Choose Your Words Carefully

Catching up on my New York Times reading, I spotted a profile of CCTV anchor Rui Chenggang. CCTV is the state-run television network and Rui is its rising star. "At just 31 years old, Rui Chenggang has emerged as the media face of Chinese capitalism: young, smart and, to the dismay of some, deeply nationalistic."

Although I rarely watched Brian Willams or Katie Couric deliver the nightly news in New York, I have watched a few CCTV news broadcasts here. CCTV is hard to avoid as their channels are the only ones my television can receive.

Rui points out the obvious, "China has a really bad image problem," (Remember last spring's news about China hiring a global pr agency to assist in pre-Olympic damage control?). Fear not, he has a plan to fix that! First, he has to tackle that pesky credibility problem that his network has with viewers outside China.

Because his positions often parrot Beijing’s critiques of foreign journalists, Mr. Rui is asked whether he engages in propaganda handed down by the government. He compares it with Fox News coverage of the White House during a Republican administration.

I don't think that comparing his employer to a certain American news network helps his cause.