Media responsible for louder Chinese voice: People's Daily

The party press should expand its influence in international public opinion and make China's voice better heard, the People's Daily urged in an article published in its Monday edition.

As China's role on the world stage grows, ideas such as the Belt and Road Initiative and "community of common destiny" must be elaborated and spread by the media, according to the lengthy piece by Yang Zhenwu, president of the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's flagship newspaper.

"We have the responsibility to better spread Chinese voices and make them better understood and recognized by international society," Yang was quoted as saying.

However, there is a "deficit" between the inflow and outflow of information and a big gap between the "real" China and how the country is perceived by the world, which contributes to emerging misconceptions such as the "China threat" and the "China collapse," he said.

Yang said the media should integrate Chinese ideas into stories and make them attractive to foreign readers in order to gain credibility.

He also asked them to make use of new media platforms, which can help break the hegemony of Western media.

Media run by the Party and the government must serve as mouthpieces and be subject to the Party's absolute leadership and management, Yang stressed in the article. The article is part of the newspaper's efforts to adopt ideas from a speech delivered by President Xi Jinping in February about news reporting and public opinion.

The new media, which are mostly Internet-based, should not cater to vulgar tastes or blur the boundaries of right and wrong or beautiful and ugly, Yang wrote. He urged them to be self-disciplined and improve censorship.

He also called on authorities to strengthen management of online content and eliminate online rumors and harmful information in a timely manner. Endi