Liu Siyang: Providing Powerful Public Opinion Support for Striving Toward the "15th Five-Year Plan"
On February 19, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the Party's Symposium on News and Public Opinion Work and delivered an important speech (hereinafter referred to as the "February 19" speech). This speech provided profound answers to a series of directional, fundamental, and strategic questions concerning the Party's news and public opinion work, offering scientific guidance and an action manual for such work in the New Era.
This year marks the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan" [1]. As we find ourselves amidst the grand journey of advancing the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation and building a strong country on all fronts through Chinese-path modernization, we feel ever more deeply the enduring truth and practical power of the "February 19" speech. The blueprint and direction drawn by General Secretary Xi Jinping for the Party's news and public opinion work serve as our fundamental compliance for responding to changes and opening new horizons.
Theoretical Navigation: The Epochal Expression and Systematic Leap of the Marxist View of Journalism
Looking back ten years ago, as the informationization of our society developed, the media landscape, public opinion ecosystem, and communication technologies underwent revolutionary changes. Mainstream media faced severe tests: their influence was being diluted, communication channels were diverted, and their modes of discourse were challenged. The massive energy released by the Internet, coupled with its inherent uncertainty, rendered the public opinion field increasingly complex and ideological confrontations more frequent. Facing this profound transformation, the Party's news and public opinion work shouldered the mission of upholding fundamentals while breaking new ground. It was at this critical juncture that the "February 19" speech, through a series of groundbreaking and landmark major assertions and systematic expositions, achieved a historical leap in our Party's regular understanding of news and public opinion work.
Elevating strategic positioning: From "the throat, tongue, ears, and eyes" to "a major matter of state governance and national stability." The "February 19" speech for the first time explicitly defined the Party's news and public opinion work as "a major matter of state governance and national stability," profoundly revealing that this work is by no means ordinary professional business. Rather, it is global and strategic work related to the consolidation of political power, the cohesion of the people's hearts, national security, and the advancement of the Party’s cause. This major assertion deeply embedded news and public opinion work into the grand narrative and practical logic of our Party's governance and national rejuvenation, marking a new historical height in our Party's understanding of the laws governing socialist cultural construction and public opinion dissemination in the information age.
Clarifying functional impact: Using the "Five Matters" to calibrate the global coordinates of the Party's news and public opinion work. The "February 19" speech creatively proposed the profound discourse of the "Five Matters": doing the Party's news and public opinion work well matters to our banner and path; it matters to the implementation of the Party's theories, lines, principles, and policies; it matters to the smooth advancement of various undertakings of the Party and the state; it matters to the cohesion and centripetal force of the whole Party and people of all ethnic groups; and it matters to the future and destiny of the Party and the state. These five aspects progress step-by-step and are interlinked like five pillars, together supporting the grand architecture of news and public opinion work within the overall cause of the Party and the state in the New Era, imbuing it with an unprecedented sense of historical weight and epochal mission.
Distilling responsibilities and missions: Constructing the general program of action with the "48-character" policy. "Hold high the banner and lead the direction; focus on the center and serve the overall situation; unite the people and boost morale; transform the culture and aggregate strength [2]; clarify fallacies and distinguish right from wrong; connect China with the world and communicate with the globe." These concise 48 characters represent one of the core essences of the "February 19" speech. They are systematic, complete, and logically clear, covering the political attributes, value pursuits, social functions, combat requirements, and international roles of the Party's news and public opinion work. They represent an organic unity of stance, viewpoint, and method, and a highly condensed summary of goals, tasks, and standards, providing the news front with a clear, comprehensive, and systematic set of compliances.
Establishing fundamental principles: Consolidating the political foundation of news and public opinion work with the "Four Firm Adherences." Putting the correct political direction in first place, we must firmly adhere to the principle of Party spirit, firmly adhere to the Marxist view of journalism, firmly adhere to the correct orientation of public opinion, and firmly adhere to the primacy of positive propaganda. These "Four Firm Adherences" are the "ballast" of news and public opinion work. The "February 19" speech expounded on this profoundly, particularly by providing a clear and confident answer to the major proposition that "Party spirit and people's spirit are consistent and unified," further clearing the long-standing conceptual fog and misunderstandings. The speech also clearly stated: "The principle of the Party managing the media must be implemented in the field of new media"; "We must deeply carry out education on the Marxist view of journalism and treat it as the 'steadying star' [3] of news and public opinion work, guiding the vast number of workers to be disseminators of the Party's policies and propositions, recorders of the times, promoters of social progress, and guardians of fairness and justice"; "We must persist in guiding people with correct public opinion, ensuring that all work is conducive to upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China and our country's socialist system, conducive to promoting reform and development, conducive to increasing the unity of all ethnic groups, and conducive to maintaining social harmony and stability"; "In doing positive propaganda, we must focus on improving quality and levels, and enhancing attraction and infectiousness"; "News media should directly face the problems existing in our work and the ugly phenomena and dark sides of society, 'stimulating the pure and dredging the muddy' [4], and criticizing the maladies of the times." These "Four Firm Adherences" and related discourses constitute the political cornerstone ensuring the steady and long-term progress of the Party's news and public opinion work; they are fundamental principles that must be strictly observed without the slightest wavering.
Insight into epochal trends: Guiding the direction with forward-looking layouts. The "February 19" speech keenly grasped the disruptive impact of the information technology revolution, represented by the Internet, on the field of communication. It pointed out that "managing and using the Internet well is the key to controlling the battlefield of news and public opinion under the new situation," emphasizing that news work must innovate in concepts, content, genres, forms, methods, means, formats, systems, and mechanisms. It emphasized the need to adapt to the trends of segmented and differentiated communication and to speed up the construction of a new pattern of public opinion guidance. It emphasized that "timing, intensity, and effectiveness" (时度效) are the yardsticks for testing the level of news work. It emphasized strengthening the construction of international communication capacity to enhance international discourse power. It also emphasized the accelerated cultivation of a team of news workers who are politically firm, professionally exquisite, excellent in work style, and trusted by the Party and the people. The speech made strategic deployments for promoting media convergence, creating new types of mainstream media, and building a modern communication system, providing a scientific methodology and clear roadmap for mainstream media to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground in the waves of digitalization, networking, and intelligence.
The great power of theory lies in its guidance of practice. The "February 19" speech—along together with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of new discourses and requirements, such as "promoting the deep development of media convergence to make mainstream public opinion bigger and stronger," "strengthening the construction of an all-media communication system to shape a new pattern of mainstream public opinion," "adhering to the principle that positive energy is the total requirement, being able to manage it is the hard truth, and using it well is the real skill," and "telling China's stories well and spreading China's voice well to show the world a true, three-dimensional, and comprehensive China," as well as requiring news workers to enhance the "four powers" [5] and adhere to the "four directions, four actions" [6]—collectively forms a logically rigorous, rich, and open scientific theoretical system. This is the specific manifestation and vivid unfolding of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the field of news and public opinion. Over the past ten years, China's news front has been enterprising and diligent. The mainstream ideological and public opinion positions have been continuously consolidated and expanded. Media convergence has moved from "addition" to "fusion." International communication capacity building has accelerated. The political literacy, theoretical level, professional ability, and practical skills of the Party's news workers have been systematically enhanced. This has created a high-spirited, rational, peaceful, open, and confident public opinion atmosphere for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects on schedule, achieving the First Centenary Goal, and proceeding with spirit toward the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects, playing an irreplaceable and important role.
Mission Cohesion: Consolidating the Soul and Safeguarding the Journey of Chinese-Path Modernization
The ten years of magnificent practice in the Party's news and public opinion work prove that the "February 19" speech is a light of thought that shines more brilliantly with the development of the times. The wheels of history have entered a new decade, and we stand at the starting point of the "15th Five-Year Plan." The world today is intertwined with changes and chaos; challenges and opportunities coexist. From an international perspective, the "changes unseen in a century" are evolving in an all-around and deep-seated manner. The balance of power is undergoing profound adjustments, and the contest in the ideological field is becoming more complex. The "strong West, weak East" pattern in international public opinion has not yet been fundamentally reversed, making the need to enhance China's international discourse power and narrative ability more urgent than ever. From a domestic perspective, the tasks of reform, development, and stability are arduous and heavy. Our development has entered a period where strategic opportunities and risks/challenges coexist, and uncertain/unpredictable factors are increasing. Social thoughts and ideals are diverse, multifaceted, and fluid, making the task of unifying thoughts and building consensus even more difficult. From a technical dimension, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation—represented by generative AI, the metaverse, and quantum information—is developing deeply, profoundly reshaping modes of information production and dissemination, social interaction, and the evolution of public opinion. Cyber-ideological security faces new challenges, and the difficulty for mainstream media to consolidate its leading position and guide public opinion trends continues to increase.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for laying a solid foundation and fully exerting effort to basically realize socialist modernization. The Party's news and public opinion workers must take Xi Jinping Thought on Culture as their guide, deeply implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourses on news work, effectively fulfill their duties and missions, and gather the majestic power to promote and expand Chinese-path modernization through upholding the fundamentals and breaking new ground.
Holding high the banner of thought and continuously consolidating the common ideological basis for united struggle. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To hold high the banner is to hold high the banner of Marxism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, persistently arm the whole Party, educate the people, and promote work with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, working hard on understanding and implementation, so that contemporary Chinese Marxism and 21st-century Marxism enter people's hearts and take root." The Party's news and public opinion work must take the deep study, publicity, research, and interpretation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its primary political task. Closely following the fiery practice of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and staying in close contact with the ideological reality of cadres and the masses, we must continuously innovate discourse systems and modes of expression, and do a good job in the popularization and externalization of the Party's innovative theories. We should be adept at using vivid cases, detailed data, and fresh expressions to present a panoramic view of the grand blueprint, bright prospects, and rich practices of Chinese-path modernization. We must profoundly reveal its historical, theoretical, and practical logic, guiding cadres and the masses to continuously enhance their political, ideological, theoretical, and emotional identification with the Party's innovative theories, and continuously fortify the ideological foundation of the "Four Confidences" (confidence in our path, theory, system, and culture).
Focusing on the central task and striving to create a strong public opinion atmosphere for high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Ideological work must take focusing on the center and serving the overall situation as its basic responsibility"; "We must grasp news and public opinion work from the overall situation of the Party's work, achieving high ideological emphasis and precise, powerful work." High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. The Party's news and public opinion work must closely revolve around this primary task, deeply publicizing and interpreting the central government's major strategic deployments, policy measures, and goals for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. We must strengthen and improve economic publicity and public opinion guidance, do a good job in policy interpretation, stabilize social expectations, boost market confidence, and stimulate the vitality of the entire society for entrepreneurship. We must analyze and report on the economic situation in a comprehensive, dialectical, and developmental way—not only reflecting facing difficulties and challenges by seeking truth from facts, but also fully demonstrating the sound fundamental reality of China's long-term economic growth, "singing the bright theory" of the Chinese economy.
Standing firmly on the people's position and heartily gathering the striving force of hundreds of millions of people. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out:
"News and public opinion workers must strengthen their awareness of 'statesmen running newspapers,' accurately identify their coordinates and positioning while centering on the core task and serving the overall situation, keep their social responsibilities firmly in mind, and continually resolve the fundamental question of 'for whom, relying on whom, and who am I.'" The Party's news and public opinion work must always adhere to a people-centered working orientation, taking the realization, maintenance, and development of the fundamental interests of the broadest possible masses as its starting point and ultimate goal. We must direct the lens more toward the grassroots, reserve more layout space for the masses, and profoundly publicize the great creations and touching deeds of the people as they forge ahead in the 15th Five-Year Plan and perform meritorious service in the New Era. We must sincerely listen to the voices of the masses, truthfully reflect their aspirations, and genuinely care about their hardships. Through news reporting that possesses thought, warmth, and quality, we should facilitate communication between social conditions and public opinion, channel public emotions, and promote the resolution of problems. We should be adept at drawing wisdom and strength from the practices of the masses, making news reports more "grounded" and popular, truly playing the role of strengthening confidence, gathering the hearts of the people, warming people's spirits, and building consensus [7].
Focusing on "cultivating trends to transform people" [chénfēng huàrén], we must strive to gather a powerful synergy for forging ahead in the New Era. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that news reporting "must convey the correct positions, viewpoints, and attitudes; guide people to distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad, beauty and ugliness; and stimulate the spiritual power of people to strive for the upward and the good." He further noted: "We are currently engaged in a great struggle with many new historical features, facing unprecedented challenges and difficulties. We must persist in consolidating and expanding mainstream ideological public opinion, promote the 'main melody' [8], spread positive energy, and stimulate the powerful force of the entire society to unite and forge ahead." "Cultivating trends" [chénfēng] lies in using culture and literature to educate and transform people. The Party’s news and public opinion workers must become leaders of social trends, integrating core socialist values throughout the entire process of news reporting, publicity of role models, and guidance of public opinion. Through high-quality cultural supply and profound value immersion, they should nourish social conscience and enhance civilized literacy. We must excavate and narrate the stories of advanced role models and moving figures emerging from among the masses, promoting truth, goodness, and beauty, and spreading positive energy to establish a value orientation of revering models and learning from the advanced throughout society. Through continuous, vivid, and effective positive publicity, we should subtly guide people to clarify great virtues, observe public ethics, and strictly maintain personal morality [9], promoting a thick atmosphere of "emulating those of superior character" [jiànxián sīqí] and "virtue prevailing under heaven," thereby "transforming people" [huàrén] at the heart, gathering consensus, and pooling the spiritual strength of every individual into a majestic synergy for the construction of Chinese-path modernization.
Promptly clarify errors and actively join the front line of struggle in the field of publicity and ideology. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Comrades on the publicity and ideological front must fulfill their sacred duties and glorious missions, and with the posture of a combatant and the responsibility of a soldier, actively throw themselves into the front line of struggle in the field of publicity and ideology." Currently, the situation in the ideological sphere is complex, with various trends of thought intertwining and clashing, and erroneous viewpoints appearing from time to time. The Party's news and public opinion workers must carry forward the "spirit of struggle," enhance their "struggle capabilities," and dare to "show the sword" [liàngjiàn] and speak out on matters of principle. We must closely monitor the dynamics of social trends, accurately discern blurred understandings, and promptly refute fallacies and heterodoxies to defend the truth and "clear the source" [zhèngběn qīngyuán]. In the face of major public events and "hot" public opinion, we must release authoritative information at the earliest possible moment, speaking with facts and data to resolve doubts and "rectify the hearing of the public" [yǐzhèng shìtīng]. Through public opinion struggle that is "reasoned, advantageous, and restrained" [yǒulǐ yǒulǐ yǒujié] [10], we should help cadres and the masses draw a clear line between right and wrong, clarify blurred understandings, consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological sphere, and firmly grasp the initiative and leadership of the public opinion field, creating a clean, healthy, and rational public opinion environment for development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Based on Chinese culture, we must accelerate the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative systems. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must accelerate the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative systems, use Chinese theory to interpret Chinese practice, use Chinese practice to sublimate Chinese theory, and create new concepts, categories, and expressions that integrate China and the West, more fully and vividly displaying the Chinese story and the power of thought and spirit behind it." Chinese-path modernization has created a new form of human civilization, and its global significance is increasingly prominent. The Party's news and public opinion workers must seize this historical opportunity, deeply interpret the civilized connotations of Chinese-path modernization, and accelerate the construction of a Chinese discourse and narrative system commensurate with China's comprehensive national strength and international status. We must innovate concepts, content, forms, methods, and mechanisms for external communication, using language, perspectives, and methods that are easily understood and accepted by overseas audiences. We must clearly explain the story of the Communist Party of China, the story of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the story of the Chinese people's struggle to realize their dreams. We should elucidate the principles, academic logic, and philosophy behind China's development, striving to shape a credible, lovable, and respectable image of China, enhancing the international community's understanding and identification with China, and creating a favorable external public opinion environment for our country's reform, development, and stability.
Innovation and Breakthrough: Shaping a New Pattern of Mainstream Public Opinion through Systemic Transformation
The "February 19" important speech [11] is a major theoretical achievement with distinct contemporary relevance and creativity formed in the development of our Party's news and public opinion work. Over the past ten years, media integration has progressed from initial exploration to in-depth advancement, achieving significant results. At the same time, as reform enters the "deep-water zone," some deep-seated contradictions and problems have gradually emerged: the systems and mechanisms adapted to "all-media" production have not yet been fully established; cases of core talent loss coexist with a shortage of new types of talent; and the connection between technological innovation and application transformation is not seamless. These problems indicate that the reform of mainstream media cannot remain at the level of partial "patching" or simple addition; it must advance toward deeper systemic, holistic, and reconstructive transformation.
In response to this historical requirement, General Secretary Xi Jinping—from the strategic height of further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity—has made important deployments for cultural system reform, ideological work, and network governance, and put forward clear requirements for the systemic transformation of mainstream media. We must study, implement, and fulfill the spiritual guidance of the "February 19" important speech in tandem with the decision-making deployments of the Party Central Committee, promoting mainstream media to effectively play the role of the "main force" on the main battlefield of the internet, firmly occupying the commanding heights of public opinion guidance, ideological leadership, cultural inheritance, and serving the people.
Grasp the core essence and profoundly understand the strategic upgrade from "deep integration" to "systemic transformation." The challenges currently faced by mainstream media are essentially contradictions between the organizational structures, management models, and fixed mindsets formed in the era of traditional media and the development requirements of the all-media era. Systemic transformation means breaking these deep-seated institutional and mechanistic obstacles, strengthening "internet thinking," and carrying out all-round, deep-seated reconstruction of work concepts, systems, mechanisms, and management methods to fully release and stimulate content productivity, technological innovation, and market competitiveness. This is a decisive battle concerning the survival and development of mainstream media and the consolidation and expansion of the Party's publicity, ideological, and cultural fronts. We must be determined to seek major breakthroughs and achieve great results.
Anchor the key links and comprehensively promote the integrated management of news publicity and online public opinion. Currently, cyberspace has become the main battlefield and the frontline of the struggle for public opinion. The "Suggestions" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [12] proposed "promoting the integrated management of news publicity and online public opinion," which is a key link in building "concentric circles" online and offline and grasping the initiative in the public opinion struggle. We must persist in the "main force fully entering the main battlefield," promoting mainstream media to aggregate high-quality content, advanced technology, professional talent, and project funding toward the main internet positions and mobile terminals. This involves creating self-controlled new media platforms with powerful influence, consolidating and expanding mainstream public opinion positions, and shaping a new pattern of mainstream public opinion. At the same time, we must strengthen the standardized guidance of various commercial websites, social platforms, and self-media accounts according to the law, pushing them to fulfill their primary responsibility for information content management and forming a synergistic communication force of multiple subjects. We must persist in combining online public opinion guidance with offline problem-solving, establishing and improving a linked mechanism for monitoring, analyzing, responding to, and handling online public opinion. Online feedback should be used as an important channel for understanding social conditions and public opinion and improving government work. Constructive suggestions should be absorbed promptly, blurred understandings clarified, and erroneous views guided and corrected. We must persist in combining internal publicity [nèixuān] for gathering strength with external publicity [wàixuān] for image-shaping, coordinating the domestic and international public opinion fields and strengthening the linked planning of agenda-setting. Internal publicity should gather consensus and inspire drive; external communication should focus on increasing trust and resolving doubts while shaping our image. Addressing the concerns and misunderstandings of the international community, we should proactively set agendas and innovate discourse expression, showcasing China's development achievements while also candidly facing problems and challenges. Through a truthful, multi-dimensional, and comprehensive Chinese narrative, we can effectively respond to smears and slanders and comprehensively enhance the effectiveness of international communication.
Focus on practical breakthroughs, work synergistically in key areas, and strive for tangible results. Facing challenges, mainstream media can only truly maintain their mainstream status and fulfill their value functions by throwing themselves into systemic transformation and achieving a significant leap in communication power and influence. No matter how communication forms change, high-quality content is always the fundamental basis. We must firmly establish "user thinking," deeply transform our work style, improve our writing style, abandon condescending and empty preaching, and avoid deliberate pandering or mere pleasing. We should vigorously promote supply-side structural reform in content production, increasing authoritative releases, innovating positive reporting, strengthening guidance on "hot" topics, and doing a good job in public opinion supervision. We should actively use storytelling, visualization, and interactive experiences so that mainstream values can achieve more effective communication through agile and vivid expressions. Using technological empowerment as an engine, we drive a full-chain digital transformation. We should proactively embrace artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and other technologies, deeply embedding them into the links of news collection, production, distribution, reception, and feedback. We should build intelligent platforms for content production, communication analysis, and user services to enhance production efficiency and communication precision. Deepening the reform of systems and mechanisms is the core and key to the systemic transformation of mainstream media. We must establish a flat, flexible, and efficient organizational structure adapted to the laws of all-media communication. We should reform the personnel system, exploring the establishment of a compensation distribution system and a rank promotion channel based on job responsibilities and oriented toward performance contributions. We should innovate production organization methods, encouraging the establishment of cross-departmental and cross-media integrated innovation teams or studios. We should optimize the performance evaluation system, establishing comprehensive evaluation standards that integrate communication power, guidance, influence, and credibility indicators, coordinating online and offline as well as internal and external publicity effects. Ultimately, systemic transformation depends on people to promote and implement it. We must improve the full-chain talent mechanism of "introduction, cultivation, utilization, and retention." We should increase the introduction and training of urgently needed talent in all-media editing, technological R&D, product operations, data analysis, and international communication. We should focus on cultivating and tempering talent in practice, identifying and using talent in major tasks and innovative projects, and creating an "iron army" of Party news and public opinion workers who are politically sound, highly capable, realistic, innovative, and able to win battles.
The horn for forging ahead toward the "15th Five-Year Plan" has already sounded, and the magnificent scroll is unfolding. The All-China Journalists Association (ACJA), as a bridge and link connecting the Party and the government with the journalistic community, will always keep its duties and mission in mind. We will deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, implement the important expositions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the Party's news and public opinion work, profoundly learn, comprehend, and practice the spirit of the "February 19" important speech. We will continue to unite and lead the vast number of news workers to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, forge ahead with determination, and constantly consolidate and expand the mainstream ideological public opinion for forging ahead in the New Era, providing powerful spiritual strength and public opinion support for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-path modernization.
(The author is the Secretary of the Leading Party Group, Vice Chairman, and Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Journalists Association)
Source: People's Daily (February 12, 2026) Editor: Huihui