AFP By Felicia Sonmez<\/p>\n
March 20, 2015 2:00 AM<\/p>\n
Beijing (AFP) – A hard hat-clad American TV host grips the bamboo-and-steel scaffolding, the dizzying urban landscape of China’s commercial centre Shanghai unfolding far below him.<\/p>\n
“I’m bringing cameras and questions to places outsiders are rarely permitted, to investigate the aspirations of the world’s fastest-growing middle class,” architect Danny Forster tells Discovery viewers.<\/p>\n
There is just one catch: both the cameras — and the questions — are co-funded by the Chinese government.<\/p>\n
Beijing has long sought to boost its “soft power” abroad, spending billions of yuan on expanding the international presence of its state-run media — including broadcaster CCTV and official news agency Xinhua — and through its ubiquitous government-sponsored language centres, known as Confucius Institutes.<\/p>\n
Now, the ruling Communist Party appears to be pursuing a new tactic: Investing heavily in “documentaries” on China that are hosted by foreign TV personalities and air on major international networks, but are created under the auspices of the party’s messaging chiefs.<\/p>\n
The State Council Information Office (SCIO), the propaganda arm of China’s Cabinet, unveiled its latest such effort this week in Beijing at the premiere of “How China Works”, a three-part series that will air on The Discovery Channel.<\/p>\n
The show — hosted by Forster and created “with the support and guidance” of the SCIO — is part of a three-year deal in which Discovery will air an hour of Beijing-approved, China-themed programming each week, reaching 90 million viewers in 37 countries and territories.<\/p>\n
Discovery executives declined to detail the financial terms of the deal, dubbed “Hour China”.<\/p>\n
AFP By Felicia Sonmez March 20, 2015 2:0 … Continue reading
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