| Type | Daily newspaper (Weekdays with a weekend edition) |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | People's Daily |
| Publisher | People's Daily |
| Editor |
Chinese Edition - Hu Xijin English Edition - Zhang Yong |
| Founded | 1993, (Chinese edition) 2009, (English Edition) |
| Political alignment | Pro-Communist |
| Language | Chinese and English |
| Headquarters | No.2 Jintai Xilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100733, People's Republic of China |
| Circulation |
1,500,000 (copies printed Mon-Sat), Chinese edition 100,000 (copies printed Mon-Sat), English edition |
| Official website |
www.globaltimes.cn (English) |
The Global Times (simplified Chinese: 环球时报; traditional Chinese: 環球時報; pinyin: Huánqiú Shíbào) is a daily Chinese tabloid under the auspices of the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily,[1] focusing on international issues. The Global Times differentiates itself from its parent company the People's Daily in part through its more populist approach to journalism, coupled with a tendency to court controversy rather than suppress it.[2]
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Established as a Chinese language publication in 1993, an English language version was launched on the 20 April 2009[3] as part of a Chinese campaign costing 45 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) to compete with overseas media.[4]
While the Chinese language version strongly focuses on international issues, the English language version reports more on China's domestic events.
Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of both Chinese and English versions, stated that he expected it to make a loss of 20 million yuan in the first year.[5]
The English-language version of the newspaper also has launched two local sections, Metro Beijing since September 2009 and Metro Shanghai since April 2010, in the two largest Chinese metropolises, in an effort to provide more information to local readers.
Although the Chinese-language version has been accused of having a strong pro-government slant,[5] and of attracting a strongly nationalistic readership,[6][2] the English-language version has been described as taking a less strident approach.[7]
According to Richard Burger, a former editor at the Global Times, in the wake of the arrest of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese staff of the Global Times were ordered[8] to conduct an "astroturfing" campaign against Ai Weiwei in favor of the Chinese government's criticism of Ai as a "maverick"[9] .