President of Xinhua News Agency Li Congjun (L) and Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency He Ping launch China Xinhua News Network Corporation (CNC) in Beijing, China, on Dec. 31, 2009. CNC, a TV news network owned by Xinhua News Agency, will broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region and some European countries, starting from Jan. 1, 2010. (Xinhua/Chen Shugen) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- China Xinhua News Network Corporation (CNC), a TV news network owned by Xinhua News Agency, will broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region and some European countries, starting from Jan. 1, 2010.

    "The launch of the CNC is an important move for Xinhua to enrich the agency's business sectors, and embrace the multi-media world," Xinhua President Li Congjun said at a launching ceremony in Beijing Thursday.

    The newly launched CNC World News channel will broadcast TV programs in Chinese around the clock, including news events and special news bulletins. The CNC Finance and Business channel will be launched simultaneously.

    The CNC will develop to include news-related interviews, news analyses, documentaries and other information services.

    The CNC World News also plans to broadcast English programs from July, 2010. News pieces in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian will also be broadcast in the future.

    Xinhua is working to transform itself into a multi-media world news agency. It started to provide multi-media services in Chinese in December 2008 and English multi-media services in July 2009.

    "Xinhua's expanding multi-media services makes it possible to set up a TV network," Li said. "We will make efforts to expand both domestic and overseas services using all kinds of networks and media including overseas TV channels, the Internet, mobile phones and LED screens."

    "We oppose the pursuit of commercial value at the cost of media's social responsibility and strive to provide quality products so as to build an international news network with Chinese characteristics and global impact."

    Xinhua will work closely with world-class media, such as CNN and BBC, and draw on their experiences. But "CNC is not CNN," said Li.

    To Build Modern Communication System

    To build a well-off society, "we should build a modern communication system, further promote communication capacity both at home and abroad, and create a sound social environment," Chinese President Hu Jintao said in his letter to commemorate the 50th anniversary of establishment of China Central Television (CCTV) at the end of 2008.

    The year 2009 witnessed multiple efforts by Chinese media to strengthen their capabilities of international cross-cultural communication.

    Xinhua launched, together with eight other world media organizations, and hosted the World Media Summit from Oct. 8 to 10,2009, with representatives from more than 170 media organizations gathering in Beijing.

    President Hu said at the summit that the Chinese government support Chinese media to cooperate with their foreign counterparts on news coverage, human resources, and information technology, etc.

    Xinhua and the United Nations Children's Fund co-sponsored the "Global News Day for Children", a global media campaign to launch a 24-hour multimedia "relay" coverage of children's well-being on six continents on Nov. 20.

    Xinhua has set up 35 LED screens in Europe to broadcast live news and special coverage and the number of LED screens is expected to reach 100 in the first quarter of 2010.

    Chinese media's cross-cultural communication capabilities still can not meet the demand of foreign audience for the comprehensive and objective coverage of China.

    Some domestic events were distorted in other countries because of the inadequate cross-cultural communication capacity, said MingAnxiang, media researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    "A country without its own voice cannot ensure its national image is not distorted by foreign media. So it is necessary to build our own media with international communication capabilities to make our own voices heard and present a true national image," Ming said.

    To Improve Awareness of Dialogue

    The World Media Summit calls on media organizations to provide accurate, objective, impartial and fair news coverage, promote transparency and accountability of governments and public institutions, and thus facilitate the mutual understanding as well as exchange of views and ideas among peoples from different countries and regions, as stated in the joint statement.

    According to Professor Chen Weixing with the research center of international communication under the Communication University of China based in Beijing, those challenging China in its international communication include differences in political system and culture. China needs to improves its awareness of dialogue in international cross-cultural communication.

    Li Congjun said that to use different frequently-spoken languages is an important step in cross-cultural communication. The CNC World News would provide overseas audience with international news stories from a Chinese prospective and China's domestic news stories from international prospectives, Li noted.

    Over the past three decades, Chinese mass media gained momentum in development and also gained more strength. Some media organizations are now able to explore international markets.

    The Global Times, which is affiliated to the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), put on market its English version in April this year.

    Zhang Yong, the executive editor-in-chief of the English version of the Global Times, told Xinhua that his newspaper, as the second nationwide English newspaper after China Daily, would reflect voices from common people and try to integrate them with those from officials.

    China Central Television, or CCTV, kicked off an Arabian-language and a Russian-language channel this year and plans to start a Portuguese-language channel.

    China Radio International opened many new channels in Australia, the United States and Mongolia this year. It plans to expand its English broadcasting services in Houston, the United States, from six hours to 24 hours a day in 2010.

    In September, Qiushi, or Seeking Truth literally in Chinese, which is the official publication of the Central Committee of the CPC, began to issue its English-version quarterly journal.

    Telling Chinese Stories in Internationalized Way

    Zhao Qizheng, head of Journalism School under the Renmin University in Beijing, said since foreigners differ from Chinese in both languages and ways of thinking, to let foreigners understand thoughts, behaviors and values of Chinese people, both the language and culture should be "translated". That is to say, to tell Chinese stories to the outside world, languages and manners that are understandable and acceptable to foreign audience should be employed.

    It is believed that the foreign language channel of SMG, the broadcasting and television station of Shanghai, has set an good example in this respect.

    This year the channel produced a reality TV program featuring foreigners in Shanghai, which was the first of its kind in the Chinese mainland. The program, dubbed Shanghai Rush, allowed foreign participants from different countries and regions to "travel" among different tourist destinations of the metropolis during their contests, which demonstrated the city's cultural attractions to the outside world.

    Rebecca Jane Miller, a 20-year-old from Newcastle of Britain, told Xinhua that she loves TV programs that are full of sense of reality and Shanghai Rush is of the same style as those in her hometown.

    Twelve episodes of Shanghai Rush, according to its producer XiaJing, have been sold to WaTV of Malaysia, which covers two million households. New York City TV has also expressed intention of buying the program.