UK vlogger refutes BBC report: “We simply say what we believe in China"

Lee Barrett, a British vlogger who was recently denounced in a news report from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as one of the foreign vloggers "suspected of co-operating with state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world”, has refuted the accusation, reaffirming that "we say what we believe" in China.

Photo shows Lee Barrett reaffirming that "we say what we believe" in China in the video clip. (Screenshot from Lee Barrett's channel on Bilibili)

In an article entitled "The foreigners in China’s disinformation drive" on July 11, the BBC accused video bloggers such as Lee Barrett of taking money from sponsors in China to present themselves as "China-lovers" and spreading "disinformation" on Chinese life.

In response, Barrett released a video on the July 14, pointing out that narratives in the BBC report are groundless and untenable. He ended the report by making it clear that "we say what we believe, we say what we see and we show what we see." It is ridiculous to report that the videos released by himself and his son Oli Barrett are part of political propaganda, Barrett added.

With regards to the "media challengers" campaign launched by China Global Television Network (CGTN), which was denounced by the BBC article as a tool to woo foreign Internet celebrities, Barrett explained that it is nothing more than an ordinary competition that offers $10,000 for the winner.

Photo shows Lee Barrett refuting the BBC report. (Screenshot from Lee Barrett's channel on Bilibili)

"All media outlets around the world use foreign correspondents. Why is that a problem when they come to CGTN? I have no idea… obviously because they are Chinese. That is the problem," Barrett said in the video.

In fact, this is not the first time these UK vloggers have been targeted by British media outlets.

The Times publishes an "investigative report" entitled "British YouTubers funded by China".

Earlier, on Jan. 9, The Times, a British daily national newspaper, published an "investigative report" entitled "British YouTubers funded by China" on page 7, claiming that the video content of these UK vloggers including Lee Barrett and Jason Lightfoot was funded by the Chinese government in order to carry out so-called political propaganda overseas.

Lightfoot retorted humorously by saying that since most of his income is generated by videos released on YouTube, a U.S. company, it is fairer to say the U.S. government is funding him, rather that its Chinese counterpart. 

Lightfoot humorously refutes the accusation from The Times. (Screenshot from Lightfoot's channel on Bilibili)