Q: Shanghai Daily was launched in 1999 during China’s Internet boom. Alibaba Group was also founded the same year. The number of Chinese netizens surged from 620,000 in 1997 to 8.9 million in 1999 and 16.9 million in 2000. Was Internet technology a factor when you joined Shanghai Daily in 2000?
A: The Internet got its start in the US, and it was not until 1991 that the first World Wide Web was introduced. It was developed for military use. The Internet began to serve scientific and commercial purposes around the mid-1990s. Many Chinese Internet giants were established around 1999, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Netease, Trip.com, Shanda and JD.com.
After I joined Shanghai Daily, we were given orientation training, during which we discussed Google. We asked: “There’s nothing but a blank box on the search page, so what will be Google’s business model?” None of us had an idea. We stared at each other with a blank expression.
Newspapers and magazines in China and the US went online almost at the same time. The New York Times launched nytimes.com in 1996, after about 20 years of digital transformation. In January 1995, the magazine, China Scholars Abroad, became the first publication in China to create an online version. In October of the same year, China Trade News became the first newspaper in the country to go online. In January 1997, People’s Daily became the first central media outlet to join the World Wide Web. In November of the same year, Xinhua News Agency launched its own website. And in 2000, nine media outlets formed qianlong.com in Beijing, while 14 media outlets formed eastday.com in Shanghai.
In the beginning, many Chinese newspapers went online without sufficient knowledge about the difference between print and Internet versions when it came to designing content and style. In some cases, the Internet editions were nothing but a reprint of the print editions in unsearchable PDF formats. It is difficult to establish whether any Chinese newspaper at the time had an Internet “gene.”
Shanghai Daily, an English-language newspaper, was quick to keep up with the global trend. It quickly adapted to the Internet age and established itself as an influential player in the realm of Internet communication.
Q: The concept of “Internet media” is widely believed to have first appeared in China around 2000. A year later, the term was formally included into the title of a nationwide seminar hosted by Xinhuanet.com, the online edition of Xinhua News Agency. Since then, Internet media has progressively gained its market share in China. By the end of 2023, the number of Chinese netizens had risen to about 1.1 billion, accounting for 77.5 percent of the total population. In 2008, China had only 298 million netizens, or around 22.6 percent of its overall population.
According to certain American academic standards, a type of media can be classified as “mass media” if its users account for at least 20 percent of a country’s total population. Would you describe, using the Social Shaping of Technology hypothesis, how Internet media has developed by leaps and bounds in China over the last 25 years?
A: The Internet industry cannot grow without the support of policies, technology (ISP), content (ICP), and the market (including target audiences). For example, in January 1996, CHINANET was built to provide Internet services to domestic public computers. China established its four biggest portals — Netease, Sohu, Tencent and Sina — about a year later. Official data show there were 620,000 Chinese netizens by the end of 1997.
China’s Internet sector experienced rapid expansion during the first decade of the 21st century, especially after the emergence of Alibaba and Baidu. For example, Tencent created its QQ platform in 2004, spearheading China’s social media development. In 2005, Taobao became the country’s largest online shopping site, and Netease created Westward Journey, China’s first large-scale online game. The Internet landscape shifted dramatically from personal computers to mobile devices in 2009, thanks in large part to the issuance of 3G licenses. Sina first introduced Weibo in 2009, followed by Xiaomi, Meituan, Jumei, and iQiyi. Most crucially, the iPhone 4 ushered in a truly mobile Internet era, making the emergence of social media app WeChat conceivable. In the end, strong demand for information, social communication and electronic commerce combined to give China’s Internet industry a shot in the arm.
Q: Official figures suggest China had more than 1 billion online audiovisual users by 2023. A user typically spends more than three hours per day using mobile audiovisual programs. Now that “short videos are king,” how should domestic media balance written and short video reports?
A: The iPhones in 2012 made short videos popular. The smartphones’ high-quality screens and cameras make them ideal for photo and video production. However, typing words on the keyboards isn’t that efficient.
Content created or presented on smartphones is fragmented because it caters to consumers who struggle to concentrate as they swipe their phones while moving around. In many cases, institutional media sources combine forces to produce short videos to meet the demand for this type of mobile and fragmented information. Short videos focus on the most dramatic part of a story while ignoring other vital details in order to capture buyers’ short attention spans. In contrast, written reports do a better job of conveying the entire story. Media outlets should remember this distinction and give each type of reporting its due.
Q: Many media outlets in Shanghai, such as Xinmin Evening News, enable the city and its citizens to communicate more effectively by providing various hotline services and timely news reporting on a wide range of public interest issues. Shanghai Daily launched City News Service to provide expats with information about work and living in the city. Can we call Shanghai “communicative city?”
A: Although I did not coin the term “communicative city,” I do have my own understanding of it. A city is “communicative” if the public can easily access public interest information. Shanghai can be called a “communicative city” because the urban management is indeed open and transparent both in principle and in practice. A city can be as communicative as it wants. We should keep trying for a better tomorrow. Individuals, not just the media, can contribute significantly. Person-to-person communication goes a long way in making the city better. Shanghai should cultivate more talent in this regard.
Q: In an earlier discussion about developing journalism and communication theories with Chinese characteristics, you suggested scholars should further study China-related topics. China has over 1 billion netizens, a rich resource for academic studies. Should Chinese journalists dig deeper into this “gold mine?” Have Chinese media outlets like The Paper, Shanghai Daily, or Sixth Tone achieved this?
A: China is indeed a “gold mine” for both journalists and academics. After identifying good Chinese news stories, Chinese media should convey them in a style that appeals to domestic and foreign readers. China’s “gold mine” of uplifting stories needs more coverage. Finding the best stories is the only way to connect with foreign and domestic readers.
Shanghai Daily and Sixth Tone have produced a number of in-depth stories that interest both domestic and overseas readers. Shanghai Daily’s reports about young people’s lives during the pandemic period and the city’s rural development are a case in point. Sixth Tone once published a report titled “Longevity Pilgrims Go to Guangxi to Learn Secrets of Old Age,” which detailed the simple and healthy lives of local people in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. The strong human touch in these reports attracts readers.
Q: As an educator, what do you think students in journalism schools should learn aside technical skills such as how to create short videos? What are the essential characteristics of a good reporter in this era of integrated media development?
A: In an era of integrated media development, print media are increasingly transformed into digital platforms, while journalists’ pen and paper are supplemented or replaced by audiovisual devices. So, naturally, we should teach students how to take notes and communicate using digital devices.
The core qualities of a good journalist haven’t fundamentally changed with media formats. Those core qualities boil down to a journalist’s ability to discover or determine the “newsworthiness” of an event through reflective thinking, critical judgment, and efficient expression. This ability is critical to every journalist, indeed everyone. This ability is fundamental to the core qualities of a proficient digital communicator. This is what we educators should keep in mind when it comes to curriculum design.
