China's Xinhua launches its global English TV channel

The new channel covers breaking news and major political, economic and cultural news around the globe.

"CNC will present an international vision with a China perspective. It will broadcast news reports in a timely way and objectively and be a new source of information for global audiences," said  Li Congjun, Xinhua's president, at a launch ceremony in Beijing last week,

Xinhua claimed that it would offer "a better view of China to its international audiences" and enable "more voices to be heard by the rest of the world".

He added that the launch was an integral part of Xinhua's efforts to adapt to the rapid growth of new media and to keep up with a fast-developing global media industry.

The channel is initially being broadcasted in Hong Kong but aims to reach 50 million viewers in Europe, North America and Africa within its first year.

Last July, CCTV began broadcasting in Arabic to some 300 million potential viewers in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The channel was already broadcasting in English, French and Spanish, apart from Chinese.

All the media and news orgranisations are closely controlled by Beijing, either directly or through self-censorship to avoid being shut down. They routinely face restrictions on what stories they can report.

However, China frequently complains that foreign news organisations present a biased or unfair view of news from the country, focusing on negative stories and ignoring positive developments in China.