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CHINA: State Media Pushing for a Global Voice

Mitch Moxley

BEIJING, Mar 21 2010 (IPS) - Expanded overseas bureaus, more Chinese and foreign-language editorial products reaching global audiences and now, a reformatting of the country’s most widely read English-language newspaper. These are signs of the expansion of China’s state media, one that President Hu Jintao has described as an “increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion”.

They are also part of a much bigger public relations campaign to spread China’s message and viewpoints to the world, as the most populous country plays a larger role in regional and international affairs and economy.

On Mar. 1, ‘China Daily’, the most widely read English-language newspaper here, introduced the biggest redesign in the paper’s 29-year history. The layout has been updated to resemble a British broadsheet and a new investigative reporting feature was introduced.

The paper, which has a circulation of about 300,000, also includes more reporting from the newspaper’s expanded foreign bureaus.

The redesign comes after last year’s launch of the English version of ‘Global Times’, which in its Chinese-language format is heavily nationalistic. Its English-language counterpart, however, pushes boundaries previously unheard of in the state media. In June 2009, for example, it was the only newspaper in China to report on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests.

The government has reportedly earmarked 45 billion renminbi (6.58 billion U.S. dollars) for the international expansion of state media, while other international media outlets struggle to cope with declining advertising revenue and a changing business model.

As part of this push, the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) and Xinhua news agency will produce content in different languages for both western and Asian audiences. CCTV has opened Russian and Arabic channels to go along with its French and Spanish offerings, with Portuguese to follow.

The network has a three-year plan to expand its foreign bureaus from 19 to 56. Last year, ‘China Daily’ launched a U.S. edition.

On Jan. 1, Xinhua launched China Xinhua News Network Corp (CNC), a 24-hour station that broadcasts content in Chinese to Asia-Pacific and European countries. A business and finance channel was launched simultaneously. CNC will begin broadcasting English programmes in July, followed by pieces in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian.

Xinhua will also expand its overseas bureaus from 100 to 186 and will reportedly launch an all-English station modeled on Al-Jazeera that will compete with the U.S.-based international work Cable News Network (CNN) and British Broadcasting Corp (BBC).

Well-funded state media companies have already started looking for international media assets, and CCTV’s English channel has developed a following in Africa and Asia. Some have suggested that CCTV and Xinhua could follow the path of Al-Jazeera, which was met with scepticism a decade ago but is now considered a reliable and accurate source of global news that is providing audiences with news choices.

Chinese state officials have made clear the campaign is designed to influence global opinion about the world’s most populous country, one whose influence seems to grow by the day.

Last year, one Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee member, speaking at a conference on propaganda and ideology, said officials “must sing the praises of the achievements of the CCP, socialism, the reform policy, and (the glories of) the great motherland.”

Wang Chen, the head of the party’s overseas propaganda division, said media and cultural units should boost “capacity to broadcast, to positively influence international public opinion and to establish a good image for our nation.”

But beyond those expected statements, there is a growing realisation that China needs to be better heard in the international arena of opinions.

Zheng Baowei, director of the Research Centre of Journalism and Social Development at Renmin University of China, says that as China’s influence grows, so does its need for a voice in international media to present its positions abroad. He says the government has already begun to guide the state media more effectively and that the quality of media personnel and facilities has improved.

“All these efforts have helped the state media to expand and increase its influence, but we need to give it time. The effect is gradual,” Zheng says.

Still, the road to a global media empire could be a bumpy one.

The first problem is financial. Advertising revenue for China’s English-language state media is scant, and there is little indication the government will make back much of its investment. ‘Global Times’, for example, is expected to lose 20 million renminbi (2.93 million dollars) in its first year of publication.

The government has not indicated how long it plans to bankroll the expansion, and the outlets themselves have not defined their business models.

A second problem is content. Despite notable improvements, the primary agenda of state media remains to promote the government’s message and convey a positive image of China.

Sensitive issues such as the Three Ts – Tibet, Taiwan and Tiananmen – are often ignored or glossed over. This is even if in recent years, there has been coverage of more touchy issues like Tiananmen or the Xinjiang riots last year.

To win over a foreign audience, state media will need to tell both sides of the China story, says Chen Lidan, a professor at Renmin University’s School of Journalism.

“We need to approach (foreign audiences’) worldview and values instead of pushing our values and worldview to them. We also need to write and report in line with western journalism’s standards. And to do that, we need to report not only the good news, but also the bad news,” Chen says.