Beyond Propaganda: The Changing Journalistic Practices of China’s Party Press in the Digital Era

Abstract

ABSTRACT To embrace the digital transformation, the Party press in China started to set up official accounts on social media platforms, hoping to strengthen the CCP’s legitimacy while satisfying audiences’ expectations. This study focuses on the case of Xiake_Island, an official WeChat account affiliated with the Party newspaper, People’s Daily, and tries to explore how new media technology redefines its journalistic practices. Through close observations and in-depth interviews, this study found that propaganda still dominates the production process, but the editors have incorporated some elements of commercialism and professionalism into their practices. They pay more attention to the objectivity and attractiveness of the stories in an attempt to weaken their mouthpiece role. To seek the balance between the political mission and audience demand, the editors of Xiake_Island have developed some strategies. Targeting elite audiences, Xiake_Island produces only high-quality, in-depth stories. When covering negative stories, it criticizes policy implementation by the local government while avoids questioning the legitimacy of the Party’s policies. Being firmly subordinate to the CCP, the editors will continue to accomplish their propaganda mission more subtly and softly in cyberspace.