All-media communication should be enhanced

Efforts must be intensified to bolster the all-media communication system, further uniting consensus and mainstream values, thereby gathering momentum for national strength and rejuvenation, said publicity officials and media representatives on Friday.

They made the remarks at the Sub-Forum on Enhancing the All-Media Communication System, one of eight sub-forums of the Forum on Building up China's Cultural Strength 2024, held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Mo Gaoyi, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the State Council Information Office, said that from national powerhouses to local outlets, media across all levels are embracing reform and innovation, actively advancing multimedia reporting and enhancing their reach and influence.

Echoing the dynamic transformation at the central level, local media have established 35 provincial-level key platforms, 178 city-level integrated media centers and 2,591 county-level integrated media centers.

Mo said amid the drive for the Chinese path to modernization, evolving media landscapes and technological advancements, as well as changing ways people access information, the all-media communication system must be further enhanced.

"The construction of the all-media communication system is currently at a critical juncture, where progress must be made to overcome challenges or risk falling behind," he said.

Fu Lei, deputy head of the publicity department of the CPC Inner Mongolia autonomous regional committee, said that people in the region used to have limited access to information about the rest of the country and lacked a genuine understanding of it.

Starting in the first half of 2021, they accelerated the development of an all-media communication system across the region, promoting integrated media growth in frontier ethnic areas.

According to Fu, over the past three years, Inner Mongolia Daily's Grassland app has seen its downloads quintuple to 13.6 million. The revenue of some municipal media has also more than tripled compared to three years ago.

"Enhanced positive media influence in the autonomous region has created a favorable public opinion climate, fostering integrated development in border and ethnic areas," Fu said.

Ding Ruxing, head of the publicity department of Shaoxing municipal Party committee in Zhejiang province, said the city pioneered the integration reform of city-level media in the province by fully merging its newspaper and broadcast media to establish an integrated media center in 2019.

Wang Rui, Party secretary of Guanghan, a county-level city in Sichuan province, said that in the integration practices of county-level media, the focus has shifted from broadly covering many areas to spotlighting unique local resources.

Guanghan, home to the 3,000-year-old Sanxingdui site, has seen its integrated media center involved since the new round of archaeological excavations began in 2020. Wang said the center has coordinated with 227 news outlets across 31 countries and regions to report on the new discoveries at Sanxingdui, which to date has amassed over 50 billion online reads.

"Media integration has polished the 'super brand' of Sanxingdui, enhancing its massive global reach and promoting Chinese culture more effectively worldwide," he said.