ICC Note: State controlled media outlets in China predominately focused on President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States with little reporting on the Pope’s visit during the same time period. While western media sources heavily reported on the Catholic leaders first ever visit to the United States, Chinese media blacked out news reports of the Pope. The move by the Communist nation is nothing new as the Chinese government continues to restrict religious media deemed a risk to the state.
09/28/2015 China (UCA News) – Competing with Pope Francis was never going to be easy. So China’s state media gave their leader a helping hand over the past week, all but ignoring the pope as President Xi Jinping made his own tour of the United States.
By the time the pontiff flew out of Philadelphia on the evening of Sept. 27, China’s national broadcaster CCTV had made no mention of his landmark six-day trip.
“My impression is that coverage of the pope’s visit to the U.S. was minimal in mainland China, if at all,” said Yuen-ying Chan, a director of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong, which monitors media coverage in China.
