China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
Xinhua to launch English station
May 2, 2010
Xinhua news agency trial broadcasts of the new 24-hour TV service, called China Network Corporation, or CNC, have alredy started and the station will be fully operational July 1. CNC will be available by satellite, cable systems, the Internet and cellphones, Xinhua said, and will carry a range of programming on news, business and lifestyle issues.
Xinhua quoted its president, Li Congjun, as saying, "CNC will offer an alternative source of information for a global audience and aims to promote peace and development by interpreting the world in a global perspective."
China’s leadership has grown increasingly frustrated in recent years by its inability to gain influence over international views to match its rising economic and geopolitical clout. The government often bristles at foreign media coverage of China, especially sensitive events like ethnic riots in Tibet in 2008.
Wall Street Journal reports the government believes that by pouring funds into the overseas expansion of outlets like Xinhua it hopes to give China its own versions of CNN or the BBC. The effort is part of a larger campaign to enhance China’s "soft power" through programs like China-funded "Confucius Institutes" abroad that teach Chinese language and culture and have so far been extremely successful.