China may be adamantly against a US-led war in Iraq, but the nation's state-owned media companies have cheerfully capitalized on surging advertising revenues as companies race to place ads during television broadcasts from the battlezones.
With more than 400 million Chinese said to be glued to their television sets watching developments unfold in Iraq, state media conglomerates broadcasting unprecedented live daily coverage of the war have been rewarded with soaring advertising revenues.
"Our statistics show that viewer rates at CCTV [China Central Television] jumped 28 times since we began our live broadcasts of the war in Iraq, which of course attracted many firms to put their ads on our channels," said an advertising executive at the flagship channel, who requested anonymity.
In March, income from commercials at CCTV, China's largest nationally owned media group, increased by 100 million yuan (US$12 million), a 30 percent jump over the same period a year ago.
The company forecasts another 100 million-yuan rise in April, which means the network will have achieved 20 percent of last year's 850 million yuan in advertising-derived income in just two months.
Such handsome profits have spurred many of CCTV's network of 12 channels to move to a CNN-style of round-the-clock-coverage, bringing the war vividly into Chinese living rooms nationwide.
Never before has such extensive coverage of a news event been seen in China and is a radical departure from the usual steady digest of carefully nurtured party propaganda meant to legitimise the rule of China's ruling mandarins.
At CCTV International, the network's English-language station, executives were well prepared for the opening salvoes of the Iraq war, embedding Chinese reporters within the coalition military, just like other overseas news groups.
And like its largely western counterparts, within minutes of the first strikes on Iraq by US and British forces, CCTV International was reporting live on the scene and shifting to 24-hour coverage of the conflict.
Other CCTV channels responded in similar fashion.
"Before the war we had about 285 minutes of news per day, but after the war started it reached as much as 13 hours a day of war-related news coverage," said an executive at CCTV-4 in Beijing, who gave his last name as Wang.
China may not be about to establish an independent press, but market forces are in large part responsible for its radical departure in news gathering, said Yu Hai, a sociology professor at Fudan University.
"Chinese media have to be freer, or at least to act in the same way as their foreign counterparts, since commercial needs, amid harsher competition from other TV stations, make it the right way to attract a larger audience. As the number of viewers increase so will their income," Yu said.
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
CELEBRATION: The PRC turned 75 on Oct. 1, but the Republic of China is older. The PRC could never be the homeland of the people of the ROC, Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could not be the “motherland” of the people of the Republic of China (ROC), President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks in a speech at a Double Ten National Day gala in Taipei, which is part of National Day celebrations that are to culminate in a fireworks display in Yunlin County on Thursday night next week. Lai wished the country a happy birthday and called on attendees to enjoy the performances and activities while keeping in mind that the ROC is a sovereign and independent nation. He appealed for everyone to always love their
‘EXTREME PRESSURE’: Beijing’s goal is to ‘force Taiwan to make mistakes,’ Admiral Tang Hua said, adding that mishaps could serve as ‘excuses’ for launching a blockade China’s authoritarian expansionism threatens not only Taiwan, but the rules-based international order, the navy said yesterday, after its top commander said in an interview that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could blockade the nation at will. The object of Beijing’s expansionist activities is not limited to Taiwan and its use of pressure is not confined to specific political groups or people, the navy said in a statement. China utilizes a mixture of cognitive warfare and “gray zone” military activities to pressure Taiwan, the navy said, adding that PLA sea and air forces are compressing the nation’s defensive depth. The navy continues to
RSS