The news agency run by China's ruling Communist Party launched a global English-language television channel today as part of efforts to expand its influence abroad, AP reported. Experts say China's media expansion also results from unhappiness with much of the international coverage of sensitive events in China such as Tibet and human rights. The government has accused international media organizations of being biased and focused on negative news. China Xinhua News Network Corp. (CNC) began broadcasting its first English TV service, CNC World, around the clock on Thursday, including news segments, feature stories, weather updates and special bulletins, the official Xinhua News agency said. «The English service will provide international and China news with a Chinese perspective to global audiences,» CNC President Wu Jincai said at a news conference on Thursday. CNC World has begun broadcasting in Hong Kong and will continue to expand to Europe, North America and Africa by the year-end, he said. CNC World will have about 70 percent international news and 30 percent news about China _ with a wide range of topics such as breaking news, travel shows, sports, and weather, Wu said. Although critics are skeptical of the ability of China's news industry to compete abroad, Yuen-ying Chan, director of the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Center, said the potential impact of China's media expansion should not be downplayed. «At a time when western media is retreating ... China could be flooding the world with its perspective, giving the country a boost of soft power» said Chan. «With a lot of funding and improvements in its reporting, this new expansion should not be written off.» In recent years, China has announced multibillion-dollar plans to raise the country's profile by expanding Xinhua, state broadcaster China Central Television and the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party. «As the country gains more prominence and confidence on the world stage, China naturally wants to spread its message to the world,» said Yu Guoming, a journalism professor at People's University in Beijing. «This expansion abroad will help outsiders better understand China.» CNC World will be broadcast internationally by satellite, cable, cell phone and the Internet, and its U.S. service will be available on cable networks beginning Oct. 1, Xinhua said. Xinhua, a ministry-level body under the administration of the State Council, China's Cabinet, said it is transforming itself into a multimedia, worldwide news agency. -- SPA
