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China launches global English TV channel

AFP

A Chinese employee of China Xinhua News Network Corp (CNC) looks on during a media conference on the launching of its global, English-language television channel in Beijing on 1 July 2010. The news agency run by China’s ruling Communist Party launched the television network Thursday as part of efforts to expand its influence abroad.AP/Muhammed Muheisen/China

China’s official Xinhua news agency on Thursday launched a 24-hour global English television news service aimed in part at counterbalancing foreign views of the country.

The CNC World news channel marks the latest effort by China’s communist government to expand the reach of its propaganda outlets worldwide even as the foreign news media industry faces hard times.

CNC, which stands for China Xinhua News Network Corporation, will broadcast the news channel to “the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa by satellite, cable, cellphone and the Internet,” the news agency said.

It said CNC World would “offer a better view of China to its international audiences.”

“CNC will present an international vision with a China perspective. It will broadcast news reports in a timely way and objectively and be a new source of information for global audiences,” Xinhua President Li Congjun was quoted as saying.

The news channel will draw on Xinhua’s presence “in more than 130 nations and regions” and makes it the first international news agency to run a television news network, it said.

The network has been operating in Chinese since earlier this year.

The government has earmarked 45 billion yuan (6.5 billion dollars) to fund the expansion of groups including Xinhua, state television station CCTV and China Radio International, according to previous reports.

Xinhua alone is “striving to build a modern, comprehensive news media group, comprising wire services, newspapers, websites, economic information services, databases and search engines, cellphone and mobile network services, and television,” it said.

China tightly controls its media outlets, either directly or through self-censorship by organisations fearing shutdowns if they feature content that runs counter to the official government line.

Copyright © 2010 AFP

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