【每日电讯报】China to launch English-language TV in Europe

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China to launch English-language TV in Europe
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5684987/China-to-launch-English-language-TV-in-Europe.html

By Peter Foster in Beijing Published: 1:28PM BST 29 Jun 2009

China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, is to provide English-language news broadcasts on supermarkets screens across Europe this week as part of Beijing's attempt to show a more favourable view of China to the outside world.

The broadcasts, consisting of brief news items and lifestyle features, are part of a massive public investment programme by the Chinese government aimed at projecting 'soft power' at a time when China is playing an increasingly important role in world affairs.

The programmes will be produced at Xinhua's studios in Beijing by a dedicated staff of 40 and sold to websites, companies and news agencies around the world, the agency said. Supermarkets in Brussels are reported to be among those that will be airing the broadcasts.

Chen Yue, a spokesman for Xinhua's English news department, said that 23 organisations in Europe and America had signed up for the content which will be launched on Wednesday. It will also be shown on screens outside Chinese embassies around the world.

"China has recognised the importance of soft power, and through the medium of television and the internet the Chinese government aims to strengthen its influence internationally," Mr Chen said.

Xinhua has not divulged which organisations have signed up for the Xinhua broadcasts prior to the July 1 launch date, or what benefits supermarket chains would reap from agreeing to show the content, but the organisation said it had ambitions plans for the future.

"It's still unclear exactly how many countries and outlets will carry our English news, but we hope to expand these channels greatly with more broadcast partners by the end of the year," Mr Chen added.

According to reports in the Chinese media, the government has earmarked between £2.7 billion and £4 billion to expand China's media footprint overseas, with the long-term goal of rivaling global news networks like CNN, BBC and Qatar's Al-Jazeera for influence.

The announcement is one of a raft of outward-looking media projects currently being backed by China's ruling Communist Party.

The People's Daily, the Party's official newspaper, has announced plans to expand its coverage while China's state broadcaster, CCTV, has said it will revamp its news broadcasts for the first time in a decade.

At the same time, China Daily, the country's nationwide English-language daily news paper, began overseas circulation this year while in April, Global Times, an affiliate of People's Daily, launched an English-language edition.

Although China has massive financial resources at its disposal, media analysts remain skeptical that China can win the hearts and minds of viewers abroad when it continues to place such draconian restrictions on media freedom at home.

Yu Guoming, the deputy dean of the Journalism Department at Beijing's Renmin University, said that the broadcasts were intended to help the Western world understand China better, reducing widely-held prejudices against his country.

However he cautioned that money alone could not buy credibility in an international media environment where transparency was at a premium and viewers were highly sophisticated in the way they consumed content.

"China has the ability to found the news channel as CNN or Al Jazeera Broadcast. It is not hard for China to invest," he said. "But in terms of news culture, I think there are still a lot of things for China to learn. It needs to be improved steps by step."

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