China's state news agency launched an international English language news channel yesterday – the latest step in the government's multibillion-pound soft power push.
The authorities hope expanding foreign language media will help promote the country's image and viewpoint, and ultimately challenge the BBC or CNN. But the low-key launch of Xinhua's new CNC World channel suggests that day is some way off. Despite early reports that in Europe it would be screened in supermarkets and outside embassies, a Xinhua employee said she believed it was available only via the internet.
Wu Jincai, the station's controller, told the BBC's Chinese service that it was initially airing in Hong Kong, and aimed to reach 50 million viewers across Europe, North America and Africa in its first year. Global satellite coverage is promised by autumn.
Stations such as al-Jazeera English have been welcomed as a counterbalance to Western media parochialism. But CNC World's launch is inevitably shadowed by China's extensive censorship. It has pledged objectivity and Wu insisted: "We are a news channel, not a propaganda station."
Speaking at the launch in Beijing, Xinhua's president, Li Congjun, said CNC would "present an international vision with a China perspective".
Reports last year suggested the government was sinking about £4bn into Xinhua, state broadcaster CCTV and the People's Daily newspaper to fund expansion in foreign language media. In a sign of its growing ambition, Xinhua plans to move its New York headquarters into Times Square – alongside Thomson Reuters and Condé Nast.
But some in the industry say that officials have struggled to find suitable vehicles for investment.
Xinhua has bureaux in 130 countries and there is a growing number of experienced and professional Chinese journalists. But even allowing for teething problems, CNC World looked dreary beside its domestic rival CCTV, let alone CNN or al-Jazeera. Anchors were efficient but packages lacklustre; many images appeared to be stock footage. Scripts were plodding and voxpops and interviews sparse, with reporters often reading out quotes instead. Even the credits looked dated. Gordon Brown flashed up on screen in one title sequence.
For the most part, items were brief and anodyne. But there were glimpses of the alternative news agenda that officials want to spread. An item on the 13th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to Beijing stressed it had become "more vibrant and prosperous" and made no mention of recent pro-democracy protests.
The government has been particularly keen to redress what it sees as biased and negative reporting by overseas media since the Tibetan riots and unrest in March 2008. It has invested huge sums in the Beijing Olympics and in Confucius Institutes, which promote Chinese language and culture.
Although CCTV already has an English service – and recently added Arabic and Russian offerings – officials believe creating competition raises standards. Last year saw a new English language newspaper to challenge China Daily.
But Professor Li Xiguang, of Tsinghua University's journalism school, predicted CNC World would be shortlived. Mainland viewers could not watch Xinhua's Chinese channel because the state administration of radio, film and television was trying to protect CCTV. "If there is no Chinese audience there won't be any advertisement investment … Good quality news requires good journalists, which means high wages and expenses. Also, the channel can't be improved because it has no competitor," he said.
He said it would not compete with the BBC or CNN since those stations focused on the west, while it would struggle to compete with CCTV because that was so much more easily available in China. "Unless the situation changes, I would think the channel won't last long," he said.