Shift or Stasis| CCTV News and Soft Power
Abstract
This article looks at the soft power strategies of CCTV News, the global English-language television, Internet, and mobile news service run by China’s state broadcaster, China Central Television. The article focuses on the television operation, since that is the core of CCTV News and is the operation from which the other services draw much of their content. The article also addresses the concept of soft power and asks whether it is an adequate framework for understanding the channel’s strategies. It does this by answering two questions: how is CCTV News positioning itself in relation to the soft power policies of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and what soft power challenges does CCTV News face from, and pose to, competitor news channels?