World’s Media Go to Court Beijing’s Favor

The Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee decided a few years ago that its propaganda organs need to have more influence in the world. The Party’s news agency, Xinhua, then organized a biannual conference to help advance that goal.
World’s Media Go to Court Beijing’s Favor
10/3/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/XINHUA4129795.jpg" alt="Students for a Free Tibet protest below a new electronic billboard leased by Xinhua (2nd from top), the Chinese regime's propaganda agency, as it makes its debut Aug. 1 in New York's Times Square. The LED sign is part of a strategy by the regime to make Xinhua more influential in American society. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Students for a Free Tibet protest below a new electronic billboard leased by Xinhua (2nd from top), the Chinese regime's propaganda agency, as it makes its debut Aug. 1 in New York's Times Square. The LED sign is part of a strategy by the regime to make Xinhua more influential in American society. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)" width="575" class="size-medium wp-image-1780524"/></a>
Students for a Free Tibet protest below a new electronic billboard leased by Xinhua (2nd from top), the Chinese regime's propaganda agency, as it makes its debut Aug. 1 in New York's Times Square. The LED sign is part of a strategy by the regime to make Xinhua more influential in American society. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Central Committee decided a few years ago that its propaganda organs need to have more influence in the world. The Party’s Xinhua news agency then organized a biannual conference to help advance that goal—and the world’s major media organizations signed up to attend.

The “World Media Summit” held on Sept. 27 in Beijing featured participation by chairmen and directors general from the New York Times, BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, Kyodo News, and Google, among others.

This was the second such summit, the first held in 2009. Li Congjun, the head of Xinhua, described the purpose of the summit in an article in the official magazine China Journalist.

Mr. Li writes of the CCP’s “Central Committee’s strategic demand for ‘strengthening outside propaganda/publicity’” and of Xinhua responding to that demand by “successfully organizing the first meeting of the World Media Summit, building a platform for dialogue among first-rate international media, further raising the capacity of Xinhua News Agency to make its voice heard in the international news and information sector.”

The summit is only one means that Xinhua has used to try to gain international influence. Last year it introduced a 24-hour English-language broadcast service that seeks to reach 50 million viewers, set up an office at New York’s Times Square this May, and most recently took over HSBC’s LED billboard in Times Square, advertising alongside Prudential, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Hyundai.

David Bandurski of China Media Project said in an article about the 2009 World Media Summit, “This ‘summit’ may be dressed up as a platform for professional, ‘non-government’ exchange—but it is really a naked ploy by the CCP to enhance China’s global influence over media agendas.”

The Epoch Times asked summit participants to comment on why they chose to attend. Only the spokesperson for Thomson Reuters replied, who said, “As a global media organization, Thomson Reuters is committed to being at the table for conversations that help shape the global news industry. The World Media Summit is no exception.”

The major media outlets who attended, including Reuters, scarcely reported on their attendance at the summit, while the event was widely reported in China’s state-run media.

He Qinglian, a prominent Chinese economist and author who now resides in New Jersey, tried to explain why the Western media heads would be eager to attend but shy in reporting on the summit.

“This is a complicated issue,” Ms. He, author of Media Control in China, said in a telephone interview. “Although Xinhua is the Chinese regime’s official mouthpiece, it represents the image and requirements of the regime. If it hosts a World Media Summit, but Reuters and AFP fail to show up, they will therefore offend Beijing, which would make their business operations in China much more difficult.”

Ms. He explained that not only will the media’s distribution and broadcasts in China be affected, but also their ability to cover China news for their readers and viewers outside of China. “For example, Reuters has very good economics coverage on China, but if it doesn’t maintain a good relationship with the Chinese regime, it will not be able to obtain any news.”

Mr. Bandurski said, “For the media representatives flocking from all over the world… it is an audience at court.”

Xinhua, the host of the summit, is under the direct control of the CCP’s Publicity Department (formerly translated as the Propaganda Department) and has served as the CCP’s official voice since its founding in 1931. Reporters Without Borders calls Xinhua “the world’s biggest propaganda agency.”

The summit’s agenda, which included panels on the protection of intellectual property rights and on reporters’ safety, certainly sounded like a mainstream journalism conference. But such discussions were taking place in the nation that has arguably the worst record in protecting intellectual property in the world and is, according to Reporters Without Borders, ranked 171st in press freedom.

Despite its long history, its role as the largest news agency in China, and its far-flung international bureaus, the agency receives little respect among Western media for its reporting; it is relied on to pass on the Chinese regime’s official rhetoric.

Whether a media summit, even if it includes participation by the world’s media giants, can confer the respect the propaganda organization Xinhua seeks, is the question left after last week’s event.

“China has always felt that is has been out of line in the world media circle,” Ms. He said. “It wants to be the leader of Chinese-language media around the world and it has done that, because all Chinese media are either funded or established by the Chinese regime. But it also wants to influence all the other media, that’s its purpose. Whether it is able to achieve it or not is another question, because Xinhua lacks the respect for truth and is not very good at dealing with domestic politics, about which it bends to power and sings for power.”

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