The Chinese government is carrying out an unprecedented crackdown on the media under President Xi Jinping. Efforts to strengthen the Party’s longstanding hold on the industry include intensified measures to control both new and traditional media in China. When Xi visited the headquarters of three leading state news organizations in February, he gave a speech on media policy that called for state media organizations to bear the “Party surname.” At China Media Project, David Bandurski writes that this new media position put forth by Xi upends a tradition of “supervision by public opinion” and reinstates the Party’s dominance of all media.
In his speech, however, Xi Jinping subverted the distinction entirely: “Supervision by public opinion and positive propaganda are unified,” he said.