CRI, CNR & CCTV TO MERGE

March 23, 2018

CRI, CNR & CCTV TO MERGE

In the past few days, news has come out of China that there is to be an amalgamation of the three big networks in that country - the China Central Television (CCTV), the China National Radio (CNR) and China Radio International (CRI). In a CNN news report released on March 21, Steven Jiang wrote that:

The merger was revealed in a Communist Party document on a sprawling government reorganization program, championed by President Xi Jinping to reinforce the party's absolute control in all aspects of state governance.

.........Voice of China is tasked with "propagating the party's theories, directions, principles and policies" as well as "telling good China stories," according to the document. It will be under the direct control of the party's central propaganda department.

And:

Now the most powerful Chinese leader in decades, Xi has cracked down hard on freedom of expression since taking office in late 2012. He has also taken a tough line on the role of news media in the party's "ideological work."

Frankly, this should come as no surprise to anyone! As a long-time China watcher and a visitor to the country on three occasions, I can say that I have had some serious concerns about the country's leadership for a few years now. President Xi Jinping has been "a man on a mission" to take control of just about every aspect of Chinese life domestically while strengthening the country's foreign policy to conform with his view of the Chinese Communist Party's role on the world stage.

Xi is a man not to be underestimated! He is NOT like Chinese leaders from the past three decades. He is a hardliner who is veering towards autocratic rule. In his speech at the recently concluded the Communist Party's National Congress, he said: “it was time for his nation to transform itself into a mighty force” that could lead the entire world on political, economic, military and environmental issues."

Former Australian Prime Minister (and fluent Mandarin speaker), Kevin Rudd has written that “To get to the top, he (Xi) has outflanked, outmaneuvered, marginalised and then removed all his principal opponents. For the last few years China has been returning to parts of its old Marxist-Leninist ideological orthodoxy, after four decades of policy pragmatism,”. Rudd goes on to say that the Chinese Communist Party is “regaining its institutional status over the policy machinery of the Chinese state”.

So, how will this play out for China Radio International?

For some years now, CRI has been mimicking western broadcasters in programming style and content. When tuning across the shortwave bands, it can sometimes be hard to tell if you are listening to CRI's English service or another broadcaster. But under the new mega-structure that Xi and the Communist Party has introduced, it seems certain there will be changes in editorial direction and perhaps some changes in programming tone. I wouldn't expect it to be like the old Radio Peking days where propaganda programming was shrill, strident and uncompromising. But it is clear that the new order to form a massive media organisation under one roof is designed to control and direct the Communist Party's (and Xi's) message to the world.

It is doubtful that this will make for riveting listening to radio audiences in the rest of the world!! It will be interesting to observe if and how programs change on CRI over the next 12 months.

73 and have a great weekend everyone!

Rob Wagner
VK3BVW

REFERENCES:
Beijing has a new propaganda weapon: Voice of China
Xi Jinping: What the west doesn’t grasp about China