From Unilateral to Co-creation: People’s Daily Revolution in PGC&UGC
It is widely known that China’s “socialist market economy” approach is a mixed economy which combines socialism and capitalism. The socialist characteristics of this system are predominantly manifested in its political structure and the operation of society, which is led by the Communist Party of China. Under such a societal mechanism, the news media industry, serving as a tool for information dissemination, naturally becomes a conduit for the leadership’s messages. It plays a significant role in controlling public opinion, encompassing various aspects such as politics, economy, and culture.
Under this system, People’s Daily is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple languages. Beyond the People’s Daily, content released by other news agencies in China must adhere to the premises and foundations set by the People’s Daily. The censorship system is quite stringent, which is why there is a common perception that Chinese media tends to have a monolithic voice.
In recent years, driven by the surge of new media, the ways in which people access news have expanded beyond traditional news organizations, and the manner in which news is consumed is also evolving. Society requires a more democratized approach to news dissemination, as McChesney said: “We should create mechanisms that make the rule of the many possible.” To keep pace with these trends as well as try to involve more voices, People’s Daily has initiated internal reforms, introducing the ‘Central Kitchen’ model for news content production.
“The ‘central kitchen’ resembles the brain in People’s Daily that controls the creation of media content.”—Tang Boying, the author of Western broadcast television
The essence of this model lies in utilizing big data techniques to transform the expertise and recipes of master chefs into a standardized database, which is then converted into uniform industrial parameters. This approach allows for the mass production of culinary dishes using engineering methodologies, making gourmet food widely accessible and consistent.
The People’s Daily has adeptly applied this logical framework to its news content production model. This approach enables the omni-media center to produce semi-finished products on standardized industrial production lines, under the guidance of a central dispatch center. These products are then sent to specialized workshops, where they are finalized in a manner that is tailored to local contexts.
“The model is operating under 5 principles: ‘Integrated planning, one-time collection, diversified production forms, multiple modes of dissemination, global coverage.” ( “一体策划，一次采集，多种生成，多元传播，全球覆盖。”)—He Wei, the author of News and Writing
From the aspect of professionally generated content (PGC), the traditional news production process has changed from unilateral to co-creation under the central kitchen model. On the other hand, People’s Daily also cooperates with multiple content providers including media organizations, local governments, and We-media accounts, for instance, the “Youtube-ish” platform Bilibili. People’s Daily can expand content forms from graphics to short videos, audio, and live streaming, which can also suit with different needs of readers based on regional information preferences.
“In 2021, over 6000,000 pieces of high-quality content were used in various channels of People’s Daily each month, covering more than 30 popular fields.”—Chen Xuexian, the author of Young journalist
As the voice of China, even though it is still at the centre of media ownership and control, by using resource sharing and collaborative production, People’s Daily keep finding the perfect balance between openness and professional authority.