Last November, MichelleMakori, a business reporter formerly of Bloomberg News, joined a small group ofseasoned Western television journalists for a whirlwind tour of China. Thetrip, arranged by China Central Television (CCTV), the world's largestbroadcaster, culminated in a visit to the network's two headquarters: on thequiet, far west side of Beijing, a drab campus that sits in the shadow of agiant space needle, and, in the frenzied Central Business District, the newdigs -- a twisted pretzel of steel and glass dreamed up by Rem Koolhaas's architecturefirm, an engineering marvel that manages to look both muscular andterribly fragile.
Makori and her soon-to-becolleagues had come to China to learn about CCTV America from their newemployers, who had plucked them from other networks to develop another peculiarheadquarters: a roughly 100-person bureau in the center of Washington, D.C.,producing a slick news channel aimed at delivering China-centric news to a U.S.audience. "China has a place in the world economy, so it's only befitting thatChina has a place in the global media platform," a senior CCTV executivetold them, according to Makori. "The reason you people are before us isbecause we want to be recognized as a legitimate, objective journalisticforce," he continued. "The idea is for this to be not a Chinesemouthpiece, not a Chinese propaganda tool, but a global channel produced with aChinese flair.'"
Nearly a year later, that vision is coming into focus, and it offers a curiousindication of China's search for soft power. Despite the promise of widereditorial latitude, CCTV America's coverage of China is largely scrubbed ofcontroversy and upbeat in tone, with a heavy emphasis on business and culturalstories in places where Beijing hopes to gain influence. Reporting on topicssensitive to Beijing, like unrest in Tibetan regions of China or the TiananmenSquare Massacre is off limits. Coverage of scandals involving disgracedChongqing Party chief Bo Xilai and dissident legalactivist Chen Guangcheng -- topics thatdominated U.S. and European headlines over the summer -- were confined toreports that echoed official government statements. (CCTV America broadcast a stern-faced anchorin Beijing reading the statement "China has called on the United States toapologize over the issue of a Chinese citizen entering the U.S. embassy here inBeijing in late April," after Chen escaped to the U.S. embassy there.)
"Foreign audiencesexpect to hear stories about China from Chinese media, and CCTV has nothing tosay about the two most important stories of the year?" asked Michael Anti,a Chinese blogger and free speech advocate. "Why would an Americanaudience want to listen?"
Since the U.S. bureau beganbroadcasting in February, CCTV's fresh cast of reporters and producers havebeen struggling to answer that question. Based out of a sparkling new office inWashington, the service comprises a block of news on CCTV News, the network's recently-revamped24/7 English-language channel, and covers a range of U.S. and international storieswith a cast of 60 reporters, producers, and technicians who have experience atestablished news organizations like CNN, CBS, and the BBC. Long news pieces,Western accents, slick graphics, live stand-ups in foreign locales, andprominent guests (the likes of ThomasFriedman and TomBrokaw have appeared on a weekend eveningtalk show called The Heat), emanate afeel of credibility that has long been absent in CCTV's dull, starchy newscoverage. "They were saying 'we want you to be doing breaking news andinvestigative pieces' and this was the first time a lot of the senior people inChina had heard this," Barbara Dury, a former 60 Minutes producer who now runs CCTV's Sunday newsmagazine programAmericas Now, said of initial discussionswith top CCTV officials. "And they were asking, 'how's this all going toplay out?'"
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