Hu Jintao Speech Stresses Media's Role To Serve Party

Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao's June 20 speech (via People's Daily) on the press in China highlighted the increasingly important role journalists play in maintaining the Party's ideological and political control. The speech gave little indication that China plans to grant its media greater freedom of the press. The setting and timing of the speech were significant, taking place at the offices of the People's Daily on the occasion of the Communist Party's flagship newspaper's 60th anniversary.

Hu said journalists' "first priority" is to "correctly guide public opinion." With information traveling faster today, journalism's effect on public opinion has increased. The Party's work and the country's long-term stability depend on journalists doing good "news propaganda work." He said journalists must play an active role in "consolidating a common ideological foundation for the whole Party and the people of every ethnic group in the whole country to unite in struggle," "disseminating socialism's core value system," and providing motivation and impetus to "promote the development of the causes of the Party and the state." "Comrades on the news battle line must fully recognize the great responsibility they bear," he said. Hu also emphasized the importance of political loyalty in the selection of editors, journalists, and news managers. 

During his speech, Hu offered a number of justifications for why and how journalists should serve the ideological and political needs of the Party:

A Common Foe. Hu noted that one of the current challenges "especially worthy of attention" is that international public opinion still reflects a "West is strong, we are weak" pattern. He called on journalists to adopt a vigilant stance in meeting this challenge. Over the past year, China's media have attacked "Western" press coverage of the Tibetan protests and Chinese propaganda officials have ordered domestic media to issue "positive" Olympic stories to counter "negative" foreign reports.

The Earthquake and the Olympics. Hu said journalists should pay particular attention to making positive contributions in their coverage of the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake that struck in May and China's preparations for the Olympics. Following the earthquake, officials ordered China's media to play up the rescue efforts of the Party and government and sought to prevent them from covering controversial stories about shoddy construction of schools where thousands of children are estimated to have died.

Co-opting the Internet and More Assertive Print Media Outlets. Hu described "metropolitan media" and "online media" as potential resources for propaganda that needed to be integrated into a "new setup for public opinion guidance." He did not specify what "metropolitan media" meant, but the term appears to refer to city newspapers whose reporting is sometimes critical, such as Southern Metropolitan Daily. Hu said the Internet had become a significant source of information and said "we" must fully understand its influence and manage it better so that it becomes "a forward position for disseminating socialist advanced culture." In January 2007, Hu also made significant comments regarding the Internet, calling for its purification and saying the stability of the state depended on the Party successfully controlling the Internet. 

There is little in the speech to suggest that Hu supports greater press freedom. Language in the speech urging journalists to "ensure the people's right to know, right to participate, right to express, and right to supervise" are consistent with government initiatives to improve transparency and encourage the press to monitor the activities of local officials so long as it does not threaten the Party.

A July 10 Open Source Center (OSC) analysis (subscription required) also noted the significance of Hu's speech. At the People's Daily's previous two decennials, in 1988 and 1998, the Party General Secretary had sent in his congratulations instead of giving an on-site address. The analysis also noted that Hu emphasized the media's propaganda role in guiding public opinion and subordination to politics more than his predecessor Jiang Zemin did in 1996, the last time a top party leader had visited the People's Daily. OSC said this suggested "heightened concern about the party's influence in the current media environment."

For more information on how the Party uses the Chinese media to serve its own interests, see "Roles the Media Is Expected to Play" in Section II--Freedom of Expression of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's 2007 Annual Report.