People Daily

The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, the ''People's Daily'' is published in multiple languages.

History

The paper was established on 15 June 1948 and was published in Pingshan, Hebei, until its offices were moved to Beijing in March 1949. Ever since its founding, the ''People's Daily'' has been under direct control of the CCP's top leadership. Deng Tuo and Wu Lengxi served as editor-in-chief from 1948 to 1958 and 1958–1966, respectively, but the paper was in fact controlled by Mao Zedong's personal secretary Hu Qiaomu.

During the Cultural Revolution, the ''People's Daily'' was one of the few sources of information from which either foreigners or Chinese could figure out what the Chinese government was doing or planning to do. During this period, an editorial in the ''People's Daily'' would be considered an authoritative statement of government policy, was studied and reproduced nationwide, and analyzed globally for insight into the Party's plans. The most important editorials were jointly published by ''People's Daily'', ''People's Liberation Army Daily'' and '' Red Flag'', from 1967 to 1978, so called "Two newspapers and one journal" (), directly representing the highest voice of CCP.

Newspaper articles in the ''People's Daily'' are often not read for content so much as placement. A large number of articles devoted to a political figure, idea, or geographic focus is often taken as a sign that the mentioned official or subject is rising.

Editorials in the ''People's Daily'' are regarded both by foreign observers and Chinese readers as authoritative statements of official government policy. Distinction is made between editorials, commentaries, and opinions. Although all must be government approved, they differ sharply on the amount of official authoritativeness they contain by design – from the top. For example, although an opinion piece is unlikely to contain views opposed to those of the government, it may express a viewpoint, or it may contain a debate that is under consideration and reflect only the opinions of the writer: an editorial trial balloon to assess internal public opinion. By contrast, an official editorial, which is rather infrequent, means that the government has reached a final decision on an issue.

During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the ''People's Daily'' editorial of 26 April, which condemned "unlawful parades and demonstrations," marked a significant moment in the newspaper's history. The editorial increased tension between the government and protesters, and top CCP leaders argued about whether to revise it. An article that compiles the most important editorials was released by the ''People's Daily'' during the student movement.

Since the mid-1990s, the ''People's Daily'' has faced a decline of governmental subsidies combined with increasing competition from international news sources and Chinese tabloids. As part of its effort to modernize, it began an online edition in 1997, and the web bulletin forums, such as the Strengthening Nation Forum in the Chinese edition.

An analysis of the wording of all the issues of the ''People's Daily'' from 1995 to 2000 was used in the writing of ''The First Series of Standardized Forms of Words with Non-standardized Variant Forms''.

The ''People's Daily'' is also responsible for the publication of the nationalistic tabloid ''Global Times.''

In 2020, the United States Department of State designated the ''People's Daily'' a foreign mission, thereby requiring it to disclose more information about its operations in the U.S.

Overseas editions

The ''People's Daily'' also maintains a multilingual internet presence; and established the ''People's Daily Online'' (人民网) in 1997. The website of ''People's Daily'' includes content in Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and English. In comparison to the original Chinese version, the foreign-language version offers less in-depth discussion of domestic policies and affairs and more editorials about China's foreign policies and motives.

The ''People's Daily'' in recent years has been expanding on overseas social media platforms. It has millions of followers on its Facebook page and its accounts on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. However, an unusually high proportion of its followers are virtually inactive and are likely to be fake users, according to a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists. According to a 2021 report by ''The Washington Post'', the ''People's Daily Online'' provides overseas public opinion monitoring outside of the Great Firewall for various police, judicial, and CCP organizations.

Writing practices

The ''People's Daily'' employs "writing task groups" ( zh, s=写作小组, p=xiězuò xiǎozǔ) of various staff to compose editorial pieces to signal the significance of certain pieces or their relationship to the official views of the CCP. These groups are published under "signatures" (i.e., pen names: 署名 ''shǔmíng'') that may correspond with the topic and weight of a piece, and what specific government or CCP body is backing it, often with homophonous references to their purpose.

List of presidents

* Zhang Panshi ()
* Hu Qiaomu ()
* Fan Changjiang ()
* Deng Tuo ()
* Wu Lengxi ()
* Chen Boda ()
* Hu Jiwei ()
* Qin Chuan ()
* Qian Liren ()
* Gao Di ()
* Shao Huaze ()
* Bai Keming ()
* Xu Zhongtian ()
* Wang Chen ()
* Zhang Yannong ()
* Yang Zhengwu ()
* Li Baoshan ()
* Tuo Zhen ()

Reactions

During the AIDS epidemic, the ''People's Daily'' downplayed the epidemic domestically while "presenting AIDS as a relatively innocuous social problem for the country."

A 2013 study of the ''People's Daily'' coverage of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak reported that it "regurgitated triumph and optimism" and framed the outbreak as an "opportunity to showcase China's scientific achievements, and the strength of national spirits, as well as the wise leadership of the party and effective measures to protect the lives of ordinary citizens."

In February 2020, the ''People's Daily'' published an article stating that the novel coronavirus "did not necessarily originate in China." In March 2020, the online insert of the ''People's Daily'', distributed by ''The Daily Telegraph'', published an article stating that Traditional Chinese medicine "helps fight coronavirus." In May 2020, the ''People's Daily'' stated that the novel coronavirus had "multiple origins." In November 2020, the ''People's Daily'' published a claim that COVID-19 was "imported" into China. In January 2021, the ''People's Daily'' inaccurately attributed deaths in Norway to the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

In 2021, ProPublica and ''The New York Times'' reported that the ''People's Daily'' was part of a coordinated state propaganda campaign to deny human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

''The Onion'' parody

In November 2012, American satire news site ''The Onion'' published an article where it declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the 'Sexiest Man Alive for 2012'. In response, ''People's Daily'' republished the article with 55-page photo spread of Kim and tongue-in-cheek quotes from ''The Onion''. They later took down the article from its site after realizing that it was a parody. ''The Onion'' later updated their article about Kim stating; "For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc."

See also

* Xinhua News Agency and China News Service
* Xinwen Lianbo, the news program of China Central Television
* ''Global Times''
* Media of the People's Republic of China
* ''People's Daily'' during the 1989 Student Movement
* ''Qiushi''
* '' Reference News''
* ''Rodong Sinmun'', North Korean counterpart
* Strengthening Nation Forum
* Yang Gang, deputy chief editor who committed suicide during the Anti-Rightist Movement

References

Further reading

* Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 264–72
* Wu Guoguang. "Command Communication: The Politics of Editorial Formulation in the People's Daily". ''China Quarterly'' 137:194–211.
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External links

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{{Authority control

Chinese-language newspapers (Simplified Chinese)
Communism in China
Chinese Communist Party newspapers
Multilingual news services
Newspapers published in Beijing
Publications established in 1948
1948 establishments in China
Daily newspapers published in China
Chinese propaganda organisations
Disinformation operations