She insists, “There are a lot of really great things going on in China, and if covered properly and explained fully, the world’s understanding of the country would be different.” But in the aftermath of the launch the executive producer pines for the days when she was on the ground, with a cameraman, a story to chase, and the evening news as a deadline.

Western audiences would simply not take seriously a show made about Tibet

that didn’t acknowledge the situation surrounding the region.

Roseann Lake has much the same thing to say about the openness of China-based TV services to the input of its Western staff. Bon Live is an internet, satellite and cable TV station owned by Blue Ocean Network and carried by Time Warner in New York and Verizon in Los Angeles. They spotted her property column for Beijing Time Out magazine and asked her to appear as a guest on one of their shows discussing real estate in China. The camera loved her, so they told Lake she could try her hand at hosting an hour long episode that would air in two days. They liked it. They hired her. The show was called Easy China and she still does it. Originally designed to help ground expats by covering subjects like how to find an apartment, start a business, or just find out what it’s like designing hats for Hu Jintao’s niece, the show is reflecting her expansiveness now; she has pretty much carte blanche choosing her guests. Her opinion on shows is sought; her ideas get consideration.

Not just another pretty face: Bon Live not censoring their coverage is central to an attitude they feel will improve the image of China-made media in the eyes of Western viewers.

What were the chances she could enter television this way in the mature and saturated US media industry? Infinitesimal, she responds. “The odds are in your favor here,” she admitted, “but I didn’t make the move with that in mind; it just worked out that way.” Roseann Lake didn’t come here in 2008 to be an envelope-pushing journalist; she was a linguist in China to learn Chinese. She had no on air experience before Easy China when Journey to the West signed her up, but was packing an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature from Drew University in New Jersey, a journalism degree from New York University, and the quality of being generally easy on the eyes.

Lake’s new show is of greater significance in the socio-political arena. “Journey to the West is part of the mosaic we’re attempting to create of western China, and I call this show a mosaic, because like a mosaic it is full of color – but also of texture, including a few rough bits.” The travel show isn’t too shy to address controversial subjects, which she knows will put Bon Live’s on air content ahead of the competition.

Not censoring their coverage is central to an attitude they feel will improve the image of China-made media in the eyes of Western viewers. “The Chinese government’s approach to certain things in Tibet is often one of the first examples used by those quick to criticize China, it is especially important that we, as China-minded individuals, allow room for constructive debate and criticism.” Bon Live’s independent editorial control seeks to strike a balance between providing the type of coverage that discerning Western audiences require, while remaining respectful of how politically sensitive Tibet is here in China.

Journey to the West demonstrates to all that Bon Live has the power to make a show on Tibet and other parts of western China, and that homemade coverage can be more balanced than what Westerners see watching the big networks. While the series focuses on travel, the producers know that their Western audiences would simply not take seriously any coverage of Tibet that didn’t acknowledge the situation surrounding the region. “We have no qualms about dropping the D-bomb (code for Dalai Lama) and encourage travelers to liberally voice their impressions of its cuisine, landscape, people and how it all may or may not figure into the rest of China.”

The glamorous host sums up her experience, “Working at Bon Live got me thinking about how change happens in China. You can’t have change and at the same time point fingers and call people out. I’ve become a kind of China advocate.”

You go girls!