China's power seen in media reach

Last week saw Beijing hosting an unprecedented international media summit, attended by most of the world's media empires, such as News Corporation, The Associated Press, Reuters, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Turner Broadcasting System and Google.

The World Media Summit was hosted by the Xinhua News Agency. Altogether, 300 media representatives from more than 170 media outlets from 40 countries met to discuss the challenges faced by the industry.

The fact that major Western media companies flocked to attend an international conference held in Beijing and hosted by Xinhua, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government, speaks volumes about the changes that have taken place in recent years.

To be sure, that does not mean that Western media organizations have compromised their principles. In fact, a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the conference voiced the hope that “media organizations around the world will provide accurate, objective, impartial and fair coverage of the world's news events, and promote transparency and accountability of governments and public institutions.”

It also called on media organizations to “promote transparency and accountability of governments and public institutions” and facilitate understanding as well as exchange of views and ideas among different countries.

While media companies made clear their interest in cooperating with China, the problems of the Chinese press were highlighted by the international organization Reporters Without Borders, which issued a statement to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1.

“Reporters Without Borders would like to participate in this anniversary in its own way,” the statement said. “The past 60 years have been difficult for journalists as the Maoist regime wanted to turn the media into nothing more than propaganda tools. Journalists and bloggers nowadays are no longer locked in a totalitarian grip but the censorship has never stopped. The Communist Party continues to exercise direct control over the news agency Xinhua, newspapers such as People's Daily, and the national broadcaster CCTV.”

The executives attending the World Media Summit were, of course, much more diplomatic in their presentations. Even so, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, called on China to “compete in the marketplace of ideas” and to allow a more open media sector.

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