Expanding media reach will make globalization more equitable

In many parts of the world today, it is no longer unusual to find news broadcasts, documentaries or talk shows produced by Chinese media organizations appearing on local screens in multiple languages. This growing presence reflects a desire of China to participate in shaping a more balanced global narrative, one rooted in mutual respect and cross-cultural understanding.

This shift has assumed added significance in 2025 as in March the US government ordered the dismantling of news outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe. The decision followed years of mounting criticism, even within the United States, that such outlets had become expensive, outdated and ideologically driven.

For much of the postwar period, US-sponsored international media functioned as instruments of ideological competition, projecting Washington's narrative abroad. But today, audiences, especially in the Global South, no longer want to be passive recipients of such messaging. They are looking for more voices, not fewer; for authentic storytelling, not filtered ideology.