KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — TV company FBC Media, at the centre of the Malaysia news-fixing scandal facing broadcasters BBC and CNBC, is facing collapse, The Independent newspaper reported in London today.The British daily said the London-based firm and its parent company FBC Group had gone into administration — a legal term that allows a company facing bankruptcy to carry on business — following reports it accepted £17million (RM85 million) from Putrajaya to burnish the Najib administration’s image on global broadcast networks.
The newspaper said FBC Media called in administrators last Monday, days before the BBC Trust was to review a BBC Executive report on a series of programmes the production company made for broadcast on the British corporation’s international news and current affairs channel.
FBC is also being investigated by the UK’s communications industry regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), and US broadcaster CNBC, for which it produced content on the latter’s flagship programme called World Business.
The show has been dropped. CNBC has suspended all shows produced by FBC, which has been exposed to have also doubled up as a publicity firm for the Najib government and was paid millions of pounds to conduct a “Global Strategic Communications Campaign”.
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