Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Wednesday, October 7, 2009 9:11 am TWN, The China Post news staff

Sponsors
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.

Chinese global news service may help change China

Beijing, it seems, feels left out in the daily race to influence the minds of humanity. And let's face it; at this point, China's media is a bit comical. The English- language China Daily newspaper provides an unintentional laugh for China-based foreigners almost everyday as it screams out in overwrought language the wonders of the Chinese system. Almost never does one crack open a Chinese paper and find articles and editorials on China's many internal problems such as pollution, labor issues and police brutality to name a few. But if China does create the world's next Al Jazeera, expect some of that to change.

Al Jazeera had to learn pretty quickly that unless one is genuinely fair and also willing to engage in self-criticism, no one will take you seriously. In fact, the predecessor to Al Jazeera was an Arabic-language channel that was co-owned by the Saudi government. The Saudis put so much effort into censoring the station that it was eventually shut down before reemerging with new owners as Al Jazeera. If China were to try and open a television station modeled on CNN but utilizing current “China Daily” standards of journalism, it will be laughed out of town. And of course, in the opening stages this scenario is a very likely one. But, if China's leaders are farsighted enough and give the channel a decade to develop and enough leeway to evolve, we might just see a new age of Chinese media.

As the New York Times observed, China is keen to begin using more “soft power.” The military parades with shiny new weapons we all saw displayed on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People Republic of China last Thursday were intended more for domestic consumption and perhaps as a hard-power reminder to Taipei. These will not be the images that China will regularly want to be associated with its “peaceful rise.”

In its first steps, China will reportedly begin consolidating its many media outlets and ditching what doesn't work. The final stage calls for a state-run international news service that can play ball with the big boys. It's an ambitious project and certainly not destined for success, but if the Chinese hope to be accorded any respect, they will have to learn that hard-hitting self-criticism is one of the only routes to respectability and perhaps one reason why the news upstart Al Jazeera is more respected in some quarters than some Western media outlets. It's going to take some time, but a powerful Chinese news service could end up forcing China to take a long hard look at itself.

1|2