State-owned, China Central Television has relaunched and rebranded its stable of foreign-language TV channels. The six are now labeled as China Global Television Network (CGTN) with CGTN English as its flagship channel.
The move underlines the Chinese government’s determination to have have its perspective on the world more widely seen and heard. The relaunch took effect on Jan. 1 after several months of active recruiting of additional editorial and technical staff.
"By launching CGTN, we want to re-brand our product to the world, to cope with the global trend in media convergence…. The strategy, ‘mobile first,’ aims to fulfill the demands of global viewers and users for easier access to content on different platforms,” the company said.
The relaunch also affects its Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic channels as well as its English-language documentary network. In addition to linear channels, CGTN also includes a video content provider, a digital media division, and a redesigned website, CGTN.com.
Its content is also available on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, none of which are permitted in mainland China, as well as on Chinese social media platforms WeChat and Weibo.
The service operates from CCTV’s iconic new headquarters in downtown Beijing with production centers in Nairobi (Kenya) and Washington DC. A new European center is to open in London.
"At CGTN, we cover the whole globe, reporting news from a Chinese perspective. Our mission is to create a better understanding of international events across the world, bridging continents and bringing a more balanced view to global news reporting,” it says in a mission statement on the new website. “Ultimately, we believe facts should speak for themselves and are committed to neutral, objective reporting.”