Considering the gloomy state of the world media, the April launch of Global Times was an ironic affair. At a lavish banquet in a Beijing hotel, “glasses clinked under crystal chandeliers,” The Guardian reported, as hundreds of diplomats, journalists, and other dignitaries welcomed in style the English-language addition of the foreign affairs newspaper, published by the state-owned People’s Daily.

At the ceremony, Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin said the aim of the newspaper, which in its Chinese-language form is often described as “nationalistic,” was to “speak directly to foreign readers,” while Jan Canrong, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University said the paper will help the world to better know and understand China. “Chinese media should help world audiences to see China’s advancement, problems and challenges, but also make the world accept a country with a vast population that is experiencing unprecedented growth,” he said.

In other words, the Global Times will be a propaganda tool-promoting China to the world. China already has an English-language national newspaper, whose mission is remarkably similar to Global Times‘. That’s China Daily, where I worked for a year when I first came to China. China Daily is no New York Times, but it does serve a purpose: It offers insight into the mindset of the Chinese government to an English-speaking audience.

Since I heard about Global Times a few months ago I’ve wondered why China needs two English newspapers, both state-owned, both serving basically the same purpose. Was it some sort of vanity project between competing factions of the party? A makework project for kids of government officials? Maybe we were in for a good ol’ fashion newspaper war, a la Globe and Mail vs. National Post, circa 1999.

In fact, Global Times‘ launch coincides with a concerted public relations push on the part of the Chinese government. In an age when the death knell is being sounded for traditional media, the Chinese media is busy expanding coverage beyond its borders in an attempt to reach a global audience. It’s not entirely unrealistic to imagine a day when beside a box of Globe and Mails on a snowy Toronto street corner is a stack of Global Times, with a front page story calling for stronger Chinese naval presence (the original front page story).

The campaign is broad and expensive. Global Times will publish 100,000 copies from Monday to Friday and is expected to lose RMB 20 million in its first year. Meanwhile the government has reportedly earmarked RMB 50 billion for the international expansion of state broadcasting. CCTV and Xinhua news agency will is produce content in different languages for both Western and Asian audiences, and a new English channel modeled on Al Jazeera will soon begin broadcasting news and features from China. CCTV, Xinhua, and People’s Daily will each reportedly receive about RMB 15 billion for expansion. CCTV has already opened French and Spanish channels and will soon begin broadcasting in Russian and Arabic. Xinhua is to launch a 24-hour news station akin to CNN and BBC. China Daily recently opened a Washington bureau and launched a U.S. edition which is also available in Canada. (For a thorough breakdown of the global media expansion check out Willy Lam’s article courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation).

As someone who spent a year in the state media I can say with confidence that the Chinese are no good at P.R., as James Fallows astutely pointed out in the Atlantic in November. Stereotypes about China are reinforced by the sheer fact that they are glossed over. In the state media sensitive issues such as the Three Ts-Tibet, Tienanmen, and Taiwan-are told from only one point of view. (For an insider’s view of how China Daily tackled the Tibet crisis last year, check out my article in the Globe and Mail from March 2008). Among expatriates in China the state media is the butt of many a joke.

State official have made clear the campaign is designed to change the global opinion of the world’s most populous country, one whose influence seems to grow by the day. In January, one CCP Politburo Standing Committee member speaking at a conference on propaganda and ideology said officials “must sing the praises of the achievements of the CCP, socialism, the reform policy, and [the glories of] the great motherland.” Wang Chen, the head of the party’s overseas propaganda division, said media and cultural units should boost “capacity to broadcast, to positively influence international public opinion and to establish a good image for our nation.”

Those words don’t bode well for fairness and accuracy in reporting, despite what editors and observers might say. Commenting on Global Times‘ launch, Professor Qiao Mu, director of international communications studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Guardian, “If it becomes too nationalistic, it won’t get many readers,” and said censorship on international news would be kept to a minimum. To be believed once seen.