China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing’s largest TV network, said it would launch a new global media platform on New Year’s Day to help re-brand China overseas. [...] President Xi Jinping, in a congratulatory letter, urged the new network to “tell China stories well, spread China’s voice well, let the world know a three-dimensional, colorful China, and showcase China’s role as a builder of world peace”.

U.S. President Barack Obama has approved legislation that would consolidate oversight of U.S. nonmilitary broadcasting in the hands of a single chief executive, an overhaul that supporters laud as a much-needed reform but critics warn could endanger journalistic independence. The legislation [...] restructures the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

Last week, an amendment buried deep in the text of the National Defense Authorization Act disbanded the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), putting in its place an executive directly appointed by the president of the United States. The idea of handing control of the agency to Donald Trump has left some in the media reeling: Politico wrote this week, “Trump is finally getting his Trump TV—financed by taxpayers to the tune of $800 million per year.”