‘Open your digital doors’ - Murdoch to China

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Rupert Murdoch was in China on Friday, praising the Chinese for their increased importance around the globe, but also making – another – impassioned plea to open up their airwaves.

“The digital renaissance offers China an opportunity to exercise leadership, especially as it continues to transform one of the world’s oldest cultures into a dynamic and competitive economy,” said Murdoch, speaking at the World Media Summit in Beijing. “But, as I said earlier, the digital platform is a mere mechanism, a canvas for the talents and aspirations and potential of a person and a place. The world wants China to succeed. We understand that none of the big global challenges we face – climate change, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, humiliating poverty – can be solved without the active engagement of a prosperous and successful China. And the embrace of the digital is as vital to China today as its decision thirty years ago to take its place in the global economy.”

Murdoch continued: ”The policy then was called ‘the open door’ – China now has a chance to open its digital door. Chinese media and entertainment companies have a remarkable opportunity to expand their international influence and revenues. That possibility was recognized in recent days by the Chinese Government, which envisions the development of media champions able to compete on the world stage. I genuinely look forward to that competition, but I fear the ability of creative companies to prosper globally could be undermined by a lack of intellectual property protection domestically.

”There is no doubt that the Chinese Government recognizes this problem but has difficulty ensuring that regulations are observed across the nation. I recall that when Deng Xiaoping was encouraging a pragmatic economic policy he noted that it does not matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice!

”There are impressive media companies emerging in China, but piracy will make it difficult for them to generate the profits at home that would fuel growth abroad. China will ultimately decide its own fate, but unless the digital door is opened, opportunities will be lost and potential will not be realized.

”There is real reason for confidence in the ability of Chinese companies to compete if that door is opened. My industry depends on that creativity to thrive. And this new generation of highly educated and talented Chinese will change the media market in two ways: as demanding consumers, and as talented producers, both of which will blossom, given the chance and given choice. I have noticed a positive change in attitudes in India, which had previously placed significant obstacles in the path of trade negotiations. Wouldn’t it be an auspicious sign of our times if the contemporary catalysts for freer trade, traditional and digital, were China and India? It would show definitively that the world was no longer run by a rich man’s club.”

Read the complete Murdoch speech at:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,26190576-7582,00.html


Source:RapidTVNews