Lawmakers demand NBC address China’s human rights abuses in Olympic broadcast

Two Democratic lawmakers have called on NBCUniversal, the official U.S. broadcaster for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, to use its coverage to raise awareness of human rights violations by the host country.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) sent a letter to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell on Thursday asking for commitments to acknowledge China’s human rights abuses and publicly affirm media and religious freedom as it covers the games next year.

“The nearly one billion dollars that NBCUniversal and its affiliates have invested in these Games means the organization bears the responsibility in addressing the impact of China’s human rights abuses,” the letter read.

“Athletes, support staff, and members of the media will be present in a country where an active genocide is taking place, and in adhering with the charter of the Games to foster ‘respect for universal and fundamental ethical principles,’ NBCUniversal must think about what that means for those participating in Beijing and Chinese citizens alike,” it continued, referring to the repression of the Muslim Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang province.

The pair also warned NBCUniversal not to amplify Chinese propaganda that reframes the repression and detention of Uyghurs as modernization and job training.

Merkley and McGovern are chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan commission focused on monitoring human rights in the country. The letter is part of a campaign by the CECC to pressure groups connected to the Olympics. It previously called on the IOC to pressure China on human rights and it supports the Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott of the games.

The CECC letter highlights the tightrope Western companies are walking at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Sponsors are drawn to the lucrative Chinese market, the world’s second largest economy with a population of 1.4 billion people. However, some of the Chinese Communist Party’s policies and human rights abuses have made both companies and consumers outside the country quite uncomfortable.