China media to overtake Japan

Many media industry web sites have picked up on some aspect of PWC's annual 'state-of-the-industry' review of the media. We were interested to see that, in its most recent e-newsletter, the international magazine publishers' association, FIPP, decided to pick out the prediction that China's media will overtake Japan's by 2008.

I'll be heading off to Tokyo in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how today's news that Prime Minister Koizumi has been defeated in his efforts to privatise the Post Office will play out. He has promised an election and that is likely to derail any reform efforts currently on the agenda. Is the upturn we've been seeing this year yet another false dawn for Asia's largest economy?