China Youth Daily

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The China Youth Daily (中国青年报) is a popular official daily newspapers and the first independently operated central government news media portal in the People's Republic of China. It has been operated by the Communist Youth League since 1951. As of October 2006, the current Editor-in-Chief of the paper is Chen Xiaochuan (陈小川). He replaces outgoing editor Li Xueqian (李学谦) who presided over the newspaper for a number of years prior and during the Freezing Point (冷点） incident.

1 Background
2 Management
3 Cost
4 Marketing
5 Readership
6 Websites
7 China Youth Online
8 Beijing Today
9 Subsidiary Newspapers and Magazines
10 Other Related Issues
11 See also

[edit] Background

The China Youth Daily was established in 1951, six years before the Chinese Socialist Youth League decided to change its name to Communist Youth League of China (CYL).

China Youth Daily firmly supports the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) due to its subordination to the CYL. As the mission of CYL at the present stage is to unite and lead the young people in the country, hoping to transfuse new blood into the CPC and bring about young personnel for the country, China Youth Daily also tries to bring news, ideas and information through the nationwide circulations which follow the CYL principles. Thus, China Youth Daily has in fact given advantages to the CPC to project their voice to a wider public in China. In another perspective, the content of the paper is to some extent regulated by the CPC.

Although China youth Daily is run by the CYL, it is also the first profit-generating paper in China. The profit enables the paper to support itself and welcomes individuals along with companies to advertise in the paper.

Freezing Point, a four-page weekly supplement of China Youth Daily was temporarily shut down by the Chinese government in early 2006, due to an anti-censorship letter posted by columnist Li Datong. According to the Washington Post, government censors accused the section of "'viciously attacking the socialist system' and condemned a recent article in it that criticized the history textbooks used in Chinese middle schools." Pressure from retired high-level party officials and senior scholars forced the government to allow publication again, but without its former editor and top investigative reporter, according to the New York Times.

[edit] Management

Administrative structure of China Youth Daily can be divided into two parts. The main power of the hierarchy includes the president and the chief editor. Below them are the vice president, the vice chief editor and the secretary. But like all other papers with a CPC background, China Youth Daily is ultimately directed by the Propaganda Department of the CPC. Although this does not mean that the Propaganda Department often influences the direction and the content of the paper, it is authorized and has the right to do so.

Apart from the central hierarchy, there are six other departments which help the daily running of the paper. They include the office, editorial board, management department, business developmental department, human resources department, and the party office. Under the editorial board, management department and business developmental department, many branchs are developed to handle the daily work as well.

People working for the paper are required to have a good understanding of the CPC and all the concepts involved such as Deng Xiaoping theory, Communism, Socialism, etc. Most of the employees, including journalists working for the paper, are members of the Communist Party.

[edit] Cost

1 RMB each

[edit] Marketing

The paper has a circulation of around 500,000 copies a day. As it is an integrated nationwide newspaper which targets the young generation in China, it covers political, social, and economic news which particularly concerns both the young personnel of the country and the CPC.

Following its goal, China Youth Daily is able to attract a primary readership among professionals between the age of 21 to 48. And to maintain such readership, the paper has established an online version of the paper in 2000, the China Youth Online (CYOL).

During approximately 3 years of existence, CYOL has generated 31 different channels to increase diversity to different users. Both the China Youth Daily and CYOL are now offering more than the hardcore political ideas,social, and economic news; they now include news for public examinations, overseas study opportunities, career planning, fashion, entertainment, etc.

As it is the first for-profit official newspaper in China, it welcomes advertisements from individuals, local and foreign companies.

[edit] Readership

According to an official research conducted by China Youth Daily and CYOL, readers of the newspaper and online users are within the age of 18 to 48. The majority of readers are of the age of 19-25 (50%)and 26-35 (32%). Around 75% of the readers are male and around only 25% of them are female. Most readers attain a tertiary education background and more than 60% of them have an income of 1000RMB or less.

Although the paper is circulated nationwide, it gains more popularity in the east(31%), the central part(18%) and the north(16%) comparatively to the other parts of China.

[edit] Websites

Two online versions of China Youth Daily have been established since 2000. The first one is CYOL, the Chinese version of China Youth Daily Online; and Beijing Today, the English version of CYOL. As mentioned before, websites are established for different reasons and needs; for example, to attract and maintain readership and to make it more accessible to foreign users.

[edit] China Youth Online

China Youth Online (青年在线)

China Youth Online is China's first independently operated central government news media website which has started its operation since 15th February, 2000. The portal is targeted towards the youth community in Mainland China. It offers the online version of China Youth Daily and distributes content, souvenirs, books, and magazines published by China Youth Daily. Like China Youth Daily, CYOL basically channels for education, people, military, networks, life, and service information.

During early 2004, China Youth Daily together with CYOL have a daily circulation of 2 million in China, CYOL has successfully created new readership and profit since its establishment.

[edit] Beijing Today

Beijing Today (The English version of CYOL)

Beijing Today is the first English newspaper of Beijing. It is supported by the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the State Press and Publication Administration. It is a 16-page chromatic weekly off press in four parts: Beijing News, Beijing View, Capital Culture and Capital Service. It aims to introduce Beijing's modernization construction, new success, developments, and changes made through reform and opening up in recent years.

[edit] Subsidiary Newspapers and Magazines

Few newspapers and magazines are produced under the leading of the China Youth Daily. These subsidiary newspapers and magazines are designed to suit the taste of special users and to provide news for current hot topics.

Elite Reference (年青参考)
Sports Youth Weekly (青年体育)
- Sports Youth Weekly was first published in March 2000.
- It covers sports news in China and worldwide. It reports the news of many kinds of ball games (mainly soccer), the hot topics of the sports field, and provides leisure and health information.
- Its primary readers are college students, officers and professionals, aged between 18-35, who are interested in sports.
- The chief editor is Hua Xidong (華熙东) who is an experienced sports reporter and soccer critic.
- It is distributed on Mondays, via retail outlets and subscription.
Digital Youth (数字青年)
- Digital Youth is a daily paper which concerns with IT, providing knowledge and news about IT (Information Technology).
- It provides information of IT services, the activities of the IT field and the IT experts.
- But it also concerns about youth problem and hot social issues.
- It is established for about 50 years.
- The distribution is about 1 million, mainly in Beijing.
- Its distribution is Beijing is around 100,000, attached in China Youth Daily, which mainly go to the government units, education departments and the army.
- Some of them can be found in news stand, and some are freely distributed to few IT companies etc.
Youth Times (青年时讯)
- Youth Times is a leisure weekly with city youth entertainment.
- "Entertainment is a power in the new century" is what the paper believes in.
- Topics include visual and international news, creativity, sales, health, travel, fashion, studying abroad, tastes and home.
- It is distributed on Thursdays.