Can the CNC World save China?--China's global media ambition and its own complication
It doesn't surprise me when Xinhua's new 24/7 English News Channel -- “CNC World” announced it picked up Times Square in New York City to root in their news room.
This channel is aimed at providing "A New Perspective" and is part of Beijing's effort to "present an international vision with a Chinese perspective," Xinhua President Li Congjun said at the press conference announcing the launch of CNC World[1]. Such expensive expansion “comes as many Western news media are cutting back.”[2]
China’s ambition about pitching to global audience—especially the English speaking ones has not been well know for long but seems like Beijing has rooted for it for years. It is the not the ambition itself that interests me, it is the root of such desire of expanding a country’s media outreach to overseas audience and the level of attention that the government has paid to public diplomacy that interests me.
The emergence of world’s news agency during the WWII was facilitated by the then-new communication technology—Telegraph and Radio, and in return, the introduction of the new communication technology helped start and elevated the level of the psycho warfare and was one very important determining actor in the deciding battles of WWII and during the Cold War. Look at the era of globalization now we are living in—which follows the highly identical path as it was in WWII: the expansion of global media network and the concept of “Globe Village” has been substantially catalyzed by the internet, cable TV networks, satellite networks and the highly customized, internet accessible multi-media mobile phones. The support from communication technology has been so significant that it has made people wonder the question of “Chicken and Egg” ---“ Globalization and Globalized Communication Network” which one exist first.
However, the individuals nowadays are no longer scattered cells that can be easily persuaded by the “Magic Bullet”—they are even more cohesively connected and sharing information thanks to the new technology. Traditional mass media has been trying hard to “cater” the audience’s appetite – and that is also why so many states’ media outlets have been trying to expand their networks into various demographics and regions, customize their contents, communicate to the audience in their languages and even using satellite to broadcast from local.
Watching the success of the American’s “Cultural Imperialism” success, which is landmarked by the world wide popular TV shows such as “Friends”, “Ugly Betty” and global TV outlets such as Fox, and CNN—Beijing can no longer sit tight. The idea of a 24/7 English Channel has its roots way back—China’s giant state media outlet “China Central Television” (CCTV) began considering English-language international news bulletin actual coverage programming in January 1979 at the start of China's "Reform and opening up". English news bulletins began on CCTV-2 in 1984 and became available to overseas viewers when they moved to CCTV-4 in 1991. CCTV-9 English News International was launched as a 24-hour English-language channel on 15 September 2000.[3] CCTV-9 English News International entered the United States cable market in January 2002 as part of a deal that allowed AOL, Time Warner, and News Corporation access to cable systems in Guangdong. After the launch of the 24-hour service, the channel was revamped a number of times. A rolling service was instituted with news at the top of every hour, although the channel remains heavily dependent on features and entertainment as part of its function to show China to the world.
The Channel name of CCTV-9 English News International Television Channel changed to CCTV News in January 2010.[4] CCTV News' intended audience is foreigners both inside and outside China, specifically those with an interest in the country. Actual viewer numbers for CCTV News are not consistent in different sources. CCTV News claims its potential global audience is 45 million.[5]
Now the introductions of the CNC World has only strengthened and brand of China’s Public Diplomacy. It broadcasts “English-language news, live Internet broadcasts, talk shows and in-depth reporting”[6]
Xinhua agency already has more than 10,000 employees and 120 bureaus around the world, rivaling the reach, if not the quality, of Western news services like Reuters or Bloomberg. Xinhua has begun recruiting non-Chinese journalists from around the world to write for its news services.
However, from my perspective, unlike Al-Jazeera, either the CNC World or the CCTV News cannot really take effect in re-brand China’s image around the world or not even contribute to the public diplomacy efforts unless the agencies build up their credibility more, providing candid news resource about China and really serve as the watch dog for Chinese government's to take on issues of censorship, political prisoners, social injustice, and so forth.
[1] Barboza, David. (2010, July 2). China Puts Best Face Forward in New English-Language Channel. The New York Times, p A4
[2] Barboza, David. (2010, July 2). China Puts Best Face Forward in New English-Language Channel. The New York Times, p A4
[3] http://english.cntv.cn/about/index.shtml
[4] http://english.cntv.cn/20100426/104481.shtml
[5] http://english.cntv.cn/about/index.shtml
[6] Barboza, David. (2010, July 2). China Puts Best Face Forward in New English-Language Channel. The New York Times, p A4
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