China Watch: Beijing Media’s Global Expansion (Shan Shan)

Last week, Xinhua news agency, China’s main news service, launched a 24-hour global TV news network in English, China Xinhua News Network Corporation (CNC) World.

According to Xinhua’s report, CNC aims to reach 50 million viewers in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa by satellite, cable, cellphone and the Internet within its first year. Plans are for it to be available on cable networks in regions including the United States by 1 Ocotber.

Meanwhile, Xinhua's North American headquarters will move to the top floor of a 44-story skyscraper in New York's Times Square, alongside media giants such as Thomson Reuters and Conde Nast, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The two efforts are being seen as attempts by China to enable “more voices to be heard by the rest of the world” and to counter foreign media views. Beijing officials contend that China is often misunderstood and misrepresented by the international media, which “present a biased or unfair view of news from the country, focusing on negative stories and ignoring positive developments”.



The move points to Xinhua’s intention to be “a global player” and to the recogntion of China "in the global arena that soft power is as important as hard power”. However, many critics are doubtful about CNC World’s independence and objectivity in news reporting because of Xinhua’s state-owned status and Chinese censorship.

Countering these views, Wu Jincai, controller of CNC World, insisted that CNC World is " a news channel, not a propaganda station". Unlike other Chinese media, CNC is “51% owned by Xinhua but also has private investors, including Gree --- a private Chinese home appliances maker”.

Shirong Chen, the BBC China Editor, points out that since 2008, Xinhua has made efforts to “transform itself from an official news agency to a multimedia empire with direct access to audiences both at home and abroad”. At the same time, even though international news will take up more than half of its programs, CNC World “is competing for the strongest forces for covering China news. With ubiquitous correspondents positioned throughout China, CNC World produces extensive and in-depth TV programs on China news.” Li Congjun, Xinhua President, summarised, "CNC World will report international news with a China perspective and China news with a global vision" for overseas audiences.

CNC World’s launch and Xinhua’s move are only part of efforts to expand China's influence abroad. It is also said that “Beijing has been pouring millions of dollars into the broadcasters in an attempt to promote its own messages about China to the wider world”.

In recent years, China’s media organiaztions have been trying to increase its presence outside the country, echoing Chinese President Hu Jintao's aspiration for "a modern communication system" and "communication capacity" for Chinese media at home and abroad. Integrating several media’s reports, China Central Television, the country’s biggest state-run television broadcaster, has been expanding overseas and offering broadcasts in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and other languages.

People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party, owns two newspapers: China Daily, an English-language daily newspaper, and an English edition of Global Times. The Xinhua news agency, which already has more than 10,000 employees and 120 bureaus around the world, has begun recruiting non-Chinese journalists from around the world to write for its news services.

Last month, the Southern Daily Group, which publishes one of the most influential liberal newspapers in China, the Southern Metropolis Daily, made a bid to purchase Newsweek magazine. Even though the bid was unsuccessful, it was reported that the Southern Daily Group's senior management was "expecting to make other similar purchases".