Global media may be set to welcome China, but not the Chinese Government

The commitment was seen as part of the Government’s soft power push that would allow it to become part of the global news and cultural agenda, but without the usual negative stereotypes.

State-owned broadcaster CCTV continues to launch foreign-language channels but their reach and influence are limited. The same is true for the news agency Xinhua, which is expanding its overseas footprint but is still a small and not especially well-regarded player in the global news world.

The reasons for this lack of impact are obvious. Critics quite rightly see the hand of Government behind the what is after all a state-sanctioned policy. While a global CCTV channel may at best be of interest to the international Chinese diaspora, other news media consumers are going to turn to better and more objective sources. But if China is really looking to improve its image overseas, it would be advised to steer clear of the huge news organisations and instead tap into an even ‘softer’ way of realising this intention.

Away from the headlines, a more interesting overseas push is coming not from the big Government-run monoliths but the more agile - although by no means small - private digital media companies. Tencent’s buy into Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies is just the latest example of this trend.

Others, such as e-commerce giant Alibaba and the gaming company Shanda, have also made initial steps overseas. The success of these ventures has so far been minimal - if anything, their ventures abroad so far have been experimental, although Tencent’s buy into DST suggests it may now be progressing into a more mature stage of development.

So how can these companies succeed where the state-owned giants have so far failed?

Well, one answer is that despite in some instances operating in similar areas to the likes of CCTV and Xinhua (Tencent’s online video service for example) they are able to sidestep the propaganda tag. Digital media, unlike traditional news media, is seen as less threatening, even though its potential influence could in the future be even more pervasive.

For global markets - and consumers - Tencent and Shanda can expect to be treated in much the same way as any Chinese company looking to do business overseas. That is not to say that international sentiment will be any less suspicious - this is a cross that all Chinese companies seem fated to bear - but the digital media players should be able to avoid this more than most and become the true ambassadors for China’s soft power initiative.

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This article was originally published in the 6 May 2010 issue of Media.