News packed with ideology, not the market

HAN WOO-DUK
The author is a senior reporter of the China Lab.

There are about 3,000 TV channels in China. Among them, more than 1,000 have their own production facilities at provincial and municipal levels. Many of these channels broadcast the same program simultaneously at 7 p.m. local time — Xinwen Lianbo, produced by state-run China Central Television (CCTV). Naturally, it has the highest news rating.

The news always begins with “Xi Jinping.” The top stories are about where Xi visited, whom he met and what he said. When once-in-a-century rain hit the southern region, Xinwen Lianbo reported the publication of Xi’s human resource development plan as the top news. The rain damage was covered in the latter half of the broadcast.

As CCTV is a state media, it covers the whereabouts of high-level officials in the party and the government. But such news was not as dominant during the Hu Jintao government. While Hu’s schedule was covered as important news, it was not the top story every day. His stories were not included often.

Xinwen Lianbo shows that Xi’s authority is overwhelming in all issues. It reminds me of how Korean news always started with President Chun Doo Hwan during the Fifth Republic.

It is also related to the economy. China’s economic growth was possible when authoritarianism softened. Deng Xiaoping loosened the party authority as he pursued opening and reform. This led to an expanded private sector, and the term “56789 economy” was created. The private companies make up 50 percent of the total tax revenue, 60 percent of the GDP, 70 percent of technological innovations, 80 percent of employment and more than 90 percent of the number of companies. This is certainly an “achievement” attained by the Communist Party not getting involved.

This went backwards during Xi Jinping’s presidency. The party began to tighten its grip on the power it loosened. The passion of “it is okay to be rich first” was replaced by the ideology of common prosperity, or “we need to get rich together.” National wealth became more emphasized than the private sector, policy coordination more than market autonomy. Money was concentrated on focused industries designated by the government, and only those industries got to grow. This is how electric vehicles, second batteries and solar power became big. As products were still pouring in when the domestic market shrank, companies pushed out products overseas. This is why China is criticized for “exporting deflation.”

Experts say that China’s many economic problems, including the real estate market downturn and youth unemployment, stemmed from hardening authoritarianism. In other words, policies emphasizing ideology overwhelmed market autonomy. The Xinwen Lianbo program that starts its news with Xi symbolizes this.