Sputnik Moves to Establish Ties in Chinese Regions

Sputnik News Agency and Radio has signed an agreement with the leading media group in the Hubei province, Hubei Radio and Television Broadcasting Company (HMG), to promote a regional network partnership in China.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The agreement was signed at Sputnik’s headquarters as part of the Week of Mass Media, Journalism, Publications, Radio and TV of Hubei Province in Russia.

The signing ceremony involved Sputnik's Head of International Projects, Vasily Pushkov, and Head of the HMG Editorial Staff, Shen Tao. Under the agreement, the parties plan to develop bilateral cooperation aimed at increasing the information presence in Russia and China, including the promotion of a full-fledged audio and video exchange, the production of analytical programs, and the implementation of joint media projects in economics, science, and culture.

For the Chinese audience, Sputnik is developing its information web portal, Sputnik China, and will produce Sputnik radio programs. About nine million users follow Sputnik’s account on Chinese social media network Weibo. The agreement with HMG became the tenth in Sputnik’s Chinese portfolio and the second one aimed at developing regional information ties. Previously, Sputnik concluded an agreement with the Dongbei Wang internet portal, a leading media outlet in the Heilongjiang province.

Sputnik's Head of International Projects, Vasily Pushkov, said: “Expanding opportunities for direct information cooperation, not only with central but also with leading regional media, gradually brings our cooperation with China to a fundamentally new level. We can only rejoice at the growing interest in Sputnik’s information products from such a rapidly developing region as Hubei.”

Head of the HMG Editorial Staff, Shen Tao added: “The people of the Hubei Province have special feelings for Russia. The friendship between China and Russia has a long history;  from the Great Tea Road (the Siberian Route) between China and Russia which was built 500 years ago to the construction of the first bridge over the Yangtze River. This strategic cooperation with the Russian news agency will further expand the exchange of news between Hubei and Russia, to promote friendship between people in the two regions, and will increase the competitiveness of Hubei’s television and radio station.”

As part of the opening of the Week of Mass Media, Journalism, Publications, Radio and TV of Hubei Province in Russia, a panel discussion on developing media cooperation and integration was held at Rossiya Segodnya International Multimedia Press Centre. It was attended by Sputnik Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Anton Anisimov, who spoke about the agency’s experience in the Chinese market and presented partnership projects with the Chinese media, including a discussion platform, The Format of Meanings, which develops a professional dialogue between the Russian and Chinese media communities, as well as the Sputnik School of Young Journalists and the Sputnik Workshop for Young Journalists, where young representatives of international media learn about the work of the modern media and new formats and trends from top media experts.

Sputnik is a news agency and radio network with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites in over 30 languages, as well as on analogue and digital radio, mobile apps, and social media. Sputnik newswires, available by subscription, 24/7 in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese.

The Week of Mass Media, Journalism, Publications, Radio and TV of Hubei Province in Russia (May 23–26, 2017) is being held as part of the implementation of the program of the 2016–2017 Year of Chinese Media and the Year of Russian Media. It is attended by representatives of the relevant ministries of the two countries and heads of the leading media in Russia and China. The event is organized by Hubei Daily Media Group, Hubei Radio and Television Broadcasting Company, Changjiang Publishing & Media Company, and others with the support of the government of the province.