China Central Television or CCTV (中央電視台), established in 1958, is China’s national television broadcaster. Operated by the National Radio and Television Administration under the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department, with Shen Haixiong (慎海雄) as the current president. CCTV functions as a key player in state media, providing news, education, culture, and entertainment services. Headquartered in Beijing, it serves as a vital component of China’s propaganda network. It produces news broadcasts three times daily, with its flagship evening news program “CCTV Tonight” (新闻联播) reaching nearly 500 million viewers and requiring mandatory carriage by local stations.
The Paper (澎湃新聞) is a news platform operated by the CCP-run Shanghai United Media Group (上海報業集團) that launched on July 22, 2014. Media scholar and former Southern Weekly journalist Fang Kecheng has described the outlet as having “the face of commercial media, and the heart of Party media,” while David Bandurski, the director of the China Media Project, called it an experiment in producing propaganda content that can “attract” and “attach” to mobile audiences. Between 2018 and 2023, The Paper said it received over 400 domestic and international awards. The news platform covers current affairs, finance, and lifestyle content through a mobile-first app and website. It features sections including “Striking Tigers” (打虎記) for anticorruption coverage (generally focusing on small-time cases of malfeasance), and “Translating China” (譯中國), which aggregates foreign reporting on China.
The Economic Daily (經濟日報), founded in January 1983, is a Chinese state-owned financial and business newspaper published by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中國共產黨中央委員會). According to its official website, the publication operates under direct Party supervision to communicate official economic policy and narratives. The newspaper focuses on economic development, financial markets, and industrial policy, serving as a key platform for disseminating the Party’s economic directives and perspectives. The Economic Daily also operates China Economic Net, an online portal launched in 2003, which extends coverage to international economics, technology, and lifestyle content alongside traditional financial reporting.
Haiwainet officially launched on November 6, 2012, as the official website and new media platform of the overseas edition of the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily (人民日報). The overseas edition of People’s Daily was first published on July 1, 1985. Haiwainet was established through Haiqiao (Beijing) Cultural Media Co., Ltd., which was founded on August 27, 2012, and later renamed to Haiwainet Media Co., Ltd. on March 1, 2014. In March 2018, allegations emerged suggesting connections between Haiwainet and All America TV Station in Pasadena, with claims they operated as “one team under two brands.” Haiwainet denied these allegations, stating it had “no relationship” with either All America TV Station or its executive director Zhang Huijun (張慧君). Seattle-based AAT Television Corporation (亞美衛視) also distanced itself from All America TV Station.
Xinhua Silk Road (新华丝路网) advertises itself as a comprehensive information service platform focused on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, operated since 2015 by the China Economic Information Service (中国经济信息社有限公司), or CEIS, under Xinhua News Agency. The platform positions itself as providing databases, information consulting, think tank research, and international communication services to Belt and Road participants. Key products and services include a multilingual Belt and Road database, a global project opportunities and risk analysis system, an overseas brand voice monitoring system for Chinese companies, international business coordination services, and Xinhua enterprise information services (pointing to the expansion of state media content distribution globally). Xinhua Silk Road also manages the construction and maintenance of the official website of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (中国一带一路网), directly linking it to the highest levels of Chinese government Belt and Road coordination. In July 2023, coinciding with the platform’s eighth anniversary, Xinhua Silk Road launched a “Belt and Road Project Case Database” tracking over 500 key Belt and Road projects across seven sectors including infrastructure, industrial investment, industrial park development, financial cooperation, energy resources, logistics, and cultural exchange. The database features exclusive research reports on state-owned enterprise and private enterprise participation in Belt and Road projects compiled in cooperation with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission Research Center, revealing close coordination between the platform and China’s economic planning apparatus.
Xinhua News Agency, established on November 7, 1931, as the Red China News Agency in Ruijin, Jiangxi province, is China’s official state news agency operating as a ministry-level institution under the State Council. The agency adopted its current name in January 1937 while headquartered in Yan’an, Shaanxi. Its headquarters is located near Zhongnanhai in Beijing, with the current president and Party Secretary Fu Hua (傅華), who was appointed in June 2022. By 2021, Xinhua had 181 bureaus globally, though more recent sources indicate over 170 overseas bureaus as of 2024, and publishes in multiple languages. Xinhua serves as the country’s leading news agency within the CCP’s news control system. Xinhua official news releases, or tonggao (通稿), are regarded as the authoritative version of events such as political meetings and CCP policy statements — authoritative in the sense that leadership approves them. In press orders and bans from the Central Propaganda Department, media will be instructed to “use only Xinhua releases” on particular stories. Today, Xinhua functions as an important channel for China’s leadership to disseminate its preferred narrative globally.
Gansu Daily (甘肅日報) is the official mouthpiece newspaper of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (中共甘肅省委機關報), established on September 1, 1949, and headquartered in Gansu Province, China. The organization positions itself as a comprehensive party newspaper covering the entire province and operates an array of related media under the direct oversight of the propaganda office of Gansu province. The publication was founded when the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was established in July 1949, with the inaugural issue signed by Peng Dehuai, then commander of the First Field Army. The newspaper adopted the masthead personally inscribed by Mao Zedong on December 1, 1949, which continues to be used today.
China Today (今日中國) magazine was established in 1952 as China Reconstructs by Soong Ching-ling (宋慶齡), widow of Sun Yat-sen and later honorary president of the People’s Republic of China, in collaboration with naturalized Polish-Chinese journalist Israel Epstein. The magazine was renamed China Today in 1990 and is now operated under the China International Communications Group (CICG), which was established in October 1949. The publication describes itself as an official outlet intended to promote knowledge of China’s culture, geography, economy, and social affairs to international audiences. China Today currently publishes nine printed and 10 digital versions in multiple language,s including English, French, German, Arabic, Turkish, and Chinese, while also operating related magazines such as CHINAFRICA, Dialogue Chine-France, and Potala. According to the organization’s materials, the Center distributes over two million copies annually to more than 160 countries and regions through offices in Egypt and South Africa, and maintains partnerships with publishers in France, Turkey, and Senegal.)magazine was established in 1952 as China Reconstructs by Soong Ching-ling (宋慶齡), widow of Sun Yat-sen and later honorary president of the People’s Republic of China, in collaboration with naturalized Polish-Chinese journalist Israel Epstein. The magazine was renamed China Today in 1990 and is now operated under the Center for Europe and Africa, part of the China International Communications Group (CICG), which was established in October 1949 as the China International Publishing Group. The publication is described as an official outlet intended to promote knowledge of China’s culture, geography, economy and social affairs to international audiences. China Today currently publishes nine printed and 10 digital versions in multiple languages including English, French, German, Arabic, Turkish, and Chinese, while also operating related magazines such as CHINAFRICA, Dialogue Chine-France, and Potala. According to the organization’s materials, the Center distributes over two million copies annually to more than 160 countries and regions through offices in Egypt and South Africa, and maintains partnerships with publishers in France, Turkey, and Senegal.
Global Times (環球時報) is a tabloid newspaper founded on January 13, 1993, under the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. Under its previous editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin (胡錫進), who led the tabloid from 2005 until December 2021, the Global Times became known for its often inflammatory commentaries on global affairs, which The Guardian at the time of Hu’s exit referred to as an “endless stream of quotable insults and invective.” Hu’s departure in December 2021 came amid speculation that the central leadership sought to impose stronger “political guidance” (政治導向) on the publication. The outlet remains more bellicose and nationalistic in its tone than most other “mainstream” CCP media, and sometimes seems to have more latitude to serve this attack dog role. Originally styled as a weekly titled Global Digest (環球文萃), the Global Times was given its present name in 1997, gradually increasing frequency until it became a daily in 2006. In 2009, itofficially launchedits English-language website. In its 2012 “About Us” page, the newspaper claimed to have over 500 correspondents in more than 120 countries and a circulation exceeding 2.4 million copies per issue.
