Type Daily newspaper | Founded 15 June 1948 | |
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Owner(s) Communist Party of China Publisher Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Political alignment Socialism with Chinese characteristics Language Chinese, Varieties of Chinese | ||
The People's Daily is the biggest newspaper group in China. The paper is an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Tibetan, Kazakh, Uyghur, Zhuang, Mongolian, Korean and other minority languages in China. The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the government.
Contents
History
The paper was established on 15 June 1946 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 Party's top leadership. Deng Tuo and Wu Lengxi served as editor-in-chief from 1948–1958 and 1958–1966, respectively, but the paper was in fact controlled by Mao'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.
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 or idea is often taken as a sign that the mentioned official or subject is rising. Likewise with articles on geographical areas foreign or domestic; recently increased interest in Latin America has been shown.
In China, like in the rest of the world, visibility and prominence in official media communicates power.
Editorials in the People's Daily are regarded both by foreign observers and Chinese readers as authoritative statements of official government policy. Thus studied with care. 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. In other words, 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 Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, 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 CPC leaders argued about whether to revise it. An article that compiles the most important editorials released by the People's Daily during the student movement can be found at the following page, People's Daily during the 1989 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, has been known for their surprisingly candid content.
The People's Daily is also responsible for the publication Global Times, and hosts the Strengthening Nation Forum on its website.
The internet new portal of People's Daily includes pages in Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and English. In comparison to the original Chinese version, the foreign language version offer less in-depth discussion of domestic policies and affairs and more editorial about China's foreign policies and motives, often explaining China's positive intentions. In addition, the portals runs an English page dedicated to Tibet, which can be understood as means to show China's positive attitude towards the province, which has become a major point of controversy worldwide.
The People's Daily also maintains a multilingual internet presence; and established the People's Daily Online (人民网) in 1997.
Overseas media platforms
People's Daily in recent years has been expanding its publicity on the overseas social media platforms. It has tens of million followers on its Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account, and YouTube account.