launched.

In 2001, the Great Foreign Publicity Plan was launched by Xu Guangchun, the head of SARFT, also the deputy head of the CCP's Central Publicity Department after the urgency of bringing the voice of China to the world was presented by Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The idea of an English channel was brought out in 1996. CCTV-4 had three half-hour English news broadcasting every day, but later, on 25 September 2000, CCTV-9 a satellite channel was set up to be the first 24-hour English channel, aimed to establish the overseas market. In October 2001, CCTV partnered with AOL Time Warner and other foreign news corporations, giving them access to the Chinese media market in exchange for cable delivery in the US and Europe, mainly delivering CCTV-9 programs.

Incidents

Since its inception, CCTV has served as a tool of state power and as such has been complicit in human rights abuses. They have a history of demonizing and inciting hatred against those perceived as foes by the CCP. In this way, its broadcasts can be used to mobilize against perceived enemies as diverse as Falun Gong and international human rights groups.

1990s Falun Gong crackdown

In 1999, during the first crackdown on Falun Gong, CCTV's Focus Talk ran 28 episodes over a 32-day period which defamed practitioners and incited hatred against them. In 2001, they claimed that a group of people who had set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square were Falun Gong adherents, a claim which was characterized as "clearly abusive" by the Canadian regulatory commission.

Xinwen Lianbo and fake imagery

On 23 January 2011, Xinwen Lianbo showcased the Chengdu J-10 firing a missile at a plane, causing it to explode. The footage lasted half a second and the destroyed plane shown was later identified as that of an F-5E, a US fighter jet. The clip was later revealed to have been taken from the 1986 US movie Top Gun.

Comments by CCTV head Hu Zhanfan

In 2011, the new CCTV head Hu Zhanfan "was found to have proclaimed in July [or January, both before the CCTV appointment in November] that journalists' foremost responsibility is to 'be a good mouthpiece'". Internet posts of the comment blossomed after the appointment, one "juxtapos[ing] CCTV's... Xinwen Lianbo (新闻联播) and photos of Chinese crowds waving red flags with black-and-white images from Nazi-era Germany". Comparisons with the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels also spread. Official media coverage of Hu's presentation focused on his call to avoid "fake news and false reports (失实报道)" but also incorporated the "mouthpiece" comment.

Broadcasting forced confessions

CCTV regularly broadcasts the forced confessions of accused or convicted criminals and produces programming to go along with them. These programs are often filmed before the beginning of formal judicial procedures. Domestic dissidents such as lawyers, journalists, and activists, as well as foreigners, have been victims of this practice.

In 2013, Peter Humphrey and Charles Xue's forced confessions were aired on CCTV. Since being freed, Humphrey has been highly critical of CCTV and the practice of airing forced confessions. In 2020, the British media regulator Ofcom sided with Humphrey and announced sanctions against CGTN, which aired Humphrey's confession and was branded as CCTV News at the time.