ts out that China is the most dynamic market in the Asia-Pacific region. [6] Mr. Wang, Lijun from Shanghai TV’s financial channel, one of the leading figures of this cooperative project, holds that through its strategic partnership with comBC Asia Pacific, “SMG has acquired a platform for broadcasting news on a mainstream international TV network” to reach the audience in the Asia Pacific region.[7] Through this strategic partnership, SMG and comBC Asia Pacific are also cooperatively producing a program for airing on Shanghai TV’s financial channel. Discussion From the sketch of Shanghai’s media landscape offered in the previous part of this paper, it can be seen that as a metropolis and the largest city in China, Shanghai has developed a diversified media network with print, broadcasting and online channels. And it holds the regional offices/branches of many world-renowned foreign media organizations. The city has shown an open-minded attitude in media development. This open-minded attitude is reflected in several aspects: (1) Providing English-language newspapers with online versions and English-language broadcasting media services (which are also brought online) for foreign audiences; (2) conducting international cooperation projects with Shanghai’s media institutions joining hands with foreign media organizations; (3) serving as the seat of many foreign media organizations’ regional offices/branches; and (4) regularly offering in Shanghai’s media information on foreign countries and their cultures. All these certainly contribute to Shanghai’s efforts in improving mutual understanding between China (Shanghai in particular) and the rest of the world. However, problems still exist in international communication by Shanghai’s media. For example, while foreign audiences are accustomed to the international journalism practice of emphasizing a diversity of sources in news and feature stories, it is not rare that stories in Shanghai’s English-language newspapers have limited sources. For another example, our media enjoy using governmental information sources as they are regarded as authoritative, yet a lot of foreigners, especially Westerners, tend to be skeptical towards governmental sources when they receive media messages. This discrepancy affects international communication. For still another example, Shanghai’s English-language media and English-language media services are clearly for communicating to foreign audiences unable to read Chinese, but the case in reality may be different from this expectation. A readers survey by Shanghai Daily in Sept. 2001 may serve to illustrate the point. The survey shows that the composition of the readership of this local English-language newspaper is as follows: [8] Readership Profile 中国读者 Chinese readers 52%外籍读者 Foreign readers 48% 发行数量 Circulation 50,000 copies(数据来源:2001年9月《上海日报》读者抽样调查)(Source: Shanghai Daily Readers Survey, September 2001) As globalization is featured by, among other things, fierce competition for international market shares, Shanghai’s media face an arduous task in studying the real international effects of their international communication. It appears that they need to ask, for example, such questions as: How large are sizes of the foreign audiences of Shanghai’s English-language newspapers and Shanghai media’s English-language broadcasting and online services? How well is the content provided by such newspapers and media services received among foreigners? How much do foreign audiences trust these information sources? Do Shanghai’s English-language media and media services compete successfully in the international mass communication markets with influential international media corporations with regard to China-related content?… The results of Shanghai Daily Readers Survey in September 2001 show that asking such questions is by no means an unnecessary move. The survey demonstrates that as of 2001, more than half of the readers of this English-language newspaper are Chinese; foreign readers take up 48%. This does not appear to be satisfactory, as the fundamental reason for Shanghai to publish English-language newspapers, after all, is to enable foreigners who cannot read Chinese to learn news about China and about Shanghai in particular. So this represents one problem with Shanghai media’s foreign-oriented communication, i.e., communication activities meant for foreigners as the target audience. The survey results serve as a telling example to illustrate that Shanghai needs to study how to increase the proportion of foreign audience in the total audience of its English-language newspapers and broadcasting & online services. And it also needs to explore how to enlarge the audience size of such newspapers and broadcasting & online services so that they will really serve as influential news sources for worldwide audiences interested in China and the Chinese culture but unable to read Chinese. To reach this goal, Shanghai’s English-language media and media with English-language services should make constant efforts in studying the international audiences, and the popular content and representation patterns of the most influential international media corporations. Foreign audiences, with their cultural backgrounds, values and accustomed patterns of media content and media representation patterns different from that of the domestic audience, may expect from Shanghai’s English-language media and media with English-language services patterns of information and information representation patterns that have not been thought of by these media and media services or that do not appear significant or that even appear bizarre to these media and media services. Therefore, only by carrying out constant studies of the foreign audiences will Shanghai be able to attract, with its English-language media and media with English-language services, more “eyeballs” in the international information mar 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 下一页
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