Murdoch: China should follow India's media example

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on October 9, 2009 at 3:24 PM

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch today told the Chinese government it should follow India's example and open its media market up to outside competition, The Times of India reported.

Murdoch told the first World Media Summit in Beijing that India's opening up its market to foreign competitors served as a creative and financial catalyst, and China should learn from this example.

"The digital renaissance offers China an opportunity to exercise leadership," Murdoch said, according to the Wall Street Journal. Saying the government could open the country's "digital door," Murdoch alluded to China's "open door" policy in the 1970s, which led to economic reforms, the WSJ reported.

President Hu Jintao, meanwhile, told the world's media executives they should promote "true, correct, comprehensive and objective" news, according to The Age.

Some observers said the event "more closely resembles tribute rituals of the Chinese imperial court, as well as the modern-day functions and structures of the Communist Party," The Age reported.