MCLC: CCTV global expansion plan

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: CCTV global expansion plan
***********************************************************

Source: The Guardian (12/8/11):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/08/china-state-television-global-e
xpansion

Chinese state TV unveils global expansion plan
CCTV to increase overseas staff tenfold by 2016 as English-language
services spearhead Beijing's soft power push
By Tania Branigan in Beijing

China's state broadcaster is launching a major expansion in pursuit of an
international audience, increasing its overseas staff fivefold by the end
of next year and almost tenfold by 2016.

China Central Television hopes to win millions of viewers in the US and
Africa with English-language services produced in Washington and Nairobi.
It is the latest in a multibillion-pound soft power push, as Beijing
searches for a "cultural aircraft carrier" to extend its global influence.

"Global competition nowadays is not just political and economic, but
cultural Š Countries that take the dominant position in cultural
development and own strong cultural soft power are the ones that gain the
initiative in fierce international competition," argued an essay in
Chinese journal Leadership Decision-Making Information
<http://www.ccgov.net.cn/Mldjc/2011/2011-44/xxxt01.htm> last month.

Beijing has created almost 300 Confucius institutes around the world,
teaching Chinese language and culture, and spent a reported £4bn on
expanding state media. It has created a new English language newspaper,
Russian and Arabic TV channels and a 24-hour English news station
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/02/china-english-tv-news-channel-
cnc-world> run by the Xinhua state news agency.

In a sign of how far the Chinese media reaches, you can buy the European
edition of the English-language China Daily in a Sheffield and read
Xinhua's Kenyan "mobile newspaper" on your phone in Nairobi.

In Boston, China Radio International has claimed the frequency previously
owned by WILD-AM ­ "home for classic soul and R&B" ­ to the surprise of
listeners.

Beijing has also attempted to harness the credibility of established
western media, distributing 2.5m copies of China Daily's China Watch
supplement in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Daily Telegraph.

The China Central Television (CCTV) expansion is arguably the most
ambitious, although the broadcaster declined to answer queries about the
plans. According to its website, it had 49 staff posted abroad in November
2010 ­ with 10 more in Hong Kong and Macau ­ and wants overseas staff to
increase to 280 by 2012. That number should rise to 500 by 2016, across 80
bureaus.

At the heart of operations will be six hubs: two probably in London and
Dubai and others in South America and the Asia Pacific region.

It is understood to have hired some 150 people, with Washington gaining 60
staff. Most will be working for the English- and other foreign-language
channels. Zhong Xin, a journalism professor at Renmin University in
Beijing, said Chinese media had long wanted to expand and that incidents
in 2008 and 2009 ­ such as protests during the Olympic torch relay and
riots in Xinjiang ­ persuaded the government of the need, because it
wanted China's voice to be heard.

Dong Tiance, a journalism professor at Jinan University in southern China,
said: "Official bodies, media organisations and academia have agreed that
our previous external publicity has had problems. These overseas
initiatives are improving this, for example, by hiring senior local
journalists and experts."

CCTV has hired Jim Laurie, a former ABC and NBC broadcaster turned
consultant, to advise it and has offered generous salaries for local staff.

According to his website, CCTV will broadcast at least an hour of
programming daily by early 2012, and four hours by June, from its new
studios. It has leased 3,300 sq m (36,000 sq ft) at a central Washington
address for a reported $1.5m (£953,000).

In Nairobi, the Kenyan vice-president has said Chinese officials plan to
increase CCTV's staff from 12 to 150. It has poached high-profile anchors
from local networks for CCTV Africa.

Whether these efforts will be repaid in viewing figures remains to be
seen. One challenge has been delivery: Xinhua's CNC World news channel was
originally available only online, although it can now be watched via Sky
in the UK and Time Warner Cable in the US.

CCTV services are now available via non-profit broadcaster MHz Networks in
Washington and it hopes adding unconventional means of delivery ­ perhaps
showing programmes in shops ­ could extend its audience.
The second challenge has been persuading people to watch. Even at home,
commercial rivals often trounce state offerings and there is widespread
cynicism about news content.

Chinese internet-users last week reacted angrily to remarks by CCTV's new
boss, who said journalists' primary responsibility was to be a
"mouthpiece". Hu Zhanfan, who gave the speech earlier this year as
editor-in-chief of the official Guangming Daily, said "news workers" who
defined themselves as journalism professionals instead of in terms of
Communist party propaganda work <http://cmp.hku.hk/2011/12/05/17324/> were
making a fundamental error.

While foreign-language state media are allowed to go further than those
intended for a domestic audience, there are still tight constraints on
their work.

"In general people are perhaps still suspicious about the quality of some
of the news programmes," acknowledged Dong Guanpeng, a former CCTV anchor
who teaches journalism at Tsinghua University in Beijing and has advised
officials on media policy. But he said CCTV could reach an audience of
opinion-formers on China to begin with and that non-news programming, such
as cultural shows, would increase its appeal.

Arnold Zeitlin, a veteran correspondent turned consultant who teaches
journalism at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said numerous
countries had attempted similar media pushes unsuccessfully. He questioned
the point of spending "huge gobs of money" on the media expansion without
addressing issues such as China's human rights record.

"I would be surprised, if not disappointed, if most people buy it," he
said. "To change China's image it is necessary to alter Chinese policy and
outlook."

Additional research by Han Cheng