{"id":193482,"date":"2016-04-27T17:12:55","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T00:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=193482"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:35:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:35:55","slug":"media-startups-fight-censorship-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/04\/media-startups-fight-censorship-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

China’s media industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth, with investors pouring billions of dollars into digital media deals ranging from online news and videos to movies\u00a0and television programs. An example of this is Alibaba’s $266 million purchase of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and its associated media assets<\/a>,\u00a0including SCMP Group’s mobile apps and other digital media\u00a0platforms. In a video interview, Bloomberg’s Shai Oster explains that the surge in internet media investment is fueled by growing demand from China’s middle class\u00a0and the proliferation of mobile technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paradoxically, this boom is being accompanied by an ongoing crackdown on the media. Under President Xi Jinping,\u00a0the Chinese government has\u00a0intensified\u00a0measures to control both new and traditional media<\/a>\u00a0in mainland China as well as Hong Kong.\u00a0This includes\u00a0calls for state media organizations to bear the “Party surname,”<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0firing of prominent Ming Pao editors<\/a>, and the rebuking of domestic media outlets for allegedly falsifying reports<\/a>. In addition, authorities have implemented new rules to regulate China’s television industry<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0online streaming services<\/a>. In a separate article, Bloomberg’s Oster looks at how Hong Kong-based media\u00a0startup Initium, recently blocked in mainland China, is navigating its business<\/a><\/strong> and growing a solid readership in the face of tightening censorship:<\/p>\n

Zhang and Cai never heard directly from Chinese officials, but they’re convinced the country’s increasingly strict censors cut off mainland readers. Since then, the Hong Kong company has\u00a0had to shift its business model and editorial approach. It is focusing on Chinese-speaking readers outside the mainland and has pulled its reporters out of the country, using freelancers to cover less sensitive culture stories.<\/p>\n

[…]\u00a0The block means additional challenges for Cai in building a profitable business. Initium is now focused on Chinese readers outside the mainland with plans to expand within the country in the future. The company aims to generate money from advertising and revenue sharing with e-commerce partners.\u00a0 In a sense, getting shut out reinforced Cai’s\u00a0plans. “Blocking our website just confirmed our understanding of the overall regulatory environment,” he said.<\/p>\n

Cai said the website has about 2 million unique visitors a month and 110,000 downloads of its app. The vast majority of readers are from Taiwan and Hong Kong, given the limitations inside China, with the rest coming from the U.S., Japan and elsewhere. Cai is hoping to break even next\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

[…] Cai is trying to take a long-term view. He sees the opportunities for new media companies in China not just in news but also in online video and movies. “The Chinese are getting richer and richer, but look at the content,” Cai said. “There has to be a good media group.” [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China’s media industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth, with investors pouring billions of dollars into digital media deals ranging from online news and videos to movies\u00a0and television programs. An example of this is Alibaba’s $266 million purchase of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and its associated media assets,\u00a0including SCMP Group’s mobile apps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":193500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,7,14744,14745,14746,100],"tags":[53,6436,330,3750,15879,587,6242],"class_list":["post-193482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-information-revolution","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","tag-censorship","tag-hong-kong-media","tag-media-censorship","tag-media-control","tag-media-freedom","tag-media-investment","tag-mobile-technology","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nChina's Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/04\/media-startups-fight-censorship-crackdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China's Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"China’s media industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth, with investors pouring billions of dollars into digital media deals ranging from online news and videos to movies\u00a0and television programs. 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