Exporting China's Development to the World, a weblog with a mouthful of a title run by a group of anthropologists from Macquarie University (Sydney) and Free University (Amsterdam), tells us of how China is expanding its efforts in controlling influencing Chinese-language media outside of China. more ›

One day after the catastrophic high-speed railway collision, party propaganda papers like the Renmin Daily, Economic Daily and Guangming Daily appeared almost oblivious to the incident, as evident by their almost identical front page covers trumpeting the recent promotion ceremony conducted by the Central Military Commission and other exploits of the CCP. Most other city dailies, however, featured the incident as their front page cover story. See image after jump... more ›

Naughty sub-editors at Global Times whip up the headline of the day for their paper on February 16: "Sperm bank faces stiff inspection" more ›

Even today, local news coverage on the fire is few and far between. Only a handful of newspapers are reporting it on their front pages leading outraged Shanghai residents to suspect a partial media blackout and some to call it a "massive media fail." Meanwhile, the Propaganda Department is said to have issued an order for publications to stop putting up the fire as a headline story, to delete all anti-government comments and to use only Xinhua reports. more ›

This week, China Daily got the biggest makeover in its 29-year history. Among the variety of "stunning" changes are a brand new masthead, an incorporation of visual elements using "state-of-the-art" design elements" and a "fine-tuned reporting mix." Not gone: China Daily's hilariously awesome headlines. more ›

• Magazine's business chiefs resign [SCMP] "Top business executives at Caijing magazine, the mainland's most influential business publication, have resigned en masse, heightening speculation its ownership may change hands soon or that its managing editor and founder, Hu Shuli, may leave and start her own publication... Caijing general manager Daphne Wu Chuanhui and eight of her nine business directors have resigned, according to reporters briefed about the resignations."
• Can the Future of Western Newspapers be Saved by China? [Sino Tech Blog] "When looking at the Western and Chinese online newspaper landscape, many obvious differences are evident. There has been much written recently about the demise of the newspapers in the West as their circulation plummets and their online revenue models struggle to counter these losses in revenues. But what about the situation in China? Is the outlook as bleak? Is their similar trends and examples as there are in the US?… This is what I wanted to explore and understand more."
• Upgrade rather than cancellation for CCTV's concert series [Danwei] "The cancellation of CCTV's popular touring concert series, The Same Song (同一首歌), reported by the mainland media late last week and covered in this post, now seems to be little more than a rumor. The Beijing Times spoke to CCTV management and published a brief article on Saturday: 'Rumors have been flying saying that CCTV's flagship program The Same Song would be canceled after the National Day holiday. Yesterday, CCTV arts and entertainment center director Zhang Xiaohai said in an interview that no such cancellation would occur.'"

Sometimes we wonder if China Daily isn't trying to take the piss out of us with these kind of stories. more ›

And we thought we had trouble determining the hard hitting news of the hour. (Thanks Brad!) more ›

U.K. newspaper The Guardian has got China fever! Not only are they doing a week-long portrait of China series (the first of which looks at migrant workers returning to village life), but it's also actually offering Chinese translations of some of their articles now. more ›

• China database to track children [BBC] "China is setting up a DNA database to help trace missing children, as the authorities struggle to tackle people trafficking. By the end of the month, a network of more than 200 DNA centres is due to be set up. Thousands of children in China are stolen or sold each year."
• More on Beijing doping: cyclist, runner, walker join list [LA Times] "Five down, one to go." On the list of athletes at the Beijing Olympics who doped: German cycler Stefan Schumacher, Croation 800-meter runner Vanja Persic and Greek race walker Athania Tsoumeleka.
• China announces regulations for financial information in settlement with US, Europe [AP] "Beijing announced rules that ease controls on foreign financial information providers Thursday under an agreement with the U.S., Europe and Canada, but said those already operating in China must apply for permission to continue. The rules eliminate a requirement that foreign providers must work through a Chinese agent and reduce the amount of information they must disclose about their operations."

Remember the government's proposed 45 billion yuan effort to ensure that the rest of the world sees a media more aligned with what the central politico wants it to see? It's started! more ›

An interesting inside look at how China's state-run spin machine operates from the Sydney Morning Herald. Wonder how they got their hands on this. more ›