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<h3 style="margin-top:0;"><a style="font-weight: 500; font-size: 21px;line-height: 30px; margin-top:25px; margin-bottom: 10px;" href="http://u.osu.edu/mclc/2018/03/22/media-changes/" target="_blank">Media changes</a></h3>
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<p>Source: Sup China (3/21/18)<br />
<a href="https://supchina.com/2018/03/21/china-gears-better-project-image-abroad-control-message-home/">China Gears Up To Better Project Its Image Abroad — And Control Its Message At Home</a><br />
By LUCAS NIEWENHUIS</p>
<p><img style="max-width:100%" class=" wp-image-49737 alignnone" src="https://supchina.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/voice-of-china-zhongguo-zhi-yin-cctv-radio-500x333.gif" alt="" /></p>
<p>Three separate developments, all happening on the heels of a <a href="https://supchina.com/2018/03/13/china-announces-largest-government-reshuffle-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major government restructuring plan</a>, show that the Communist Party of China is getting serious about finding its voice and making it heard.</p>
<p>First, it is literally publishing its voice. The <strong>Voice of China,</strong> a new merged entity of China Central Television (CCTV), China Radio International (CRI), and China National Radio (CNR), is being created, according to a <a href="http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2036400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notice</a> (in Chinese) posted by Xinhua on March 21. The news was first <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-20/xi-creates-voice-of-china-broadcaster-to-improve-global-image" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by Bloomberg, which noted:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Its name mirrors</strong> the U.S.-funded outlet Voice of America, which was “started up during World War II to advance American interests.”</li>
<li><strong>With probably at least 14,000 employees</strong> — 10,000 from CCTV, 2,100 from CNR, and 2,000 from CRI, according to official accounts — Voice of China will be “one of the world’s largest propaganda machines.”</li>
<li><strong>The list of official duties </strong>of the outlet, according to the notice in Chinese, starts with to “promote the Party’s theories, line, principles, and policies” and ends with to “strengthen international communication and tell good China stories.”</li>
</ul>
<p>Second, media change is also happening on the domestic front:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>China’s publicity department has swallowed </strong>the country’s top media regulator. Pang-Chieh Ho <a href="https://supchina.com/2018/03/21/goodbye-sapprft-but-not-chinese-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports for SupChina</a> that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) is being folded directly into the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.</li>
<li><strong>This reorganization “follows</strong> recent moves by the administration to support ‘main melody films,’ movies that espouse state-approved messages, and utilize their soft power to ‘guide and educate the public,’” Ho notes.</li>
</ul>
<p>And third, the shadowy <strong>United Front Work Department</strong> — a covert department responsible for increasing the Party’s influence around the world — is gaining more power and responsibilities, according to another <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018-03/21/c_1122570517.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notice</a> (in Chinese) on Xinhua.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The United Front </strong><a href="https://supchina.com/2017/10/26/behind-united-front-chinas-latest-top-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">works to co-opt</a> groups ranging from regular non-Party members and the middle class in China to minority groups, including Tibetans and Uyghurs, as well as people in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.</li>
<li><strong>The department will now “oversee</strong> the country’s ethnic and religious issues as well as overseas Chinese affairs,” the South China Morning Post <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2138196/its-mysterious-department-behind-chinas-growing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explains</a>.</li>
<li><strong>“The party used to lead</strong> the United Front behind a veil…Under the new structure, it will no longer hide behind various government agencies,” a government source told SCMP.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>China’s “favorable” rating remains low</strong> in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Germany, according to a <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/24/survey/19/response/Unfavorable/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pew study</a> in 2017, though a <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/228638/favorable-views-japan-china-keep-climbing.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gallup survey</a> released earlier this month showed that in the U.S., “China’s favorability has increased markedly over the past two years, with a majority (53%) now having a favorable view of China for the first time since early 1989.”</p>
<p><strong>But a higher favorability rating is no guarantee</strong> of softer treatment. For example, Foreign Policy <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/20/new-house-bill-takes-aim-at-foreign-propaganda-russia-today-foreign-agent-manafort-fara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> (paywall) that the U.S. Congress has introduced two bills recently, one targeting foreign propaganda — it would require outlets like the Voice of China to “file semiannual disclosures to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and to include conspicuous announcements informing American consumers of the foreign government funding the content” — and another targeting Confucius Institutes.</p>
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by <a href="mailto:denton.2@osu.edu">denton.2@osu.edu</a> on March 22, 2018 </div>
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