tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/australia-network-2012/articlesAustralia Network – The Conversation2019-02-20T18:46:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1118412019-02-20T18:46:19Z2019-02-20T18:46:19ZAs Australia’s soft power in the Pacific fades, China’s voice gets louder<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259892/original/file-20190220-148513-oqqk9j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">China is broadcasting to more than 1 billion people in several different languages, while Australia sits on its soft power reviews.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twB_6GV5AM8">Screenshot/YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, Department of Communications and Arts secretary Mike Mrdak told a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-19/married-at-first-sight-pacific-strategy/10824566">Senate hearing</a> our Pacific neighbours will soon experience “the full suite of programs available on Australian networks”. This means the region will see some of our most highly rated reality shows such as Married at First Sight and The Bachelor.</p>
<p>This is all part of the government’s Pacific pivot and the A$17 million package to broadcast commercial television throughout the region announced by the prime minister last year. It’s also part of Australia’s “soft power” strategy, a branding that enables it to influence other countries and have its voice heard.</p>
<p>Australia’s soft power attraction in the Asia Pacific has been in free fall for the past few years. The government is sitting on two major reviews. First is the <a href="https://dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/soft-power-review/Pages/soft-power-review.aspx">Soft Power Review</a> – a strong recommendation of the 2017 <a href="https://www.fpwhitepaper.gov.au">Foreign Policy White Paper</a> – for which the consultation period ended in October 2018. Second is the <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/review-australian-broadcasting-services-asia-pacific">Review of Australian Broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific</a>, the consultation period for which ended in August 2018. </p>
<p>The second review was established in 2017. This was the first time the government addressed the issue of soft power in the Pacific since axing the ABC’s Australia Network in 2014. The Australia Network broadcast to the region with redistribution partnerships to 30 countries.</p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00079">ABC charter</a> states it has responsibility “to transmit to countries outside Australia broadcasting programs of news, current affairs, entertainment and cultural enrichment” that will “encourage awareness of Australia and an international understanding of Australian attitudes on world affairs”. </p>
<p>In other words, the ABC is already enabled as Australia’s soft power tool. Despite this, the government is giving money to commercial televisions to do the work. At the Senate hearing this week, Mrdak denied this was in breach of the ABC charter because it did not involve broadcasting but purchasing content made by Australia’s commercial broadcasters for distribution to regional broadcasters. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lost-in-transmission-the-australia-network-soft-power-and-diplomacy-22580">Lost in transmission: the Australia Network, soft power and diplomacy</a>
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<p>The government must move quickly with its reviews and their recommendations, and articulate its policy responses before the next election, if Australia’s standing in the region is to be restored. Because other powers, especially China, are fast filling the gap we’re leaving behind.</p>
<h2>The importance of soft power</h2>
<p>Soft power is a term coined by <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2004-05-01/soft-power-means-success-world-politics">Harvard Professor Joseph S. Nye</a> in the late 1980s. He referred to soft power as the ability of a country to gain influence and power through attraction and without coercion. Soft power leads to nation branding or the reputation a nation enjoys in the world. </p>
<p>This is what business academic <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/336086.pdf">Yin Fang defines</a> as:</p>
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<p>… the total sum of all perceptions of a nation in the minds of international stakeholders, which may contain some of the following elements: people, place, culture/language, history, food, fashion, famous faces (celebrities), global brands and so on.</p>
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<p>The 2018 <a href="https://softpower30.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/The-Soft-Power-30-Report-2018.pdf">Soft Power 30 Report</a> showed Australia had fallen four places in four years. The report is a measure of the influence of international nations. We are 10th in the overall soft power index but are marked as moving downward: 7th in culture, 6th in education, 9th in government and completely absent from the top ten in the areas of digital, enterprise and engagement.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/soft-power-and-the-institutionalisation-of-influence-65208">Soft power and the institutionalisation of influence</a>
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<p>In the alternative, and hipper, <a href="https://monocle.com/film/affairs/soft-power-survey-2018-19/">Monocle Soft Power Index</a>, Australia sits at number 8. But the report also warns it “… is in need of a shakeup if it is to remain an attractive proposition”. </p>
<p>It praises the country for committing to an official review of its soft power but adds “it’s unclear if that will now be a priority”.</p>
<p>In addressing a seminar on the future of Australia’s broadcasting and soft power in the region, veteran broadcaster and former head of the Australia Network Bruce Dover said:</p>
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<p>Where once Australia was a brand in Asia, people knew what the Australia Network was, they knew what Radio Australia was, it’s lost - it’s gone…</p>
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<p>He then added that the axing of the Australia Network by the Coalition government “… was for more political reasons about whacking the ABC than a considered view on the worth of soft diplomacy or having a voice in the region”.</p>
<p>The ABC isn’t entirely free from blame. It abandoned the most needy of its audience in Asia and the Pacific by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-22/china-takes-over-radio-australias-old-shortwave-frequencies/9898754">switching off its shortwave radio</a> service in 2017. Citing outdated technology, the ABC was trying to make the most of its severe funding cutbacks by prioritising digital services. And that’s when China moved in and took over the shortwave frequencies.</p>
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<h2>So, what’s China doing?</h2>
<p>The government’s Pacific pivot is about waking up and finding China has expanded into the region, and not just in infrastructure projects but in broadcasting. A recent ABC <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-08/chinas-foreign-media-push-a-major-threat-to-democracies/10733068">investigation reported</a> China’s Central Global Television Network (CGTN) is broadcasting to 1.2 billion people in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic and is expanding to create 200 international bureaus by 2020. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/soft-power-goes-hard-chinas-economic-interest-in-the-pacific-comes-with-strings-attached-103765">Soft power goes hard: China's economic interest in the Pacific comes with strings attached</a>
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<p>This may be, as the ABC suggests, “informational warfare”, where the soldiers may actually be Westerners working for the other side. This year alone, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/2019-media-layoffs-job-cuts-at-buzzfeed-huffpost-vice-details-2019-2?r=US&IR=T">more than 2,200 people</a> lost their jobs in the Australian media. </p>
<p>Edwin Maher was one of the first Australians to work for CCTV, as CGTN was then called. He was a weatherman when I worked in the ABC’s Melbourne newsroom in the late ’80s, but for over a decade he has been a presenter on China’s television. There will be more like him in future. </p>
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<p>China is actively <a href="http://english.cctv.com/special/jobs/index.shtml">recruiting Westerners</a> to front its programs. Australian faces will likely present news on on CGTN, while Australian voices broadcast in English to Pacific Islanders on shortwave. </p>
<p>In the competitive world of nation-branding and soft power, who will know the difference? The new Edwin Mahers will be telling the same stories as Australia, but with a China focus. In 2016 President Xi Jinping <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/world/asia/china-media-policy-xi-jinping.html">announced</a> that the media must serve the party and directed them to tell China’s stories that reflect well on the ruling party and its policies. </p>
<p>This is the reality of informational warfare. The Morrison government must release its two crucial soft power reports and announce a policy framework that will determine our standing, influence and power in the region.</p>
<p>Vanuatu’s <a href="http://dailypost.vu/news/media-blong-yumi/article_d87b0243-71a8-5932-913d-8a238a279ed4.html?fbclid=IwAR1xBDJ2PZNaB1vW2eJw7IlS_u1UG9CBTZuVRXknHunKZUgYWnknwxnqTR0">Daily Post</a> has welcomed the news Australia will provide entertaining programs to the Pacific. But the opinion piece also says:</p>
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<p>Pacific islanders aren’t likely to be very fussy about how that comes about. But if the goal is helping Pacific islanders know more about Australia — and helping Australians know more about the Pacific – then a different approach is needed.</p>
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<p>Australia’s soft power is too important to be determined by vengeful payback to the ABC, or by currying favour with commercial television barons. It is about statecraft.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Vatsikopoulos is affiliated with ABC Alumni and worked for the Australia Network between 2001-2008. </span></em></p>Soft power is a country’s ability to gain influence through attraction. Australia’s soft power in the Pacific began waning when it axed the Australia Network in 2014. And China is filling the gap.Helen Vatsikopoulos, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/266872014-05-15T20:09:38Z2014-05-15T20:09:38ZScrapping the Australia Network affects more than the ABC<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48574/original/xdgyhc8q-1400128572.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Loss of the service will impact Australia’s international image, media diversity in the region and coverage of news from the Pacific.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">dithern</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2014-arts-and-culture-experts-react-26638">termination</a> in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/federal-budget-2014">the 2014 budget</a> of the ABC’s international television broadcasting contract to run the federal government’s <a href="http://australianetwork.com/">Australia Network</a> service, barely a year into its ten-year term, was hardly a surprise. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-more-soft-power-than-ever-but-can-we-keep-it-20698">Soft power</a>” or “soft diplomacy” initiatives such as the Australia Network and international aid schemes have <a href="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/asia-pacific/australia-slashes-international-aid-spending/1310982">been hit especially hard</a> in this budget. </p>
<p>If, as Treasurer Hockey has repeatedly claimed, this was a budget for the nation, then what do these decisions say about the value this government places on Australia’s international cultural image and internationalism more generally?</p>
<p>Cutting the Australia Network will save the government A$196.8 million over the next nine years. But the real cost of the decision will be far higher. </p>
<p>The network – Australia’s international television service – is <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ABC-Annual-Report-2013-lo-res.pdf">currently available</a> to more than 130 million people through 679 rebroadcast partners in 46 countries across Asia, the Pacific and the Indian sub-continent. Available on free-to-air television in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, its termination will inevitably diminish media diversity in these nations. </p>
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<p>The ABC will obviously be hit hardest, with its capacity to meet its <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2013C00136/Html/Text#_Toc353360751">Charter responsibility for international broadcasting</a> now greatly reduced. But the termination will also impact Australia’s international image, media diversity in the region and the ABC’s Australian coverage of news from the Pacific, in particular.</p>
<p>Prior to the budget, there were <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-13/an-bishop-on-australia-network/5317500">suggestions</a> from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and former Australia Network head <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/broadcast/abcs-asian-network-a-relic-says-former-head-bruce-dover/story-fna045gd-1226820087091#">Bruce Dover</a> among others that the costly television service could be replaced by a pared-back online offering. </p>
<p><a href="http://budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/bp2/html/bp2_expense-13.htm">The budget papers</a>, however, give no indication that the service will be replaced by Sky News (the unsuccessful tenderer in 2005 and 2011) or any other media outlet, noting simply that:</p>
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<p>The savings from [terminating the ABC’s contract] will be redirected by the Government to repair the Budget and fund policy priorities.</p>
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<p>The Australia Network has been the subject of concerted and repeated attacks from the Coalition side of politics ever since the highly irregular tender process in 2011. Most recently, the Prime Minister <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-03/tony-abbott-continues-criticisms-of-abc-over-editorial-judgement/5235806">made his displeasure clear</a> over the ABC’s coverage of the “turn back” asylum seeker policy, and the Edward Snowden-Wikileaks affair. </p>
<h2>Impact on the ABC</h2>
<p>The decision to axe the Australia Network contract will remove an important source of ABC funding. Finalised in August 2012, the contract was worth A$223 million over ten years. While the ABC will receive A$10.6 million in compensation (roughly the budget for the service for six months), this is of course offset by other, deeper cuts to the organisation’s funding in the budget.</p>
<p>After the most recent contract was signed, the ABC restructured its International Division and instituted a multi-platform, audience-focused strategy for its regional offerings. The ABC does not conceive of the Australia Network in isolation; rather it is an integral part of the organisation’s international media program, which also includes <a href="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/">Radio Australia</a> and a variety of online, mobile and social media services. </p>
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<p>The termination of the Australia Network, coupled with the massive cut to international aid programs, will dramatically weaken the important work of <a href="http://www.abcinternationaldevelopment.net.au">ABC International Development</a>, which operates in Cambodia, PNG, Burma, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to support media training and communications for development. </p>
<p>The decision is also a major personal blow to Mark Scott and his ambitions for the organisation. In a public lecture in November 2009, <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/speeches/bruce-allen-memorial-lecture-2009/">Scott suggested</a> the Australia Network could be the vehicle for the ABC to become “the dominant regional provider of news, information and English language learning material”. </p>
<p>Just last month, Scott signed <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-17/an-abc27s-australia-network-signs-china-content-deal/5396664">a deal with the Shanghai Media Group</a> to provide an online portal in China for ABC and other media services. The Australia Network was at the centre of this arrangement, and it remains to be seen whether this deal will survive.</p>
<h2>Impact on Asia Pacific region</h2>
<p>The loss of the Australia Network will diminish news coverage of the Pacific both in the region and in Australia, as Ashlee Betteridge of the Development Policy Centre at the ANU, <a href="http://devpolicy.org/in-brief/australia-network-axing-what-will-happen-to-coverage-of-the-region-20140509/">argued this week</a>.</p>
<p>A drop in coverage of the Pacific may mean that we are unlikely to see stories about the regional impacts of the reduction in international aid by A$7.5 billion in coming years. </p>
<p>With the broadcast of several Australian Rules football matches each weekend to overseas audiences, although the audience for these matches is <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-05-14/budget-cuts-hit-fans">principally Australian expats and tourists</a>, the loss of the service will put a dent in the AFL’s strategy to popularise the sport overseas.</p>
<p>The closure of the Australia Network will also impact on the ABC’s role in English teaching. The CEO of ABC International, Lynley Marshall, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/broadcast/abcs-asian-network-a-relic-says-former-head-bruce-dover/story-fna045gd-1226820087091#">wrote in The Australian</a> in February this year that:</p>
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<p>[the ABC’s] Learn English community … now includes almost 900,000 followers. The BBC’s comparable English learning community is 498,000 and Voice of America is at 662,000.</p>
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<h2>What about international engagement?</h2>
<p>While programming on the service has been criticised from <a href="http://devpolicy.org/soap-operas-and-sesame-street-examples-for-the-australia-network-20140121/">various quarters</a>, ultimately the decision to shutter the service is not entirely about its content. </p>
<p>It is partly about some senior Coalition MPs’ ideological opposition to funding public broadcasting. And it is partly about the long tradition of Liberal antipathy for the ABC and for the role of the Corporation in the political life of this country. </p>
<p>But the decision will not only affect the ABC. The decision to terminate the service, with no replacement in sight, will raise questions in Australia and around the region about this government’s commitment to international engagement. </p>
<p>Announcing the most recent tender for the service in November 2010, then Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd <a href="http://foreignminister.gov.au/releases/Pages/2010/kr_mr_101123.aspx?ministerid=2">said</a> that the Network presents:</p>
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<p>a reliable and independent voice in the Asia-Pacific region … presenting, through its programs, an Australian perspective on the world. </p>
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<p>Clearly, these things are not valued by this deeply inward-looking Government. We are all the poorer for this.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Goldsmith is currently working on an Australian Research Council Linkage grant (Australian Screen Content in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education: Uses and Potential) in which the ABC is an industry partner. He does not work for the ABC.</span></em></p>The termination in the 2014 budget of the ABC’s international television broadcasting contract to run the federal government’s Australia Network service, barely a year into its ten-year term, was hardly…Ben Goldsmith, Senior Research Fellow , Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/257372014-04-22T04:30:12Z2014-04-22T04:30:12ZLooking behind the screens of the ABC’s China deal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46769/original/cq2nfjjb-1398132974.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Chinese TV market is hard to crack.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-17/an-abc27s-australia-network-signs-china-content-deal/5396664">“landmark” deal</a> to provide ABC content in China. </p>
<p>The deal, which will see the establishment of an online portal, also seems to make it harder for the government to justify scrapping the Australia Network, funded by DFAT and functioning as an official instrument of Australia’s public diplomacy initiatives.</p>
<p>The benefit of exposing potentially 1.3 billion people to Australian media content is obvious: Australia is competing with many other countries to attract business, resources investment, education and tourism from China; and perceptions matter. </p>
<p>Some may think that doing business with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), the second-biggest media conglomerate after CCTV (Chinese Central Television), may have the added benefit of teaching the Chinese media a thing or two about what media in a liberal democracy look like. But it’s not that simple.</p>
<h2>Going out and coming in</h2>
<p>From the Australian point of view, it seems that the ABC has managed to penetrate the Chinese market. In reality, it’s a matter of China wanting to set up myriad reciprocal relationships so that it can maximise its own exposure to the world. From the point of view of the Shanghai Media Group, allowing the ABC to have an online portal in China is part and parcel of the Chinese government’s recent “going out and coming in” strategy aimed at increasing China’s soft power.</p>
<p>China has been seeking new ways of pushing its media content globally. It still doesn’t have landing rights in many countries, especially the much-coveted Western countries. As a result, Chinese state media have experimented with diverse, highly pragmatic ways of making inroads into foreign mainstream media institutions. </p>
<p>The ABC deal is part of this approach. The deal will allow China to sell its own media content to the ABC and other media groups.</p>
<p>A few years ago, ABC and SMG signed a deal to broadcast an hour of each other’s content for a week. For the third year, ABC had a week on Shanghai TV this March during Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s visit, featuring mainly culture, travel and documentary programs.</p>
<p>SMG will have its turn in Australia in September. China sees this as a good vehicle to carry its media content to various parts of the world.</p>
<h2>Not exclusive</h2>
<p>But Australia is not the only country SMG has invited to come in. A month ago, the Shanghai Media Group signed a multi-year agreement with Walt Disney to co-develop Disney-branded movies with Chinese elements. </p>
<p>Sharing budget and resource strictly 50/50, the partnership is described in the Chinese media as an equitable “marriage” between SMG and Walt Disney Studios. If this is the case, Australia is but one of the partners in SMG’s polygamous operation.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46766/original/cbwqzbdt-1398130977.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The state-owned CCTV is positioning itself for soft diplomacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JWalsh/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor should the deal be read as a triumph of democracy over communism, or as a sign that Chinese media are becoming more liberal. There is no indication that China will let its partners dictate the terms and conditions of collaboration, what type of content local broadcasters will use and on what platforms the content will be made available.</p>
<p>To be sure, more than CCTV, SMG is positioning itself as a more effective instrument of China’s soft power diplomacy, and is encouraged by the government to be at the forefront of the “going out and coming in” initiative. At the same time, SMG has affirmed its commitment to reduce “frivolous” entertainment programs and boost politically sound and serious news content. Given this internal political climate, it remains to be seen to what extent Australia’s media content will be taken up by Chinese outlets, or indeed if and how Australian news, especially news that seems critical of China, will be made accessible to the Chinese-speaking public.</p>
<h2>Who really wins?</h2>
<p>Despite the fact that partnerships such as this are considered to be win-win arrangements, China can be expected to do its own cost-benefit analysis. And there is little evidence to suggest deals such as this will lead to a more open and free news media environment. </p>
<p>In more than one way, it was a coup for a news and current affairs program such as Q&A to broadcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3962636.htm">live from Shanghai</a>. That said, China seems to have gained much more. </p>
<p>First, it was able to show the world and its own people that, contrary to the popular belief about China’s lack of press freedom, China is open, cosmopolitan and willing to engage with global media. This is China’s most important impression-management objective. </p>
<p>Second, there was little risk of the Chinese audience seeing the Chinese government placed in a bad light. While broadcast live to the Australian audience, the show was not live to the Chinese audience except those in the studio. And it was scheduled to be on the English-language channel of Shanghai TV, a channel mostly watched by English-speaking expatriates and Chinese social elites in Shanghai. To these people, little that was said on the Q&A program was new.</p>
<p>Soft power diplomacy is a funny game. Win-win outcomes are always preferable, but who wins more is a matter of perspective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wanning Sun does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>ABC International has reasons to be proud of its recent “landmark” deal to provide ABC content in China. The deal, which will see the establishment of an online portal, also seems to make it harder for…Wanning Sun, Professor of Chinese Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225802014-02-02T19:35:29Z2014-02-02T19:35:29ZLost in transmission: the Australia Network, soft power and diplomacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40270/original/wr7v2cvx-1391138178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C196%2C4096%2C2753&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rather than axing the Australia Network, the government should rethink our soft diplomacy strategy in spreading Australia's message to countries such as Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Adi Weda</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/abcs-asia-tv-network-faces-axe/story-e6frg996-1226813457204#">reports</a>, the Abbott government is considering scrapping the ABC’s Australia Network in the May budget to save money, ending its role in “soft diplomacy” efforts in the Asia-Pacific region. </p>
<p>The network’s future is being considered in the context of national debate over the ABC’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-22/australian-navy-accused-of-beating-burning-asylum-seekers/5211996">reportage</a> of claims the Australian Navy abused asylum seekers and whether – as prime minister Tony Abbott has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/29/tony-abbott-attacks-abc-for-taking-everyones-side-but-australias">put it</a> – the ABC was lacking “basic affection for our home team”. </p>
<p>What’s more, the 2011 tender process for the Australia Network was <a href="http://www.anao.gov.au/%7E/media/Uploads/Audit%20Reports/2011%2012/25790284693869861286302175032753286172387651497395473208567902387.pdf">controversial</a>. The ABC was awarded the contract despite the recommendations of two independent panels and then-foreign minister Kevin Rudd that it should have gone to Sky News, partly owned by News Corp.</p>
<p>Questions about the role and future of the Australia Network are not new. Julie Bishop mentioned it in an 2012 <a href="https://crawford.anu.edu.au/events/content/video/?year=2012&id=2221">ANU lecture</a> when shadow foreign minister, and has brought up the issue on repeated occasions since. Her main concerns, expressed as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/julie-bishop/5229624">recently as Friday</a>, are about quality of content, value for money and the promotion of Australia’s diplomatic interests in the region. </p>
<p>Bishop implicitly acknowledges that the debate should be about reviewing the quality and nature of the content shown on the Australia Network, not its existence. The ANU’s Ashlee Betteridge has <a href="http://devpolicy.org/soap-operas-and-sesame-street-examples-for-the-australia-network-20140121/">argued</a> cogently that an overhaul of content is necessary to promote Australia’s development priorities in a more strategic manner.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the underlying focus on the ABC’s editorial independence is an irritant that skews attention from the health of Australia’s public diplomacy, and the role of international broadcasting within that. </p>
<p>When you think of the United Kingdom in Africa and most other places in the world, you think of the BBC. The BBC is why the United Kingdom ranks highly on the <a href="http://monocle.com/film/affairs/soft-power-survey-2013/">Global Soft Power Index</a>. Similarly, when you think of the United States in eastern Europe, you think of the <a href="http://www.voanews.com/">Voice of America</a>. </p>
<p>More recently, al-Jazeera has become synonymous with Middle Eastern perspectives, especially those of its host country Qatar. These broadcasters are effective in a public diplomacy sense because they are independent while simultaneously giving people a window into the national identity and diplomatic “brand” of that nation. </p>
<p>What is the story we want to tell our region? As American political scientist <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHM9dyJAezw">Joseph Nye</a>, who coined the term “soft power”, has said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Narratives become the currency of soft power. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a question that Australia has neglected for some years, and we have not yet got our story right. As The Australian’s Paul Kelly opined a decade ago:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia’s singular recent failure lies in its inability to conceptualise its soft power as a national strategic asset. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Lowy Institute, an Australian foreign policy thinktank, has paid considerable attention to one aspect of this failure in its series on the <a href="http://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/australias-diplomatic-deficit">Diplomatic Deficit</a> in relation to diplomatic staff and embassies. But there are multiple challenges around Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-soft-power-is-so-hard-the-impact-of-aid-cuts-on-regional-security-14482">narrative</a> as to our place in the Asia-Pacific region, our values and sense of identity. </p>
<p>For example, by spruiking our <a href="https://theconversation.com/davos-diplomacy-abbott-sells-g20-summit-to-world-leaders-22188">G20 presidency in Davos</a> with a <a href="http://www.australia.com/">tourism promotion</a> featuring ubiquitous images of snorkelling, the Sydney Opera House and sunbathing, Australia missed a trick. </p>
<p>Abbott <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/tony-abbott-warns-g20-will-be-about-actions-not-words/story-fn59niix-1226807314379">said</a> he wanted the G20 to be “more than a talkfest”, and that “trade comes first”, so our narrative and visuals should have reinforced that message. Instead, we distracted world leaders with beautiful bronzed bathers - a promotion which we have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1576853.htm">tried</a> before.</p>
<p>What, then, should be the role of the Australia Network? Should it exist at all? Just how important is it? Is it the right way for us to spread our message? And could the funds be spent better?</p>
<p>If we are asking the question as to whether a national broadcaster is pivotal to a public diplomacy strategy, then evidence would suggest yes. According to the <a href="http://www.lowyinstitute.com/publications/international-broadcasting-and-its-contribution-public-diplomacy">Lowy Institute</a>, nations that take public diplomacy seriously are increasing their investment in their international broadcasting capacity.</p>
<p>It should be noted that the Lowy Institute report was commissioned by the ABC, but the findings are broadly supported by <a href="http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/research/IB_Publications/">wider research</a>. The Lowy Institute found that there are two key requirements for successful public diplomacy in the broadcasting space. One is credibility and editorial independence, which Bishop has already identified. The second is long-term stable funding, and a strategic vision set by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). </p>
<p>The real question, then, is not <em>if</em> the Australia Network and Radio Australia should exist, but the <em>form</em> in which they should exist, and what part of the region they should focus on. Australian broadcasting in the Pacific perhaps is more crucial than in some parts of Asia.</p>
<p>The absence of a robust and strategic vision for Australia’s soft power projection, one that adequately incorporates e-diplomacy and international representation, is the root problem. The fact that these irritants regularly distract us suggests that our strategy is inadequate. </p>
<p>Decisions about the proper level of investment should fall out of that strategy. Most other nations, such as the UK, Germany, Korea and China, do find international broadcasting cost-effective when combined with social media strategies (although Canada is the exception), whilst acknowledging public diplomacy strategies are hard to evaluate.</p>
<p>DFAT’s current (somewhat meagre) <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/public-diplomacy/">public diplomacy strategy</a> says that Australia’s public diplomacy mission is to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…inform, engage and influence audiences overseas and in Australia, advocating and messaging to broaden their understanding and bring about attitudes that align with Australia’s international policy priorities. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We may need a strategic rethink of the Australia Network content, but rather than turning the pictures off, we should think about this bigger picture.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>According to reports, the Abbott government is considering scrapping the ABC’s Australia Network in the May budget to save money, ending its role in “soft diplomacy” efforts in the Asia-Pacific region…Susan Harris Rimmer, Director of Studies, Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National UniversityBenjamin Day, PhD Candidate, School of International, Political & Strategic Studies, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/46602011-12-09T03:05:50Z2011-12-09T03:05:50ZIs the Federal Government legally liable for treating Sky News unfairly?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6279/original/dvf4zqwv-1323395640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C24%2C950%2C629&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The way the Federal Government has handled the Australia Network tender could see it forced to pay compensation to Sky News.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Government’s handling of just who should run the <a href="http://australianetwork.com/">Australia Network</a> is manifestly controversial. And it may have put itself in the position of having to pay out compensation to the passed-over Sky News.</p>
<p>Just what is the Government’s contractual liability to Sky News, the tenderer apparently preferred by reviews undertaken within the tender process? </p>
<p>Firstly, this is what we know about events surrounding the failed tender process:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In February a request for tender was published under the carriage of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT); the two tenderers were the ABC and Sky News </p></li>
<li><p>In or around April a public service review panel unanimously recommended the Sky News proposal – a matter leaked to the media some time after the recommendation was made </p></li>
<li><p>In June the Government amended the request for tender (inter alia to require fresh proposals by the tenderers to take account of the so-called “Arab Spring”) and moved carriage of the tender process from DFAT to the Communications Department (whose minister, Stephen Conroy, also has responsibility for the ABC) with a final decision to be made by Cabinet</p></li>
<li><p>In July, Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, complained that the ABC Managing Director Mark Scott, had sought to interfere with the tender process by lobbying him to determine the award on “political considerations” </p></li>
<li><p>In October it was reported – and again based on a leak – that another public service review panel unanimously recommended the revised Sky News proposal </p></li>
<li><p>In November the Government terminated the entire tender process on the basis of the October reporting – reporting that the Government claimed was based on an unlawful disclosure </p></li>
<li><p>In December the Government determined that the ABC should run the Australia Network as a “permanent feature” of the ABC’s services</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If a court found that a contractual obligation was owed by the Government to deal with Sky News fairly in the tender process, much of the above suggests that the Government may have hurdles to overcome in defending itself against a claim that it breached that obligation.</p>
<p>A strikingly similar setting arose 20 years ago when the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) conducted a tender process to determine who should establish a nation-wide air traffic control system. Then the CAA appointed Thomson Radar Australia to establish the system, notwithstanding the tender process featured an expert panel’s repeated preference for a competing proposal made by Hughes Aircraft Systems. </p>
<p>The Federal Court found that the CAA was liable to Hughes for breach of a “pre-award” contract which governed the CAA’s conduct of the competitive tender process. The court reasoned that it was necessarily implicit in all competitive tender processes involving the allocation of public funds that the public authority which requested tenders owed a fundamental obligation to “deal fairly with the tenderers”. This obligation had not been met by the CAA in its treatment of Hughes.</p>
<p>When it comes to the Australia Network, no doubt the realpolitik – which features prominently in both internal Government tensions and the relationship the Government has with the News Corporation media conglomerate, of which Sky News is a part – might explain much of what has transpired. </p>
<p>But that realpolitik is unlikely to supply the Government with an excuse for contractual breach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Brennan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian Government’s handling of just who should run the Australia Network is manifestly controversial. And it may have put itself in the position of having to pay out compensation to the passed-over…David Brennan, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.