China Media Digest 1001 (26Jan-18Feb)

EDITOR: Jackie Fang YIN

Headlines

• Former BBC anchor starts work at CRI
• More publications during 2010 Expo
• Probe traces Google attacks to 2 Chinese schools: report
• China sets limit on Spring Festival SMS
• Common sense, rationality needed for society: CCTV host

• Jackie Chan launches cinema chain

Former BBC anchor starts work at CRI  

FORMER BBC anchor Susan Osman began hosting a breakfast show for China Radio International （CRI） yesterday, Chinese-language media reported yesterday. It was Osman’s first time hosting “The Beijing Hour,” a new current affairs program. Osman signed a one-year contract with the CRI to host the prime-time breakfast show. 

Osman, 51, moved to China to escape the ingrained “culture of ageism” in Britain’s broadcasting industry, previous reports said. She has worked in broadcasting for 28 years, presenting bulletins on BBC World and reporting for ITN News before falling out of favor with her bosses, with one even remarking to her, “Are you menopausal？” Of this experience, Osman said: “This is quite typical. I’ve had so many female colleagues who have dropped out in their early 40s, which is a shame because an older woman can bring wisdom and empathy. There don’t seem to be many places for older women in broadcasting in this country [the U.K.].”“Ironically, when I started working in television, I was always afraid of not being taken seriously for being young. The truth is when you’re not getting any younger, it becomes even worse,” she added.

In response to Osman’s comments, a BBC spokesman said: “Broadcasting, especially presenting, is an extremely competitive industry and the nature of it is such that many broadcasters are freelance artists on contracts of specific durations. Ageism has nothing to do with it.”

Osman’s son, who graduated from Oxford, came to China last year and advised his mother to make the move. “In China they revere experience,” she said. “The older you are the better. I got the impression that my future boss actually wanted me to be older when I finally told him my age during the interview. He hopes I could help in training young reporters.” ( Shenzhen Daily 2010-1-26 )

 More publications during 2010 Expo

German newspapers like Bild and racy Italian magazines may be available in Shanghai this summer as Expo organizers consider lifting the curbs on foreign publications during the six-month-long cultural gala. Scores of the 192 countries that will join the Expo have already given their tacit backing to the lifting of the ban as they aim to promote their respective pavilions or culture through their national media, which they would like to see on sale in the host city.

Their response came after Zhu Yonglei, deputy director-general with the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said last month that proposals would be sent out soon to gauge the level of interest from participating countries and Expo tourists. “We would appreciate it very much if all materials related to the activity of the Italian pavilion could be available to Chinese, international and Italian visitors in Shanghai,” the country’s Expo team told China Daily. “We are confident that the Expo bureau will identify the appropriate solution.”

A similar easing of restrictions took place in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, when 100 overseas publications hit news kiosks located in areas catering to athletes and international media covering the Games in the Chinese capital.

Germany, which hosted the 2000 Hanover Expo, is looking to import its newspapers after seeing the positive response to hand out free copies of the FAZ （Frankfurt General Newspaper） during the 2005 Aichi Expo in Japan. Dietmar Schmitz, Germany’s commissioner general to the 2010 Expo, said he hopes to do the same this year. “Germany is very much satisfied with the preparatory work for Expo 2010 and we look back on a very fruitful cooperation with our partners from the Expo bureau,” he said. “I am very much confident that in this matter the Expo organizers will also find a satisfying solution.”  ( China Daily 08-02-2010 )

Probe traces Google attacks to 2 Chinese schools: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Recent cyber attacks on Google and other American corporations have been traced to a top Chinese university as well as a school with ties to the Chinese military, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people involved in the investigation. Those people told the Times that the Chinese schools involved are Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School. They said the attacks may have started as early as April 2009 — earlier than previously thought.

According to the report, investigators believe there is evidence suggesting a link to a computer science class at the vocational school taught by a Ukrainian professor. Google jolted U.S.-China ties with its January 12 announcement that it had faced a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” in mid-December, allegedly from inside China. More than 20 other companies were also targeted, though Google said a primary target was dissidents’ email accounts. Jill Hazelbaker, Google’s director of corporate communications said that the company’s investigation is ongoing, but otherwise declined to comment. The Chinese schools were not immediately available for comment, but the Times said they had not heard that American investigators had traced the Google attacks to their campuses. (Reuters.com 18-02-2010)

China sets limit on Spring Festival SMS

Mobile users restricted to 500 messages an hour in crackdown. Mobile phone users in China will need to limit the number of Chinese New Year text messages they send during Spring Festival as part of a crackdown on spam messages.

An agreement among the country’s three main mobile network operators last June stipulates that if the number of messages sent from a phone number reaches 200 within an hour or 1,000 within a day, the phone’s message service will be suspended for a week.For holidays and weekends, the allowable limit will increase to 500 hourly and 2,000 every day, it said. Wei Leping, chief-engineer from China Telecom told China Daily yesterday that even during Spring Festival, the crackdown on spam messages will continue. “Even though such strict measures to fight against junk messages are taken, many people still receive tens of such messages,” Wei said.

Mobile phone subscribers received about 10 spam messages every week by the end of 2008, which means more than 300 million unwanted messages were delivered that year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The most common type of spam includes promotions for real estate, retail, traffic and tourism industries.

Considering the harm of spam messages, some phone users support the limitation on message numbers. Sun Qian, a postgraduate at Liaoning Normal University, said it was a good service.” A normal person rarely sends more than 100 messages within an hour even during holidays, unless he or she is a spammer or a cheater,” Sun said.

Official figures show Chinese mobile phone users sent 18 billion text messages during last year’s 7-day Spring Festival holiday, and the figure is expected to increase this year. Wei said operators did not have the right to read short messages and decide which was junk and which was not. There were about 700 million mobile users on the Chinese mainland as of July last year.( China Daily 01-02-2010 )

 Common sense, rationality needed for society: CCTV host

Chinese society needs to show respect to common sense, think rationally in government administration, including pursuing its democracy model, and search for beliefs amidst the rapid economic growth, said Bai Yansong, China’s leading television host, in an interview with the Beijing News.

In a commentary published on Saturday Feb. 2, the acclaimed anchorman said that there was a time when Chinese people’s common sense was distorted by politics or manipulated by some people’s interests. Bai criticized that during the Cultural Revolution people exaggerated that millions of kilograms of grains were produced on a very small piece of farmland in a single year, with many people believing the ridiculous numbers.

Even today people’s common sense may be still affected by unethical media reports due to economic interests. A so-called medical expert preached his “healthy diet”, implying that many types of traditional foods that Chinese people have lived on for thousands of years were harmful. No media stood out to question him and finally it turned out that he was misleading the public and distorting people’s common senses to benefit himself. Although the expert was eventually sentenced for his crime, the case made people worry that economic interests were challenging people’s common senses, Bai said.

To construct rational thinking is also important for the Chinese government as well as the whole society. The Communist Party of China has changed from a revolutionary party into a governing party, assuming the role of serving the whole society that includes people it likes and hates, which requires the party to act very rationally, Bai said.

Rationality, Bai said, should also be an important characteristic of people living in this large country.

He said a lot of things were sensitive in the past and people were confused about what to say and what not to say. Last year CCTV broadcast Premier Wen Jiabao being attacked by shoes when giving a lecture, which was considered a very sensitive thing but nothing happened, he said.

The power of sensitivity is strong and will grow even stronger when you think it is sensitive, but when you treat it brightly or even ignore it, it will just die out, according to Bai. 

In regard with the government’s role in constructing rationality, Bai said the government’s rationality depends on the shift of governing the country by people to governing it by law.(chinadaily.com.cn 08-02-2010)

 Jackie Chan launches cinema chain

International movie star Jackie Chan has taken on another role in the film industry: boss of a movie theater chain.

The first Jackie Chan – Yaolai International Cinema, co-funded by the kung fu star and Hong Kong-based Sparkle Roll Group Limited, started trial operations in west Beijing on Monday with a private screening of Chan’s new comedy “Little Big Soldiers.” With 17 screens and 3,500 seats, the venue covers 15,000 square meters and claims to be the largest movie theatre in the country.

Five halls in the cinema provide free hearing-aid equipment for those in need, Jackie Chan said.

The actor said he hopes the venue will also offer screens for non-commercial films and productions by young directors. Fifteen Jackie Chan cinemas are expected to open in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou this year. ( CRIENGLISH.com 09-02-2010 )

China Media Centre

2010 Spring Seminar Series

How Ideas and Values Move between China and Western Societies

Speaker: Prof. Greg Philo

University of Glasgow, Research Director of Glasgow Media Group

Date: Wednesday 24^th March, 2010
Time: 2.00-4.00 pm
Venue: Lecture Theater 2  Harrow Campus

This lecture focuses on cross cultural perceptions and the processes by which ideas and values move between societies. It is based on research using focus groups, responses to questionnaires and interviews with 140 Chinese students, cultural workers and teachers. It will show how the experience of living in the UK can both alter prior expectations of the country as well as generating processes of critical reflection about the nature of both China and western societies. The participants focused on the evaluation of educational systems, the understanding of rights, law and social obligations and how these affected the current status of women. Social change does not result simply from exposure to new ideas, but cross-cultural contacts and experience can be factors in the movement away from traditional structures in that they highlight alternative ways of understanding the self in relation to others and new possibilities for social life.

Professor Greg Philo

Lecturer and Senior Lecturer (1987-92);

Reader (1992-2001)

Professor (2001-present).

Research Director, Glasgow University Media Unit (Glasgow Media Group).

Research:

Research interests are in the area of the media and cultural reception. Research in the past has centered on media presentations of industrial disputes and trade unionism, the Falklands War and Northern Ireland. Current research includes ESRC and other externally-funded research projects on political advertising, images of health and illness (including mental illness), migration and ‘race’ as well as risk and food scares.

Books

Philo, G.and Miller, D. (2001) Market Killing, Harlow: Longman

Philo, G. and Berry, M. (2004) Bad News from Israel, London: Pluto Press

Berry, M. and Philo, G. (2006) Israel and Palestine – Competing Histories, London:Pluto Press

China Media Centre

2010 Spring Seminar Series

Title: Enhancing creativity in German and Chinese publishing houses –A comparison

Speaker: Mania Strube (University of Hamburg),

Visiting Scholar in University of Westminster

Date: Wednesday 10^th February, 2010

Time: 2.00-4.00 pm

Venue: A4-8,9    University of Westminster, Harrow Campus

Abstract:

The question of how to promote creativity is crucial for media companies all over the world. Not only the production of media products requires a constant need for creativity, also the increasing competitive pressure in the media industry makes continuous innovation necessary to achieve competitive advantages in the market (Picard, 2002). Against this background, it is surprising that there has not been developed a coherent theory of promoting creativity in the media industry. Only Küng (2004, 2008) has theoretically applied theories of creativity enhancement to the media industry at the organizational level. These works, however, do not consider cultural differences that influence the understanding and promotion of creativity (Lubart, 1999).

This presentation reports on a publication that adapts the concept of creativity enhancement to the media industry including a cross-cultural perspective. Factors of the work environment are identified that enhance creativity in different cultures. A survey is planned to test the framework on editorial staff in German and Chinese publishing houses.

Biography:

Mania Strube is a PhD student in media management from the University of Hamburg and a visiting scholar at the China Media Centre. She holds a business administration degree with a special focus on international management.

The presented publication is part of her dissertation “Internationalization strategies in the media industry – Creativity and learning in an intercultural context”. She has spent several research periods at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and will return this March for the empirical survey of the publication.

25 MA students  from Hong Kong Baptist University, specialising in Financial Journalism, attended the CMC study trip “Financial and Economic Reporting in the UK” from 3 January until 10 January 2010. The delegation was lead by Prof Huang Yu, who took his PhD at the University of Westminster under Professor Colin Sparks and is Head of Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University. Among highlights were visits to the Financial Times, London Stock Exchange, BBC and City of London. The trip was designed by Dr Zeng Rong and managed by Alja Kranjec.

                                                                                                                       中国软实力

                                                                           英国威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心2010年年会征文通告
                                                                                            主办：英国威斯敏斯特大学 中国传媒中心
                                                                                            联办：中国人民大学新闻学院
                                                                                            伦敦2010年4月8日至9日
 
          英国威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心（The China Media Center, University of Westminster）是目前欧洲唯一一所致力于中国媒体研究的学术机构。继2005年6月正式成立以来，将于2010年4月8日至9日在英国伦敦举办第六界年会。本届年会将有威斯敏斯特大学中国传媒中心与中国人民大学新闻学院联合举办，年会主题为“中国软实力”（China’s soft power）。欢迎海内外学者、专家、同学及媒介从业者积极参会。
 
          中国经济实力的迅猛增长已悄然更新了中国的国际影响力。奥巴马的中国之行，G2格局的有效建立都印证着这样一个得到国际普遍认同的事实：今天，中国正在世界经济格局中扮演着核心角色。追溯历史，经济实力的腾飞总是伴随着国际文化影响力的提升——足球，好莱坞以及卡拉OK都是便随着大国经济腾飞而走向世界的 “舶来品”。毫无疑问，中国的经济地位将会同样影响中国文化的全球传播。
 
          中国及世界各国都已认识到了这一趋势。中国政府推出了“走出去”的战略，旨在全球推广中国语言、传播中国文化、发展中国媒体。同时，曾满足于向西方购买节目或模仿西方节目样式的中国的广播电视界，今日也正蓄势进军国际市场，他们的角色已悄然变为卖家。
 
         我们热诚的欢迎诸位共同关注这一动人心魄的进程。本届年会的讨论将围绕以下诸多主题展开，当然，我们的研究和讨论绝不仅限于如下主题：

•   经济实力与文化实力关系的理论探讨
•  向海外推广中国语言及文化的官方努力
• 中国国际新闻媒体
• 中国媒体的国际战略
• 中国文化在国际市场中的竞争力是什么？
•  “原汁原味”的中国文化是否会因投放国际市场的诉求而受到威胁？
• 国际社会对中国文化输出的回应
•  中国文化国际影响力的历史经验
• 展望世界舞台上的中国媒体及文化

         如您有兴趣参加年会，请于2010年1月31日前将不超过250字的英文论文梗概发给密淼女士m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk.
 
         同时，会议组织者将竭尽全力为参会的优秀论文创造发表的机会。若您想了解关于本次年会和中国传媒中心的其它咨询，请您访问中国传媒中心的主页：http://chinamediacentre.org/

China’s Soft Power

                         A Conference organised by the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster
                                                                                     309 Regent Street, London W1 UK
                                                                                                    April 8th and 9th 2010
 
The dramatic economic growth in China has meant a renewed international influence.  President Obama’s recent visit, and the effective establishment of the “G2,” marked international recognition of the fact that China is, today, a central actor in the world economy.  Historically, economic power has always been accompanied by increasing international cultural influence – soccer, Hollywood and karaoke are just some of the things bequeathed by other big economies to the rest of the world.  It is certain that China’s economic stature will also be reflected in the diffusion of Chinese culture. 
 
This reality is already recognised by many in China and outside.  The Chinese government has a “going out” strategy, aiming to make the Chinese language, Chinese culture, and the Chinese media more visible internationally.  At the same time, broadcasters who were once content to buy programmes and copy western models are today planning to enter the international market place as sellers of their own products. 
 
The organisers invite papers on all aspects of these developments.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
·         Theoretical discussions of the relationships between economic power and cultural power
·         Official efforts to promote Chinese language and culture abroad
·         China’s international news media
·         The international strategies of China’s media companies
·         What are the competitive advantages of Chinese culture in the international market?
·         Is “authentic” Chinese culture under threat from the drive to sell products internationally?
·         International reaction to the spread of Chinese culture
·         The historical experience of the international influence of Chinese culture
·         Future prospects for Chinese media and culture on the world stage 
 
If you wish to present a paper at this conference, please send an abstract of not more than 250 words to Mi Miao (m.mi@my.westminster.ac.uk) by 31st January 2010.
 
The organisers will make every effort to find a publication outlet for the best of the papers presented at this conference.

Last few places available for FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN THE UK 1 week briefing for Chinese MA students.

Financial and Economic Reporting in the UK general DEC 09

For more information please contact China Media Centre office:

T 0044 (0)20 83577354

E  cmc-office@wmin.ac.uk

China Central Television was the venue for a 2-day Workshop on British journalism organized by China Media Centre in October 2009. Speakers were Hugo de Burgh, CMC Director, Kevin Sutcliffe, C4’s Head of Current Affairs, Steve Hewlett, presenter of BBC’s The Media Show, Zhang Jie, Editor of CCTV’s News Investigation and Yang Rui, Presenter of CCTV’s Dialogue.