Media industry puckers up to defy downturn

The Chinese media industry dolled itself up and kissed off the global economic downturn by enticing double-digit growth this year.

Getting a boost from what experts call the "lipstick effect" - women turning from expensive purchases like jewelry to smaller feel-good items during a recession - the output of the industry hit 422 billion yuan ($62 billion) last year, an 11.3 percent increase from the previous year.

"People seek cheaper means of entertainment like playing online games or watching movies as their 'lipstick' to release the pressures from economic life," Cui Baoguo, chief of media operation and management studies center under the Tsinghua University, said yesterday at the launch of the 2009 Blue Book on China's Media Industry.