Beijing, China (FT) -- China unveiled its most ambitious effort for greater international influence on Thursday with the launch of a global 24-hour English-language TV news network run by Xinhua, the state news agency.
Xinhua said CNC World could be received in Asia over satellite this week and available around the world from next month. In early October, the company aims to have deals to get CNC World on cable channels in Western countries including the US and the UK.
The venture will test Beijing's ability to adjust its propaganda machine, one of the Communist party's most important guarantors of power, to meet the tastes and win the trust of audiences of a global audience.
China's government has long felt misunderstood and misrepresented by the international media, and aims to promote its own voice to redress the perceived imbalance.
But its state media, which subject to tight censorship as the mouthpiece of the party and government, have struggled for credibility offshore.
"Addressing an international audience can only work if you speak their language and understand their minds," said Justin Ku, founder of Blue Ocean Network, a private English-language TV station which started broadcasting last year and also aims to improve the West's understanding of China. "But they are state-owned, so they are not free to do that".
Xinhua is trying to address such concerns head-on. "We are a company, and we are in this for the business," said Wu Jincai, president of China Xinhua News TV Network Co Ltd, which operates CNC World.
In an arrangement unprecedented for Chinese media, which typically must be fully state-owned, CNC is 51 per cent owned by Xinhua but also has private investors including Gree, a private Chinese home appliances maker.
CNC plans to set up 30 affiliated stations around the world within three years together with private and foreign investors and is eyeing a public listing in the longer term.
"We are open to outside investors, to joint ventures and to raising money in an IPO," said Zhao Peng, vice director of CNC. "We take any money -- US$, Yen or Sterling".
Mr Wu indicated the new approach aims to convince the world CNC is more than a propaganda tool. "Setting up a TV station is a very straightforward thing. But because we are from China and we are Xinhua, everyone harbours some doubts about us".
CNC executives insisted the new network was not part of the party's external publicity drive. They were also careful to compare themselves with CNN rather than CCTV, the main state broadcaster and centerpiece of the propaganda apparatus.
Yet in its own trailer produced by Xinhua, the network said its launch would "boost China's comprehensive power," a key phrase used by Communist party propaganda officials.
CNC said its initial investment would amount to about Rmb2bn but could rise to up to Rmb5bn as the company is also considering ventures such as building a cable network in Africa together with China's state-owned telecom companies.
