New TV channels and papers will give China a voice to match its status
BEIJING - WHILE media organisations in the rest of the world are trying to cut costs, those in mainland China are busy recruiting for new overseas television channels and newspapers, reports said.
After setting up French- and Spanish-language television channels ahead of the Beijing Olympics last year, China Central Television (CCTV) is planning new channels in Russian and Arabic, said station officials yesterday.
An official with the new service, who asked not to be named, said: 'We plan to launch (the Arabic channel) in September...and will hire about 100 Arabic-speaking people...We don't need to worry about the money, CCTV has all the money.'
Sources say the cash to pay for the transformation of China's state media will likely come from the government.
Beijing has already set aside 15 billion yuan (S$3.2 billion) for CCTV, an identical amount for the official Xinhua news agency, and a further two billion yuan for smaller rival agency China News Agency, a source told Reuters.
The money will likely be spent on more journalists, more overseas bureaus and higher production standards.
Xinhua has already issued its overseas bureaus with equipment and orders to make television, radio and blog reports as well as the usual text, said Mr Steven Dong, director of the Global Journalism Institute at Qinghua University.
'It's very likely Xinhua news agency is going to receive a TV licence later this year or later next year,' said Mr Dong, who also advises the government on its public relations strategy.
'Why does China want to have this competition? I think it is preparation for Xinhua, CCTV and maybe the others to become powerful in the international arena.'
Chinese officials feel their country is battered by negative coverage in Western media and hope the lavish spending on Xinhua news agency and CCTV will earn greater recognition and credibility overseas for the stations and the Chinese take on world affairs that they present.
China's propaganda chief Liu Yunshan wrote in a New Year's essay for the Chinese Communist Party's main ideological journal Qiu Shi (Seeking Truth) that 'it has become an urgent strategic task for us to make our communication capability match our international status'.
'Nowadays, nations which have more advanced skills and better capability in communications will be more influential in the world and can spread their values further.'
The country's top official for ideology, Mr Li Changchun, has called for the state media to 'develop an image of a strong and new nation for the entire world to see'.
The Global Times - a daily tabloid owned by the People's Daily - is launching an English edition in May, and is advertising for an executive editor, a deputy executive editor and 60 reporters.
Many English reporters in other Beijing-based media organisations said they had received 'very competitive salary package' offers from the Global Times, reported Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
China Newsweek, a China News Service-owned weekly popular with young Chinese people, is preparing to publish an English-language edition in the United States.
