Following the unprecedented growth of the economy, increased per capita income and literacy levels; the mass among the Chinese and other communities in the world was spurred. Most importantly, opposition nationalists who pushed for democracy as well as growth of urbanization and urban life played a critical role in the development of mass media (Blumler & Nossiter 1991; Kaufman 1966).
Furthermore, liberalization of civil society which arose in 1977 sensitized media monopoly so as to calm down the situation or rather to strengthen national identity. The politics of the chief economic powers was the key center of competition that restructured the telecommunication sector (Blumler & Nossiter 1991).
Exchange of knowledge, information and communication were essential in the balance of power as well as economic activity in the world (Li & Lee 2000).
The scope of international communication has been greatly improved by the advances in communication and information technologies in the late 20th century. The communication has advanced beyond business to business, government-to -government and people-to-people interactions across the world; which occurs at an unparalleled speed for a long time (Chan 2000).
The international communication particularly continued expanding during the 20th century with the help of broadcasting technology and wireless communication. Most notable was the invention of communication satellites and the optic cables, which were successfully improved into global networks (Gregory & Stuart 1999).
These networks were foreseen by organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union and Intelsat Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press (Huang 1994).
The phenomenon of the global information flow has been dealt with by Wei (2000) in his book “information and world communication”. The book deals with information flow in the contexts such as cultural, technological, legal, economic and political aspects.
He shows how varied communication systems and strategies led to the formation of strong interests and how it has impacted on the global arena. Key developments in the telecommunication industry have most importantly been as a result of inter-jurisdictional competition (Blumler & Nossiter 1991).
As the world entered a new millennium, Chinese television industry took a new shape and structure. In a bid to make television the mover of the economy, the Chinese government redirected the perception and control modalities of media industry (Weber 2002).
The consequence of these adjustments have had unparalleled impact on the manner in which television industry in run across the world. The Chinese television system which grew from a dictatorial rule has been redesigned after former Soviet Union into a market economy (Wei 2000).
The shift from a planned economy to a market based economy has considerably revolutionized the television industry in china and other parts of the world.
The Chinese television industry, having experienced many challenges as a result of market pressures and failure to keep pace with technological changes, was later redesigned to specifically revitalize the dying domestic television industry so that it can have more efficient and effective impact on the economic reforms (Weber 2000).
Littlejohn (1996) evaluation of the world as a process is a perfect model that can be used to describe the manner in which Chinese China Television system has evolved, as it is characterized by tensions of the opposite.
The opposition of the two sides results into a common position, a process that can be described by a dynamic process dialect (Kaufman 1966). The dialect relates to the process of Chinese television struggling to accommodate the market structure (Miller 2003; Atkinson1995).
China, through its efforts to negotiate its history and cultural identity, and through its efforts to continue connecting with the information markets redesigned the accent of its TV. It was focused the information programmers on trade and economic issues.
In its own interpretation, China referred to this as market socialism, with China China Television (CCTV) taking a China stage in promoting consumerism through programs such as the retailing. As a result, in 1998, CCTC2 launched a direct retail TV program.
By 1999, the TV stations in China had substantially increased, with more than 320 million television sets having been owned by the households. By then, CCTV was already making handsome profits from advertisement revenue. CCTV was however faced with a strong competition from the regional broadcasters, though they were restricted to their home provinces (Wei 2000; Xiao 2000; Xu 2000)
China China Television (CCTV) in 1999 invested US$6million for the production of several TV movies to promote its film channel-CCTV6 which is one of the most popular national broadcasters (Xu 2000). CCTV-9 which was officially launched on September 25, 2000 is CCTV’S English language channel and specializes in broadcasting of international news and information to audience from across the globe.
This television broadcaster boasts of a team of committed and competent journalists. Its contribution in regard to diversity and global perspective information flow is remarkable (Xu 2000). In regard to business relation with Taiwan, one commentator provided that, “it is helpful to the economy and feeling of communication between people across the straits, and it will promote mutual understanding” (Zhao 2000, p. 12).
References
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Gregory, P R and Stuart, R G 1999, Comparative economic systems (6edn). Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.
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