The 2nd China Global Television Network (CGTN) Global Media Summit and the 8th Global Video Media Forum opened in southwest China's Chongqing on Tuesday.

At the opening ceremony, Jiang Heping, the Controller of CGTN delivered a speech in which he expressed the hope of joining efforts with the global media and creating an environment of media convergence.

Jiang shared his thoughts and experience on CGTN, which was launched December 31, 2016, and has remained a diligent explorer of media convergence since then.

Echoing the summit's theme, “Opening and Connecting the World,” Jiang emphasized that media convergence and upgrading are the common concerns of the global media. He adopted the idea from Daoism, a traditional Chinese philosophy, and called on others to respect of the rules, while pushing forward the work.

Jiang elaborated his understanding of communication through five Chinese characters: 木 (mu) for tree, 本(ben) for root, 果 (guo) for fruit, 林 (lin) for woods, and 森 (sen) for forest.

The 'forest' of international communication

“CGTN builds its capabilities in international communication the same way a gardener nurtures trees. Just like the lush branches and foliage extending from a mighty oak, our English-language communication has its diverse components integrated with the central trunk of policy, strategy, mechanism, technology and practices,” Jiang said, adding that CGTN's News Center, launched in October 2017, is the trunk of the oak, while the television, Internet, mobile apps and other news channels are the leaves.

CGTN now has three divisions aside from its headquarters in Beijing, including CGTN America located in Washington DC, CGTN Africa in Nairobi and CGTN Europe in London, which is still in construction. 

Jiang said that all the divisions are the “roots” of CGTN, and they are crucial to the elevation of the network's reporting capabilities. He compared the products to fruit yielded by the “tree,” such as the television channels, video agency, websites, mobile applications and the social media accounts owned by CGTN.

“Right now, we're concentrating on building CGTN Mobile News, our own platform straddling conventional Internet and its wireless version,” Jiang said. He said that the developing strategy of the network is putting emphasis in both the traditional television channels and the new media products, but the new takes precedence over the traditional.

CGTN has four other foreign language channels besides English. Jiang said the Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic channels would all present their own characteristics in international communication.

Meanwhile, CGTN is now part of the China Media Group (CMG), which officially launched earlier this year, combining the original China Central Television, China National Radio and China Radio International.

With around 50 television channels, radio output on 130 frequencies, four major news websites and 40 newspapers and magazines, CMG broadcasts news in 55 foreign languages.

Jiang said that the China Media Group is the “forest,” in which all the trees are able to grow exuberantly and healthily.

'Specialization' in broadcast to achieve added value

While talking about the specific approaches in CGTN's broadcasting strategy, Jiang said that all measures must be specialized – targeting  the audience in different regions, using different languages, with different platforms.

Factors such as local politics, economic situations and culture must be taken into account.

“In operating our different platforms, we are tailoring the format of our content to each medium's unique features. Rather than indiscriminate distribution, we've been experimenting with different running times and sometimes varied program structures for TV broadcasting and mobile Internet,” he said. 

“To stay on focus means to respect and appreciate specialization,” Jiang said, adding that CGTN has built an environment where professionals can focus on their specialty.

He also highlighted the commercial approach in international broadcasting operations, in which targeting customers is as important as channels for distribution. He said that products could be created for different customer groups, such as high-end users, the general public and specific demographics.

“We offer tailor-made services to high-end customers as well as products easily available to the general public, with different categories targeted at each segment of our audience,” said Jiang.