打造中国版"CNN"中国花450亿扩大全球影响力(图)

打造中国版"CNN"中国花450亿扩大全球影响力(图)
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文章来源: 综合新闻 于 2009-01-18 20:34:37 给 综合新闻 发送悄悄话
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打造中国版"CNN"中国花450亿扩大全球影响力(图) 综合新闻

中国人想发出自己的声音，抢夺话语权无可厚非。但诚如这篇文章所说，中国也应该思考现有的媒体不受国际观众的信任和喜爱的原因。在备受指责的“媒体环境” 下，中国媒体中也不乏观点独立客观的佼佼者，如南方周末和《财经》杂志，可惜的是电视媒体还未曾出现。新华社电视台能不能走出新路，还要拭目以待。（栾树）

　　问题不在于缺乏电视频道或对外媒体，而是在于，缺乏做得好的新闻媒体。如果新华社的新电视频道还是按照中央电视台现有的对外频道那样运作，还是由同样一群人来做决策，这将是注定要失败的。

　　金融危机影响的范围和深度还在扩大中，当世界上许多媒体都在裁减员工，节约开支时，中国大陆的一些媒体却在忙著招聘外国专家，尤其是英语国家的新闻从业者，此举旨在从中国的中央政府最近增加的宣传预算中分到一部分。而中国政府增加宣传预算，目的就是扩大中国的全球影响力。

　　改革开放下的传媒落后

　　中南海博客（zhongnanhaiblog）网站刊登加拿大人凯恩·麦卡锡（Cam MacMurchy）一篇题为“中国花450亿元扩大媒体的全球影响力”（China spends 45 billion to extend media's global reach）的文章。文章中，凯恩·麦卡锡写道，“外国人看中国，与中国人自己看中国之间，有著一个很大的差距。

　　这是人民大学新闻学院院长喻国明教授根据他的观察作出的一个结论，这也是我们在相当长的一段时间里一直讨论的一个论点。在西藏的抗议和火炬接力的争议中，许多问题的产生，都是由于中国人的惊讶，他们惊讶于海外居然会对这些问题有如此强烈的反应，他们也惊讶于西方社会对中国官方观点的诅咒。

　　确实，中国做到了成功地“改革开放”三十多年，但它却远远没有能做到成功地将中国的观点解释给国际社会，和说服外国人接受。

　　Cam在媒体领域有极丰富的工作经验。2000年他毕业于加拿大的哥伦比亚理工大学广播传媒专业。2004年，来到北京工作，在中国国际广播电台和北京人民广播电台的外语广播Radio 774担任编辑、主播和顾问职位。也是CCTV9频道的顾问兼编辑。(资料图片)

　　南华早报1月13日刊登两篇文章，报导和评论中国政府对中国的对外传播媒体投资450亿元人民币一事。第一篇，题目是“北京用450亿元推动媒体面向全球”，说的是，那些能够拿出有价值的项目来提高中国国际形象的媒体机构，将可以获得政府提供的资金。第二篇题为“媒体为说英语者提供大量工作机会 ”（Big offers for English speakers in media jobs），说的是北京中央级的一些媒体正在密锣紧鼓地招聘能用英语工作的专业人员，包括编辑和记者。

　　中央媒体争相“对外扩张”

　　报导说，目前，中央电视台、新华社和人民日报都在密锣紧鼓地展开咨询，和邀请专家开会，集思广益，起草建议和计划。

　　“新华社的计划是扩大其海外分社，从大约100个扩大到186个，”有关消息人士称，这意味著它将在全球的几乎每一个国家都开设分社。

　　另一名消息人士说，新华社计划创建一个以亚洲为基础的24小时播出的电视台，向全球观众播出国际新闻。

　　另一个不同的消息来源说：“我被邀请参加了两次会议，会议的主题是就建立这样一个电视台集思广益，它将不仅对我国广播新闻，而且是对世界各地。”

　　媒体消息来源说，新华社是雄心勃勃的，志在建立一个像卡塔尔半岛电视台网络那样的“有影响力的和可信赖的”电视台。

　　“新华社电视台，将彷效半岛电视台，在政治和时事议题上，享有比凤凰卫视还要大的言论自由，”一位消息灵通人士称。

　　同时，人民日报下属的、以民族主义论调闻名的每日小报－《环球时报》，已决定今年5月推出英文版，成为继《中国日报》之后的中国第二份国有的英文报纸，该报已经开始招募英语编辑和记者。

　　中央电视台已宣布推出今年开办阿拉伯语和俄语频道的计划，目前正积极扩大其海外记者队伍，并招募外语人才。


HONG KONG - "There is a big gap between China's image among foreign people and its idea of itself."

Renmin University Journalism Dean Yu Guoming is bang on in his observation, an argument we have been making here for quite some time. Many of the problems which arose during the Tibetan protests and torch relay controversy came from Chinese surprise that people overseas could have such strong feelings on these subjects -- and feelings that were anathema to China's official view. 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.

The South China Morning Post (all articles behind a paywall) has run two stories today about Beijing's RMB 45 billion investment in Chinese media organizations which target global audiences. The first, "Beijing in 45b yuan global media drive", says the cash will be available to agencies which come up with worthwhile projects to enhance their global image:

Management at CCTV, Xinhua and the People's Daily have been busy meeting consultants, inviting experts to brainstorming sessions and drafting proposals.

"Xinhua has a plan to expand its overseas bureaus from about 100 to 186," the source said, suggesting it would have bases in virtually every country in the world.

Another media source said Xinhua planned to create an Asia-based 24-hour television station to broadcast global news to an international audience.

"I was invited twice for brainstorming meetings on the establishment of such a television station, which would not just broadcast news on China, but on everywhere in the world," a different source said.

The media sources said Xinhua was ambitious about building an "influential and reliable" station like the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network.

"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.

Meanwhile, the Global Times, a daily tabloid owned by the People's Daily and known for its nationalistic tone, has decided to launch an English edition in May, becoming the second national English newspaper, after China Daily. The paper has begun recruiting English-speaking editors and journalists.

CCTV has announced plans to launch Arabic and Russian channels this year, aggressively expanding its team of overseas reporters and recruiting foreign-language professionals.

The plus side for media people in China is a plethora of new jobs, according to the second article, "Big offers for English speakers in media jobs":

In a speech last month, Li Yuanchao , chief of the party's Organisation Department, encouraged recruitment of overseas talent with a "free ideological mindset".

Ms Zhang said the speech effectively lifted policy restrictions on attracting foreign experts, boosting CCTV's efforts to attract staff.

Meanwhile, the Global Times, a daily tabloid owned by the People's Daily, has announced a plan to hire an executive editor, a deputy executive editor and 60 reporters with English expertise to help put out its English edition, to be launched in May.

Recruitment advertisements for at least 10 native English speakers as "consultants" have been widely circulated on various news outlets and websites.

Many English reporters in other Beijing-based media organisations said they had received "very competitive salary package" offers from the Global Times as the head-hunting campaign becomes more urgent, with some saying apartments were being offered as well as high salaries.

"I was told that an editor could be paid 300,000 yuan (HK$341,000) a year, with a one-off offer of an apartment," one reporter said.

China Newsweek, a China News Service-owned weekly popular among young Chinese people, is speeding up preparation for an English-language edition to be published in the US.

A Beijing source said that the weekly would be backed by 200 million yuan in capital from CNS.

As with Communism itself, this media plan is good in theory. There's no doubt that there is a gaping need for more Chinese viewpoints in the great discussions of the day. If Qatar can have an internationally-influential television channel, surely China can too. And there's no reason why the New York Times, the Guardian, BBC, CNN et al should have a disproportionate sway on what we see and hear.

China's point of view and context for that point of view are sadly lacking, as I'm reminded of each time I'm asked to guest on a foreign radio station. But before we start considering an international Xinhua TV channel, what happened to CCTV 9? Isn't CCTV 9 supposed to present China's view to the world? Is there a point in lauching a second one without fixing the first?

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.

Which brings me to my second point: the credibility of the media in China. China could open a hundred news organizations and blanket the world with China's point of view, but it would be greeted with just as much suspicion as it is now because China, despite all of its advancements, remains a one-party state with absolute control over all domestic media. This investment in more coverage may help to a degree: sure, we all know that China Daily is a government mouthpiece, but we read it because we get to know what the government thinks and it provides a decent (I'm being generous) roundup of what's going on in the country. A new Xinhua TV Channel or Global Times newspaper may provide the same. But at the end of the day, it's a lot of money being thrown at the symptom. China can't buy itself credibility. Not even for 45 billion.

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.