Carrying out media reforms
Chinese media to deal with challenges from Western elite media powers

(Part 2 of 2)

By Ernest Zhang

(About the writer: Mr. Ernest Zhang is now seeking his doctoral degree in the University of Missouri School of Journalism. In 1998, sponsored by the China Sponsorship for a senior visiting scholar, he stayed one year in J-School as professional in residence. In August 2000, he came back to the J-school to conduct his master-degree study and was conferred the degree in December 2001. Since 1995 when he transferred from an associate professor to a journalist in China, he has been deputy director of the Guangzhou Daily's Science & Culture News Department, deputy editor in chief of the English-language Guangzhou Morning Post and the deputy director of the General Office of Guangzhou Daily Press Group. Having done some research in China's media system and reform, he attended such conferences in America as AEJMC and IABD with papers on Chinese media conglomeration and the characteristics of Chinese Party organs)

	The expansion of China's media conglomeration aims at enlarging and strengthening Chinese media groups. According to statistics, media have become China's No. 4 profitable industry following electronic information, manufacturing and tobacco production.  However, as mentioned previously, the challenges imposed by those Western elite media powers like AOL Time Warner, News Corp, Disney and Bertelsmann are so great that Chinese media by comparison are at disadvantage at least economically. Two examples can be cited. First, the China Central TV station, No. 1 advertising earner among Chinese media for many consecutive years, pocketed $600 million of revenues in 1998, which ranked CCTV 57th among the world media. Second, in 2000, the $ 4 billion of revenues earned by Japan's Asahi News, which had 7,800 staffers, dwarfed the $301.2 million of revenues made by the GDPG, China's most economically powerful press group that had a staff of 4,000 that year. Another two examples show the serious competition for the market share caused by those Western media powers. First, in Guangzhou, starting from the fourth season of 2001, audiences can get a packet of programs broadcast by more than 30 overseas channels by paying the Southern TV only about $200 for a decoder and small sum of extra dollars for monthly services. Second, News Corps' StarChannel has seized 970,000 household subscribers from the local TV outlets while AOL Time Warner Entertainment has gotten 600,000 and is looking forward to 1.2 million in 2003. 

        Since the challenges and the competition are unavoidable, how can Chinese media respond and counterattack? The following are some approaches that are being used or to be employed in the future.

        First, just as it established the special economic zones in the early 1980s to learn from Western countries' managing mechanism and to attract foreign investment, China has already hacked out an experimental field in Guangzhou to try opening China's media market to the outside world. More than 30 overseas TV channels have been ushered to this field, and they will soon also enter the TV market in the Pearl Delta region as the field will extend to there. Through this special mass media zone, the Chinese government wants to learn the operating system of Western mass media. At the same time, this zone is also the very place in which Chinese and foreign news media can get to know each other better and researchers can conduct meaningful research.

        Second, to enable media groups to operate in the areas away from where they are headquartered is a breakthrough for Chinese media groups to get stronger and bigger. The speech to the '02 Shanghai Media Summit Forum made by Mr. Zhao Qizheng, minister of China State Council's News Office, indicates that the Chinese government will encourage the re-structure of media industry and support super media groups' operation to cross geographic borders by tearing down the territory and local market barriers.  

        Third, with the support of Zhao's speech, Chinese media groups will be more confident to get more multimedia-oriented. China's Ministry of Radio, Film and Television has stated to strive to found several large-scale, multimedia broadcast groups across the country within three years. On the side of the press, newspaper conglomerates are determined to find and train cross-media journalists for the emergence of China's true super multimedia conglomerates integrated with print and broadcast media.
    
        Fourth, to advance financing through the stock market is also an effective approach for Chinese media to raise enough funds to satisfy their need for development. Although still regarding media as state-owned enterprises, the relative departments of the Chinese government have now permitted some media groups' non-editing businesses to seek stock market listing for raising money. The HBFG, CCTV and the Chengdu Economic Daily have already gotten their non-editing companies listed in the stock market.

        There should be more strategies and approaches. 

        By using them, Chinese media hope to keep the momentum in development. Therefore, it will be believed that several super multimedia groups will emerge in China soon. In addition, it will be predicted Chinese media will be able to convert the challenges from Western media powers into advantages so as to catch up with the tendency of media globalization.