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Denouncing Western Capitalist Propaganda

After seeing folks from our Chinese factory huddle around the stock chart terminals at the bank after work, I was surprised that there isn't more big-time financial coverage in the news. Well, it looks like 芮成钢 is the man for the job, anchoring the main business program for CCTV.

There's something to be said for having a calming, self-assured voice delivering the news in the midst of the current financial maelstrom. On the other hand, does anyone take Chinese Central Television seriously as a >journalistic organization? At least Mr. Rui is not totally blind to the controlled nature of Chinese party-line news.

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 hate the word propaganda,” he says.

It's fascinating how one may interpret those statements from an American point of view. Some may be dismayed that a Communist Party organ is compared to the hard-hitting truth-telling of the Fox News Channel. Others may find it ironic how a propaganda-hating reporter might point out Fox News coverage of Republican presidents as an admirable example. But both groups could point out that at least a Republican administration is subject to Change, and Fox News has competitors both in the Mainstream Media and on the Internet. But regardless of his views, so long as he does his government appointed jobs of calming the proletariats stuck with downward-sliding stocks he'll be useful to investors around the world, since a crashing Chinese economy would really make this a global catastrophe.