ZHEJIANG July 31st (ABP) – – On the eve of the closing ceremony of the Seminar for Belt and Road Journalism Organization Executives, the professor at the School of Art of Zhejiang Normal University, Dr. Zhang Kaibin, said during his presentation on Media Convergence in China Cases and Reflections that media convergence is an irresistible trend of our times and that the strategy of the latter is in full swing all over the world.
“Western media develop goals for media convergence from the perspective of the media industry and market. Differently, China’s media convergence is developed at national and political strategic levels,” Dr. Zhang pointed out.
He added that Chinese media has its unique value model, namely political value as a resource and means of governance, social value in building consensus to bridge differences, cultural value in recording the era and inheriting culture, as well as commercial value in connecting users and serving the market.
According to that man of art, that unique value model requires four drivers of media convergence such as process reorganizing, restructuring, user relationship reconstructing and capital power. He also pointed out that “the 14th Five-Year Plan” clearly proposed on May 15, 2021, to boost in-depth media convergence, implement all-media communication project, strengthen the position of new mainstream media, build and make good use of county-level Convergence Media Centers.
Thus, Dr. Zhang quoted the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CCP), Xi Jinping, who pointed out that to promote the deep integration of traditional media and emerging media, it is necessary to follow the principles of news communication and the law of emerging media development, strengthen internet-mindset, boost complementarity and integration between traditional media and emerging media, adopt advanced technology and prioritize content production.
“We should promote the in-depth integration of traditional media and emerging media in terms of content, channels, platforms, operation, management, etc., strive to build new and competitive mainstream media with diverse forms and particularly build several new media groups with strong communication power, credibility and influence, so as to form a three-dimensional, diversified and integrated modern communication system,” General Secretary Xi Jinping continued to say.
As for the exploration in the ‘We Media’ industry, Dr. Zhang said that the iterative upgrading of We Media interacts with the users’ needs for information, boosting the industrialization of We media, which has brought huge impact and profound enlightenment to the traditional media industry. We Media refers to the general term of new media, which is a private, popular, general and autonomous communicator, and transmits normative and non-normative information to an unspecified majority or a specific individual in modern and electronic means, he explained.
The most popular We Media platforms in the People’s Republic of China include We Chat (a giant of other social media), TikTok (short video platform), Weibo, Case (Weibo account for government services), Little Red Book (social e-commerce), Zhihu (knowledge sharing platform) and Bilibili (cultural platform for young people). They are functional thanks to the internet, which is an essential tool, a good organizer and a support for social life, he said, adding that selling goods online has become commonplace in China.
Regarding the We Media market in China, the professor at the School of Art of Zhejiang Normal University revealed that the revenues mainly come from the traffic monetization, advertising, remuneration, user contribution, etc. Traffic sharing and advertising are the primary source of income, he pointed out.
On the sidelines of the presentation, a check by ABP wanted to know if there would be pocket media without a physical address, which post anything or whatever they like on those social media. Dr. Zhang, interpreted in English by Mrs. Cao Zhifang commonly known as Vicky, replied that in the People’s Republic of China, the laws and regulations made by the government do not allow it. In addition, administrative authorities are responsible for supervision and communication platforms must make content review, while individuals must make self-control in accordance with laws in force. Note that the Chinese do not use social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.