People's Daily Editorial Stresses That Communist Party Must Control Media and Guide Public Opinion

The Communist Party must "grasp public opinion guidance and correctly guide society's public opinion" to "lead the masses of people to establish a prosperous society," according to a People’s Daily editorial published last week. The piece offers the view that "various problems" could result if the Party does not focus on guiding public opinion, even though the development of mass media and the increasing speed of information dissemination has made doing so more difficult.

According to the People's Daily, at the 4th Plenum of the 16th Party Congress (which concluded last September), the Party decided to address this situation by emphasizing it is necessary to 'persist in the principle that the Party supervises the media, strengthen their ability to guide public opinion, and take the initiative in public opinion guidance work.'"