• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, March 20, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Voice of China: Beijing’s New Push to Improve Global Image

Jinghong Chen by Jinghong Chen
03/29/18
in Featured, Media Freedom, World
China journalist rights safety

Reports argue that the safety and rights of journalists in China have continued to decline. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

China continues to work on the expansion of its global influence: earlier this month, Beijing announced the launch of a new mega-broadcaster — via merging its largest state television and radio stations — to improve its international image.

The single media conglomerate called the “Voice of China” will be formed based on three state-run media outlets: China Central Television (CCTV), China National Radio and China Radio International. The new entity, which has more than 14,000 employees, is tasked with “[publicizing] Communist party theories, guidelines and policies” and “[enhancing] international broadcasting capacity,” according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.

“This reconfiguration of state media platforms is mostly about consolidating the Party’s control over messaging, both at home and overseas,” David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project and a fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy, told The Globe Post. “This follows a general trend under Xi Jinping toward greater centralization of power structures.”

CCTV was previously supervised by the General Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television (formerly known as SARFT), an executive branch under the State Council. But the new entity will serve as an institution directly under the State Council, and it will be led by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.

“Ostensibly the strategy of the Voice of China is to ‘purify’: to counter unofficial reports from within China or the so-called ‘fake news’ that is spread about China globally,” Michael Keane, professor of Chinese media and cultural studies at Curtin University, told The Globe Post.

He further explained that this is not the first time that China combines its national networks. In 2016, CCTV International has morphed into the China Global Television Network (CGTV) with more than 70 overseas bureaus. The formation of “Voice of China” is part of the same consolidation and alignment strategy.

Over the past several years, in an effort to ensure its voice is heard, China has been heavily investing in a global soft power campaign, while also tightening Internet censorship at home. More than 500 Confucius Institutes have been established across the world to promote Chinese language and culture.

Moreover, the country has become the third most popular destination for international students in 2017. President Xi Jinping has been also promoting the idea of “the Chinese Dream” and “China Model” worldwide.

At the same time, CGTV is commissioning a large number of documentaries about life in China and advertising for “foreign” voice-over experts with a $230 payment per 25-minute episode, according to Mr. Keane.

“In the wake of President Xi’s latest ascendancy is a move to align the key state-owned media apparatus with a vision of cultural and political orthodoxy, hence the soporific name Voice of China,” he said.

The restructuring is part of a broader institutional plan, called “Program for the Deepening Reform of Party and Government Organs,” which has recently been approved by China’s rubber-stamp parliament.

Under the plan, Beijing will further tighten its control over entertainment and publications, as the Party’s Publicity Department will directly oversee film, news and publishing work.

“It’s likely however that the global reputation of the Voice of China will be diminished by association with a regime that is tightening the boundaries of what can be said while pouring money into propaganda heavy film, TV and documentary,” Mr. Keane said.

Share7Tweet
Jinghong Chen

Jinghong Chen

Related Posts

Chinese President Xi Jinping
Opinion

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

by Baptiste Monnet
March 15, 2023
An AFP journalist views an example of a "deepfake" video manipulated using artificial intelligence.
Featured

Deepfake ‘News Anchors’ in Pro-China Footage: Research

by Staff Writer
February 13, 2023
A woman undergoing COVID test in China
Featured

Soaring Covid Cases Shine Light on China’s Healthcare Gap

by Staff Writer
January 11, 2023
Members of the Muslim Uyghurs minority demonstrate
World

EU to Ban Products Made Using Forced Labor, Risking China Anger

by Staff Writer
September 14, 2022
China Uyghurs
World

US Says UN Report Shows Xinjiang ‘Genocide’ as China Irate

by Staff Writer
September 1, 2022
A demonstrator sprays paint over an upside-down portrait of Chinese leader Xi Jinping
World

China Use of Psychiatric Hospitals to Punish Activists ‘Widespread:’ Report

by Staff Writer
August 17, 2022
Next Post
Indian newspapers

Police Arrest Indian Editor for Publishing Fake News on Monk

theThe site where Rahim Namazov was shot

Azerbaijani Exile Claiming to Be Journalist Shot in France, Wife Murdered

Recommended

participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

March 6, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023

Opinion

Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post