By Li Hongmei
Some Western media outlets are trying to demonize China and sow national disintegration as they hate seeing the country prosper, said Li Congjun, President of Xinhua News Agency, in an editorial published in the CPC's flagship People's Daily newspaper on Wednesday.
Hence, the mainstream Chinese media must innovate to lead public opinion and refute such reports, Li commented. Western media dominate global opinion and Chinese media's sway is out of step with the country's international standing, Li said.
The Chinese media, under the leadership of the CPC, need to quicken their expansion into digital and new media and develop Internet and mobile offerings, Li said. That will allow them to maintain their ability to direct public opinion, he said.
"If we cannot effectively rule new media, the ground will be taken by others, which will pose challenges to our dominant role in leading public opinion," Li wrote in the article.
China also needs to combat the distorted view the Western media gives of the country and reject their anti-China plotting, Li said.
"Some hostile Western forces and media do not want to see a prospering socialist China and target the spear of Westernization, separation and 'color revolution' at China," Li wrote in the article.
They "use their powerful dissemination skills to massively play up the 'China threat theory' and the 'China collapse theory,' creating rumors to attack and vilify our country and party which harms our interests and national image."
"Overall, global opinions are still dominated by Western media outlets, and China's capacity to make its own voice heard fails to match its international standing," Li wrote.
Meanwhile, Li called on mainstream Chinese media to refute "untruthful reports" as part of efforts to give China a bigger say on the world stage and burnish its publicity efforts at soft power.
"We must continue to be creative in foreign publicity efforts ... to tell China's story well, explain Chinese characteristics and proactively publicize the polices and positions of the Party and government," Li remarked in his article.
