Purple Bridge Media is a UK-based media training and consulting company founded in November 2008 by Mark Egan, a former BBC journalist. The company provides journalism training, video production, and AI-focused media skills development, and has worked with organizations including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the European Broadcasting Union. Purple Bridge Media also provides consulting services in video strategy and social media content creation.
The Middle East Broadcasting Center, also known as MBC Group, is a state-controlled media company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, serving the Middle East and North Africa region. While the company identifies itself as “the largest and leading private multimedia company in the Middle East North Africa region,” it is 54 percent owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The company operates over 13 free-to-air television channels and three radio stations across the region. MBC Group also runs Shahid, an Arabic streaming platform offering series, movies, live television channels, sports, and international content. The company operates MBC Studios for content production and MBC Academy, a training platform for media professionals launched in 2020.
Warner Bros. Discovery is an American media conglomerate formed on April 8, 2022, through the merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. The company operates the original Warner Bros. studios — founded April 4, 1923, by four brothers from the Warner family (Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack) — along with HBO, CNN, the Discovery Channel, and streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+. Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, the company’s Singapore-based subsidiary, has engaged in numerous co-productions with Chinese state media since at least 2012, including a series about Xinjiang co-produced with CGTN called “World’s Ultimate Frontier” (走進新疆), and the 2017 three-part documentary “China: Time of Xi” (中国:习近平时代), which China Media Group chief described as serving “external communication” goals for building “a Chinese discourse and narrative system.”
SMG International (上海文广國際傳播中心) is an international communication center established on October 23, 2023, by the Shanghai Media Group (上海廣播電視台/上海文廣集團), the state-owned media conglomerate operating under the oversight of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The center’s mission is to position Shanghai as “the vanguard in shaping Chinese-style modernized urban civilization and international communication.” The center is apparently meant to function as the primary center for international propaganda emanating from the municipal-level financial center, presenting it as the exemplar of “Chinese-style modernization” to global audiences — this being a key propaganda concept introduced by Xi Jinping in early 2021. SMG International, which integrates resources from SMG’s television and radio operations, claims to maintain production capabilities in seven foreign languages through a network of five overseas correspondent bureaus. The center’s flagship product, ShanghaiEye (魔都眼), was launched on November 8, 2023, and operates as a 24-hour YouTube livestream, offering interviews, world news, and videos of foreign influencers visiting politically sensitive regions such as Xinjiang to counteract international allegations of human rights abuses. The center’s documentary productions have also included the three-part series “Chinese Puzzle: Learning Chinese in America,” which profiles Americans studying Chinese, framing language learning as a tool to eliminate biases and correct misunderstandings about China.
Scooper News is a news and entertainment mobile app launched in 2019 by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Transsion Holdings (深圳傳音控股股份有限公司). The platform aggregates trending news, videos, and entertainment content tailored for users in Africa, featuring personalized news feeds from all around the world. Scooper integrates Chinese state media content, with China Daily (中國日報) having a cooperation agreement to deliver Chinese domestic news to Africa through the platform. The official Xinhua News Agency reported in September 2025 that its Scooper account had “achieved 31 million hits in six months” in 2023. According to company statements, Scooper News reached more than 3.8 million downloads at launch. It now reports more than 50 million monthly active users across Africa.
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is a regulatory body for telecommunications, broadcasting, and communications infrastructure established under the Uganda Communications Act No. 1 of 1997 and the Electronic Media Act of 1996. The commission oversees telecommunications, data communications, broadcasting, postal services, radio communications, and infrastructure services across Uganda, while also licensing cinemas and video libraries. As a government-owned statutory body, the UCC has ordered internet shutdowns and social media blocks during elections and requires licensing for online publishers. The body has been criticized for using its ostensibly regulatory role to conduct censorship through penalizations over broadcast standards and onerous registration requirements for online outlets.
The People’s Government of Beijing Municipality (北京市人民政府) is the administrative arm of China’s capital city, subordinate to the Communist Party — with the mayor answering to the municipal party secretary. It comprises a mayor, vice mayors, a General Office, and more than 20 bureaus handling public security, judicial affairs, and civil, economic, social, and cultural matters. The government was founded on January 1, 1949, restructured as the Beijing Municipal Revolutionary Committee (北京市革命委員會) during the Cultural Revolution, and restored to its current form in 1979.
A wholly state-owned entity under the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) is the country’s national state broadcaster, tracing its origins to the Uganda Broadcasting Service first established in 1954 under British colonial rule. The modern corporation was established under the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Act of 2005, under which the operations of Uganda Television and Radio Uganda were merged. UBC operates multiple television channels, alongside radio stations, newspapers, and regional services covering various Ugandan languages. UBC has closely engaged with Chinese state media entities, including the government-run China Daily, on media cooperation.
The Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau, or BMRTB (北京市廣播電視局), is the bureau-level regulatory agency directly under the Beijing Municipal People’s Government, originally established in September 1979. In November 2018, the bureau was rebuilt based on the television management responsibilities of the former Beijing Municipal Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television Administration, reflecting China’s broader media regulatory reforms approved through the State Council’s 2018 institutional reorganization plan. The bureau’s primary responsibilities include overseeing local TV and radio stations, supervising television and online video content, managing foreign satellite TV access, and coordinating Beijing’s media industry development programs. The BMRTB operates within China’s media control framework, adhering to the unified leadership of the CCP over radio and television, as with all media.