Kina vil bruge 45 milliarder yuan (37 milliarder kroner) på blandt andet at lave en 24-timers nyhedskanal, der har Al Jazeera som forbillede.
Samtidig skal en række kinesiske medier udvide deres net af korrespondenter og redaktioner rundt om i verden, og flere af dem er allerede begyndt at ansætte engelsk talende medarbejdere.
Det drejer sig om følgende medier. Først og fremmest China Central Television (CCTV), der bedst kan sammenlignes med Danmarks Radio. Stationen sender allerede på engelsk, spansk og fransk.
Dernæst er det Xinhua, der er Kinas officielle nyhedsbureau; Peoples Daily, der er Kinas Kommunistpartis eget talerør; og Shanghai Media Group, der først og fremmest er en TV- og radiostation.
Fremstødet er et led i opbygningen af Kinas internationale indflydelse og landets globale “soft power”.
Planerne blev først omtalt i South China Morning Post (SCMP) den 13. januar (ikke noget link, for artiklen kræver abonnement).
De fire mediegrupper er, som alle kinesiske medier, underlagt censur. Men en anonym kilde siger til avisen, at den nye kinesiske nyhedskanal vil få andre arbejdsvilkår:
‘With Al-Jazeera as the model, the station would enjoy greater freedom of speech from the central authorities than Phoenix TV on political and current events,’ one source said.
Og det citat har David Bandurski fra China Media Project på University of Hong Kong bidt sig fast i:
It is impossible to entirely discount the idea that a CCP-sponsored international network could be given more latitude in international coverage. But I find this quote from the SCMP utterly revealing, and I wonder exactly what this unnamed source said, in Chinese.
The “from” in the phrasing of the SCMP quote suggests that “freedom of speech” is something granted or denied at the will of the party leadership. And that, far from suggesting openness, fits squarely with the notion of “guidance” we have seen recently from senior CCP leaders on the question of the “global influence” of Chinese media.
If you are a lover of freedom, your knees may go weak when you see the words “freedom of speech.” But when someone whose prerogative it is to shut you up tells you they will give you sufficient “freedom of speech,” the subtext is still CONTROL.
David Bandurski mener, at de nye planer et eksempel på den kinesiske regerings nye mediestrategi:
… is a kind of global roll-out of what we have elsewhere called CONTROL 2.0 — that is, a new conception of media control (a “new pattern of public opinion guidance“) whereby the focus shifts from passive and reactive censorship to active influence of the agenda (of which censorship is just one component).
Control 2.0 har man blandt andet set i det seneste halve års omtale af jordskælvet i Sichuan, optøjerne i Tibet og mælkeskandalen.
Og som lederen af Renmin University School of Journalism, Yu Guoming (喻国明), siger til SCMP, så bunder mange af de problemer, som opstod efter for eksempel urolighederne i Tibet og Den Olympiske Fakkels tur rundt om verden, i at mange kinesere, medier og ledere blev overraskede over udlandets stærke reaktion og modreaktion til den officielle kinesiske linje.
China was able to “reform and open” over thirty years, but it’s been far less successful in convincing those abroad of its global views and context.
Som Cam MacMurchy skriver på Zhongnanhaiblog, hvor artiklen slutter med denne kommentar:
The problem isn’t lack of TV channels or media outlets that present China’s case to foreigners, it’s the lack of any media outlets that present China’s case well. If Xinhua’s new TV endeavor is run in the same manner CCTV is, with the same group of life-long communist party members in bad suits calling the shots, it will be doomed to failure. In fact, I’d go one step further: any mainland Chinese run media outlet will be taken less seriously as long as general media controls are in place.
Dernæst mener Zhongnanhaiblog også, at de kinesiske medier har et åbenlyst problem med troværdigheden.
Om Kina så åbnede 100 nye medier, der tæppebombede verden med nyheder, ville udlandet stadig være skeptiske over for dem. For de er og bliver produceret i en autoritær et-parti stat, der har fuld kontrol over medierne.
Hvis projektet skal lykkes for de kinesiske medier, så skal de have absolut frie hænder:
To be successful, in my humble opinion, the new international TV station or newspaper must be given free reign to cover what it wants. It needs to be run on a system of merit and good journalism, not longevity, adherence to party principles, or loyalty to China (that sounds outdated, but that’s how media organizations are still run in mainland China). If it selectively avoids sensitive subjects (for example, not running a story on the June 4 vigil in Hong Kong each year), perhaps people can look past it if the rest of the journalism is quality. But one lead story on Hu Jintao’s win-win visit to Lesotho, which adheres to the One China Policy, and, well…. you get the picture.
:: Billedet er taget dagen efter den olympiske åbningsceremoni i Beijing
Det må være verdens nemmeste job, at være layouter på Renmin Ribao (人民日报), som fangkc.cn skriver. 
