Jul. 27 – China Central Television (CCTV) has started a 24-hour Arabic language channel that will be shown in 22 Arabic-speaking countries with an audience of almost 300 million people, reports The Associated Press.
The CCTV expansion to the Middle East and Africa is part of Beijing’s major US$6.6 billion campaign to extend its media influence abroad by giving the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily and the official news agency, Xinhua an international presence.
In a statement, CCTV vice president, Zhang Changming said the new channel “will serve as an important bridge to strengthen communication and understanding between China and Arab countries.”
According to CCTV, the Arabic channel will broadcast news, feature stories, entertainment and education programs. CCTV already has broadcasts done in Mandarin, French, Spanish and English and will soon launch a channel in Russian.
China is not the first country to fund its own media drive to counter a global news landscape dominated by CNN and the BBC. Qatar and Russia have already gone ahead to set-up their own media channels, namely Russia Today and Al Jazeera.
