Mao Sheng: Providing Strong Public Opinion Support for the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation — Studying General Secretary Xi Jinping's Important Expositions on News and Public Opinion Work

Conducting news and public opinion work well and creating a favorable public opinion environment is a major task for governing the country and ensuring national stability. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to news and public opinion work. On occasions such as the National Conference on Ideological and Cultural Work, the Symposium on the Party's News and Public Opinion Work, and the 12th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee, he has delivered a series of important speeches and made a series of important deployments. He has profoundly expounded on major theoretical and practical issues—including the status, role, duties, missions, policies, principles, practical requirements, and team building of news and public opinion work—elevating our Party's systematic understanding of such work to a new height and providing an ideological weapon and action guide for further improving news and public opinion work.

Standing at an overall and strategic height to profoundly understand the status, role, duties, and missions of news and public opinion work

Public opinion is an important force influencing social development, and Marxist parties have always regarded news and public opinion work as an important weapon in revolutionary struggle. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly summarized historical experience, using "five matters of concern" to encapsulate the extreme importance of news and public opinion work. Closely integrating new era conditions and practical requirements, he clearly proposed a "48-character" ^[1] duty and mission, pointing out the direction for continuously opening new horizons in news and public opinion work.

Fully recognize the extreme importance of news and public opinion work. Grasping the "barrel of the gun" in one hand and the "barrel of the pen" ^[2] in the other, and attaching great importance to news and public opinion work, is a fine tradition of our Party. During the years of war-torn revolution, the fiery years of construction, and the magnificent period of reform, our Party always focused on using news media to spread truth, organize the masses, and promote work, forming a powerful force to "rouse the millions of workers and peasants to act with one heart" ^[3]—this is an important "magic weapon" for the Party leading the people to continuous victory. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Doing the Party's news and public opinion work well is a matter of concern for the banner and the path; a matter of concern for implementing the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies; a matter of concern for smoothly advancing the various undertakings of the Party and the state; a matter of concern for the cohesion and centripetal force of the whole Party and the people of all ethnic groups across the country; and a matter of concern for the future and destiny of the Party and the state." These "five matters of concern" link news and public opinion work more closely with the overall work of the Party and the state, with the future and destiny of the Party and the state, and with the fundamental interests of the masses, which is of great significance for correctly recognizing and comprehensively grasping the status and role of news and public opinion work.

Faithfully fulfill the duties and missions of the Party's news and public opinion work. For a long time, the news and public opinion front has breathed the same air as the Party and the people, progressed together with the times, actively publicized the Party's propositions, deeply reflected the voice of the masses, and took the initiative to carry out research for decision-making, playing a very important role. General Secretary Xi Jinping, by connecting history and reality, correlating international and domestic spheres, and combining theory and practice, further summarized the duties and missions of the Party's news and public opinion work: "Hold high the banner and lead the direction; focus on the center and serve the overall situation; unite the people and inspire morale; transform the people through culture and pool strength; clarify fallacies and distinguish right from wrong; and connect China and the world while communicating with the world." These "48 characters" are complementary and dialectically unified, putting forward clear requirements for the Party's news and public opinion work in terms of direction, responsibility, capability, and innovation.

Specifically: "Hold high the banner and lead the direction" emphasizes upholding the guiding position of Marxism, holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhering to the correct orientation of public opinion, and deeply publicizing the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies, as well as the struggles and achievements of the people under the Party's leadership. "Focus on the center and serve the overall situation" ^[4] emphasizes conscientiously implementing the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, focusing closely on the central task of economic construction, subordinating to and serving the overall work of the Party and the state, consciously thinking and resolutely acting under the overall situation, and ensuring no absence of duty, no displacement of role, and no deviation in direction. "Unite the people and inspire morale" emphasizes adhering to the principle of "unity, stability, and encouragement" and focusing on positive propaganda; promoting the "main theme" and spreading positive energy; mobilizing the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of all parties; and stimulating the powerful force of the entire Party and society to forge ahead in unity and overcome difficulties. "Transform the people through culture and pool strength" ^[5] emphasizes actively cultivating and practicing Socialist Core Values; promoting social goodness, praising righteous deeds, and castigating evil behavior; educating, moving, and influencing people; promoting the formation of a good "four-fold conduct" (Party style, government style, social folkways, and family values); and gathering a powerful force for upward goodness, reform, and development. "Clarify fallacies and distinguish right from wrong" emphasizes carrying forward the spirit of struggle, enhancing the ability to struggle, daring to face problems and touch upon contradictions, and daring to engage in confrontation and "show the sword" ^[6]; using the power of truth to persuade people and vivid facts to educate people; drawing a clear line between right and wrong, clarifying blurred understandings, and better unifying thinking and expanding consensus. "Connect China and the world while communicating with the world" emphasizes maintaining a national standing and a global perspective, improving international communication capacity, enhancing international discourse power, telling China's story well, spreading China's voice well, explaining Chinese characteristics well, and shaping China's image well. These "48 characters" scientifically clarify the duties and missions of the Party's news and public opinion work under new era conditions. News and public opinion workers must keep them in mind, take responsibility, be responsible for their territory, and fulfill their duties in their territory, striving to be disseminators of the Party's policies and propositions, recorders of the times, promoters of social progress, and guardians of fairness and justice.

Adhere to the correct political direction and firmly grasp the policies, principles, and practical requirements of news and public opinion work

Direction determines the future and destiny. In doing the Party's news and public opinion work well, putting the correct political direction first is paramount. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed "four firm adherences" in this regard, emphasizing that news and public opinion workers must firmly adhere to the principle of Party spirit, firmly adhere to the Marxist view of news, firmly adhere to the correct orientation of public opinion, and firmly adhere to the principle of giving priority to positive propaganda. This further reveals the essential attributes and principled requirements of news and public opinion work and clarifies its direction.

Firmly adhering to the principle of Party spirit is the fundamental principle of news and public opinion work. Our Party is a Marxist governing party and the leadership core of all undertakings of the Party and the state. News and public opinion work is an important task of the Party and must unconditionally accept the Party's leadership. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Party managing propaganda, the Party managing ideology, and the Party managing the media are important aspects of upholding the Party's leadership. The principle of Party spirit must not only be discussed, but discussed with perfect assurance; we cannot be evasive or hesitant." The most fundamental aspect of adhering to the principle of Party spirit is adhering to the Party's leadership over news and public opinion work. Media sponsored by the Party and government are promotional fronts for the Party and government and must be "surnamed Party" ^[7]. They must resolutely align themselves with the Party Central Committee, consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core in ideology, politics, and action, reflect the Party's will, reflect the Party's propositions, and achieve love for the Party, protection of the Party, and acting for the Party. Adhering to the Party managing the media does not mean only managing the media directly controlled by the Party; rather, it means placing all types and levels of media under the Party's leadership. All communication platforms engaged in news information services with media attributes and public opinion mobilization functions must be included in the scope of management, and all practitioners in news services and related businesses must be subject to access management. No matter how the times develop or how the media landscape changes, we must unswervingly adhere to the principle of the Party managing the media and persist in having "statesmen" ^[8] run newspapers, journals, stations, and news websites.

Firmly adhering to the Marxist view of news is the soul of news and public opinion work. Any news and public opinion work is dominated by a certain view of news; whatever view of news is held determines the nature of the news and public opinion work. Our Party is a Marxist party, and the Marxist view of news is the fundamental guide that the Party's news and public opinion work must follow. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "'If a man first establishes the great part of himself, then the small part cannot be taken from him.' ^[9] For the Party's news and public opinion work, this 'great part' is the Marxist view of news," and we must "take the Marxist view of news as the 'anchor' (定盘星) of the Party's news and public opinion work." To adhere to the Marxist view of news, one must profoundly grasp the unity of "Party spirit" (党性) and "people-centeredness" (人民性). Our Party takes serving the people wholeheartedly as its fundamental purpose and has no special interests of its own. Reflecting the Party's will is reflecting the people's will; publicizing the Party's propositions is publicizing the people's propositions; and adhering to Party spirit is adhering to people-centeredness. Party spirit is embedded within people-centeredness; there is no Party spirit divorced from people-centeredness, nor is there people-centeredness divorced from Party spirit. The news front must achieve both a thorough understanding of the Central Committee's spirit and a close connection with the masses, publicizing both the Party's propositions and conveying the voices of the masses, truly becoming the "throat and tongue" (mural/spokesman) of the Party and the people.

Firmly adhering to the correct orientation of public opinion is the lifeline of news and public opinion work. "Writing is the vehicle for the Way" (文者，贯道之器也) ^[10]. Any news report has an orientation; what to report, what not to report, and how to report all contain positions, viewpoints, and attitudes. News reports must not only report domestic and international news events but also convey correct positions, viewpoints, and attitudes, guiding people to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad, virtue and evil, and beauty and ugliness, thereby stimulating the spiritual power of upward goodness. If the orientation of public opinion is correct, it can consolidate people's hearts, pool strength, and promote the development of undertakings; if the orientation is wrong, it will shake people's hearts, disintegrate the will to fight, and jeopardize the cause of the Party and the people. History and reality prove that if accurate and authoritative information is not disseminated in a timely manner, false and distorted information will confuse people; if positive and correct ideological public opinion does not grow strong, negative and erroneous speeches and viewpoints will run rampant. Precisely because of this, adhering to the correct orientation of public opinion must run through all aspects and links of news and public opinion work. The "main theme" and positive energy must dominate newspaper pages, radio stations, television screens, cyberspace, mobile platforms, and other communication carriers. Every effort must be made to create a public opinion atmosphere conducive to upholding the leadership of the CPC and our country's socialist system, conducive to promoting reform and development, conducive to enhancing the unity of all ethnic groups in the country, and conducive to maintaining social harmony and stability. This is the most important and fundamental orientation of news and public opinion work.

Firmly adhering to the principle of giving priority to positive propaganda is the basic policy of news and public opinion work. Truthfulness is the life of news, and news and public opinion work must describe facts based on facts. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify whether a fact is an individual truth or a holistic truth. It is necessary not only to accurately report individual facts but also to grasp and reflect the full picture of events or things from a macro perspective, concentratedly reflecting the healthy and upward essence of society and objectively displaying the full picture of development and progress. In our society, positive and proactive things are the "mainstream" (main current), while negative things are the "tributaries" (minor currents). To do the Party's news and public opinion work well, we must correctly understand the relationship between the mainstream and tributaries, achievements and problems, and the whole and the parts. If one "cannot see Mount Tai because a leaf obstructs the view" ^[11], or only looks at one point to the neglect of the rest—seeing only darkness and negativity while ignoring light and positivity, and reporting various negative news at great length—it not only violates the principle of truthfulness but also leads to a lack of spirit in society and even the dissipation of people's hearts. Adhering to the priority of positive propaganda is not contradictory to exercising public opinion supervision ^[12]. Engaging in news and public opinion work naturally entails exposing ugliness and criticizing current malpractices, but one must grasp the unity between public opinion supervision and positive propaganda. We must both promote truth, goodness, and beauty while conveying positive energy, and castigate falsehood, evil, and ugliness while releasing the power of supervision—resolving doubts and building consensus while "cleansing the turbid and promoting the clear" (激浊扬清) ^[13] and criticizing current ills, thus continuously promoting the progress of our cause. For issues that the masses care about, we should actively follow and report them, providing timely, truthful, objective, and clearly-viewpointed information; for issues where the masses have strong opinions or many reflections, we should resolve doubts in a timely manner and promote the improvement of work. Adhering to the priority of positive propaganda also requires attention to methods and means to enhance attraction and infectiousness, making the masses love to listen and watch. We cannot engage in "false, grand, or empty" (假大空) propaganda, nor can we stay stuck in the cliché of constantly repeating empty political slogans. We must "moisten things silently" ^[14], using various cultural forms to vividly and concretely manifest Socialist Core Values, using high-quality and high-level works to graphically tell people what is true, good, and beautiful and what is false, evil, and ugly—what is worth affirming and praising, and what must be opposed and negated.

Deepen reform and innovation, and continuously improve the capability and level of news and public opinion work

"Poetry and prose follow the movement of the world, and there is no day when they do not seek the new." ^[15] In the current era, the public opinion environment, media landscape, and communication methods are undergoing profound changes. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that with the development of the situation, the Party's news and public opinion work must innovate in concepts, content, genres, forms, methods, means, business formats, systems, and mechanisms to enhance pertinence and effectiveness. We must adapt to the trend of segmented and differentiated communication and accelerate the construction of a new pattern for guiding public opinion.

Enhancing targeting. Currently, audience demands are becoming increasingly diverse, their awareness of participation is growing stronger, and their ideas and concepts are becoming more pluralistic; news dissemination now exhibits the characteristics of everyone disseminating, multi-directional dissemination, and massive-scale dissemination. This necessitates personalized treatment according to the reading habits and receptive psychology of various groups. We must be adept at breaking the whole into parts, ensuring that content is small yet beautiful, multifaceted yet refined, so as to achieve the effect of "large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate" ^[16]. We must strive to form an all-encompassing, multi-level, and multi-voiced mainstream public opinion matrix, achieving diverse dissemination of the same theme. We cannot adopt a "broad-spectrum" or "flood irrigation" ^[17] approach, nor can we rely on a single tone or style to conquer the world. Furthermore, we must strive to seize the initiative and fight a proactive battle, enhancing our ability to set agendas and effectively guiding the direction of public opinion. This will allow us to find the greatest common divisor and draw the largest concentric circles, pooling hearts and strength for the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Promoting integrated development. Presently, with the development of the Internet and especially the mobile Internet, new media—with its characteristics of convenience, speed, wide coverage, and strong interactivity—is exerting increasing communicative power and influence. News and public opinion work must not only proactively utilize the communicative advantages of new media to consolidate and expand the Party's news and public opinion positions, but also strengthen "Internet thinking." We must persist in the complementary advantages and integrated development of traditional and emerging media. Adhering to advanced technology as support and content construction as the fundamental, we must promote the deep integration of traditional and emerging media in terms of content, channels, platforms, operations, and management. We must focus on building a group of new-style mainstream media that are diverse in form, advanced in means, and competitive, forming a modern communication system characterized by three-dimensional diversity and integrated development. We shall leverage the content advantages of traditional mainstream media to win communicative advantages under new media conditions, firmly occupying the commanding heights of communication in guiding public opinion, leading ideology, inheriting culture, and serving the people.

Mastering timing, intensity, and effectiveness (shì-dù-xiào). News and public opinion work must seize opportunities, master the rhythm, and be mindful of strategy. We must exert effort through "timing, intensity, and effectiveness" and embody their requirements. These three are the yardsticks for testing the standard of news and public opinion work. "Timing" (shí) requires mastering the right moment and rhythm. Centering on major issues of national governance, realistic concerns of the masses, and hot-spot issues occurring at home and abroad, we must do a good job in "earliness" and "speed," releasing authoritative information in a timely manner; we must never remain silent or lose our voice. "Intensity" (dù) ^[18] requires mastering strength and proportion, utilizing media and propaganda methods rationally, and meticulously controlling the "heat" and "finesse" to ensure everything is appropriate and just right. "Effectiveness" (xiào) requires adhering to a goal-oriented and effect-oriented approach, taking the winning of public praise as the pursuit and the coalescing of social consensus as the aim, striving to ensure that propaganda and reporting achieve ideal results.

Enhancing international discourse power. At present, the international community's attention toward our country is unprecedented. However, there still exists a "deficit" in the inflow and outflow of information, a "contrast" between China's true image and Western subjective impressions, and a "gap" between soft power and hard power. Internationally, we are sometimes still in a position where we have the truth but cannot speak it, or even if we speak it, it does not spread. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "If we are backward, we will be beaten; if we are poor, we will starve; if we lose our voice, we will be scolded" ^[19]. After the unremitting struggles of several generations, the first two problems have been basically solved, but the problem of "being scolded" has not yet been fundamentally resolved. To strive for international discourse power and solve this problem, we must devote great efforts to strengthening international communication capacity building, innovating modes of external discourse expression, and expanding external communication platforms and carriers. We must build flagship external propaganda media with strong international influence to tell the China story ever more vividly and make the voice of China ever louder. We will strive to shape a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China, creating a favorable external public opinion environment for our country's reform, development, and stability.

Strengthening the cultivation of talent. "One who gains talent prospers; one who loses talent collapses" ^[20]. Facing new challenges and requirements, the political capacity, theoretical literacy, and professional level of the news and public opinion workforce directly affect the effectiveness of the Party's news and public opinion work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The key to media competition is the competition for talent; the core of media advantage is the advantage of talent." As the Party's news and public opinion workers, we must enhance the consciousness of "statesmen running newspapers," ^[21] find the correct coordinates and positioning while centering on the core and serving the big picture, and keep the social responsibility firmly in mind to continuously resolve the fundamental question of "who am I, for whom am I, and on whom do I rely?" We must consolidate our theoretical foundation, improve our knowledge structure, and be adept at using modern communication methods to strive to become "all-media" and expert-level talent. We must persist in "going to the grassroots, transforming work styles, and changing the style of writing" ^[22], tempering our "foot-power, eye-power, brain-power, and pen-power" ^[23] to produce more works with depth, warmth, and quality. We must hold ourselves to strict requirements, strengthen our moral cultivation, and maintain a spirit of integrity. In short, we must cultivate and create a news and public opinion workforce that is politically firm, professionally exquisite, excellent in work style, and trusted by the Party and the people.

(The author’s affiliation: The Seventh Research Department of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee)