people from the surrounding structures injured. a fire had been hampering rescue workers in their search for victims. you re watching bbc news. now it s time for the media show. china and the information war. hello, welcome to this latest edition of the media show, and we will spend the programme talking about china s media strategy. i m sure you have seen tiktok has been in the news. its ceo was in front of us lawmakers taking lots of questions about whether tiktok, which is owned by a chinese company, potentially poses a security threat to the us. now, tiktok absolutely denies that. chinese state spokespeople have been saying they deny that as well. but it has raised broader questions about what china hopes to achieve with its media strategy around the world. how is it trying to create narratives that suit its goals? how is it, on occasions, trying to put disinformation into the information ecosystem? let s start by understanding these broad ambitions of president xijinping
wordsmiths but many of us shy away from the art and the best harness the power of words, poetry. but not my guest today. john cooper clarke once called the punk poet, all his life is used words, rhythm and rhyme to bind human and truth in the chaos of everyday life. thanks to the internet one of his crimes has become a worldwide viral sensation. where does his word magic come from. poems. john cooper clarke, welcome to hardtalk. great to have you here. ijust read your memoir in one of the first sentences as this one, all my life all i ever wanted to be was a professional poet. i ve heard of kids who wanted to be train drivers, professional footballers but redefine a kid who always knew he wanted to be a poet. how come? a poet. how come? when i say alwa s, a poet. how come? when i say always. i a poet. how come? when i say always. i guess a poet. how come? when i say always, i guess from a poet. how come? when i say always, i guess from the - a poet. how come? when i
been saying they deny that as well. but it has raised broader questions about what china hopes to achieve with its media strategy around the world. how is it trying to create narratives that suit its goals? how is it, on occasions, trying to put disinformation into the information ecosystem? let s start by understanding these broad ambitions of president xijinping and everyone else within the chinese state. i am joined by howard zhang, editor of bbc news chinese. but first, yuan yang, how would you outline china s media strategy and its ambitions? yes, thanks for having me on. there has been a really big push, particularly after the us china trade war in 2018, for chinese state media employees not only to speak to a chinese audience using the controlled media environment within china, but increasingly to reach out to an english speaking audience and to a foreign audience more widely, including on foreign social media platforms like twitter that are in fact censored or banned