Opportunities And Challenges In Shaping The Image Of The Chinese Military

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The wave of Internet technology revolution has brought subversive impact to the traditional newspaper industry. The contemporary newspaper industry must go through some severe pains before it can be reborn. Taking the road of newspaper network integration is the inevitable choice for the survival and development of the newspaper industry in the all media era. Early integration and early benefit; Great integration and development.

In this historic wave of mass media change, the military reporters must catch up and work hard to write a new chapter for the military journalism in the new era. The representatives who participated in the fourth military news forum sponsored by the PLA newspaper and co organized by the Battle Flag newspaper, respectively expressed their views on this, and elaborated on the practices and plans of their media, which is inspiring and encouraging. The last issue of Military Journalist magazine published the speeches of 7 delegates, and this issue publishes the speeches of 11 delegates.

The arrival and development of the all media era with the Internet as the core platform has gradually eliminated the communication barriers between countries in the traditional media era, which provides an unprecedented opportunity for our military to display its true image in a broader communication space. At the same time, facing such an almost borderless media era, how to compete with world-class media giants and international outstanding media people on the same stage will be a huge challenge that we must face from now on. Therefore, we should explore the characteristics and laws of communication in the all media era, so as to better use the all media platform to convey the voice of the Chinese military, express the views of the Chinese military, and shape the good quality of the Chinese military Media image It is not only necessary, but also urgent.

Part I

Challenges and opportunities

（1） Reality: image of Chinese military in overseas media

The first is to play up "China's military threat theory". With the continuous improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, especially the modernization of national defense, "China military The "threat theory" is on the rise. As long as there is any event related to China's military power, the West will throw out the argument that "China's military power poses a threat to the surrounding regions and even the world", and many media will also hype the "China threat theory".

The second is to accuse the Chinese army of being "opaque". In 2009, China's military budget increased by 14.9% over 2008. Foreign media hyped that "China's military spending has been growing at a double-digit rate in the past 20 years, causing anxiety in neighboring countries." In 2010, China's military spending fell back to 7.5%, and foreign media accused us of being "opaque" and having so-called "hidden military spending".

Third, pay attention to the Chinese army with prejudice. From 2000 to 2005, the number of Chinese military news articles published by the three major news agencies, the Associated Press, Reuters and AFP, quadrupled. The project "2009: Investigation and Research on the Image of Chinese Military Overseas Media" recently completed by the PLA Branch of Xinhua News Agency shows that in 2009, the three major world news agencies broadcast 36958 pieces of news related to the Chinese military, accounting for 22.9% of all Chinese news broadcast in the same period, a 5.9 percentage point increase from 17% in 2005. At the same time, the survey showed that among the reports on China's military broadcast by the above media in 2009, the positive and relatively positive reports increased from 6.9% four years ago to 25%, but the negative reports also increased.

The serious deviation between our overseas media image and the real image is caused by the following three reasons: first, ideological differences; second, the irrational international communication order; and third, our international communication power is not enough.

Statistics show that the flow of information from the United States and other western developed countries to developing countries is nearly 100 times more than that from developing countries to developed countries.

In the emerging field of network communication, the United States has also achieved global hegemony with its strong economy, culture, information and language. According to statistics, 70% of all Internet addresses are from the United States. The United States alone provides 80% of online information. The proportion of Chinese information is not very high. This means that the right of China and its military to shape the image of overseas media is still largely restricted by western media.

（2） Opportunities: what opportunities have been given to us in the era of all media

It is impossible for us to reverse the irrational international communication order in a short time, let alone fundamentally change the deep-rooted ideology of the western media and the cultural differences between us. What we need to do is to improve the overall communication ability of the country, including military news communication, and strive for more overseas audiences to understand and understand China, especially the Chinese military. The arrival of the all media era has undoubtedly brought a historical opportunity to enhance China's international communication ability. {page_break}
 

First of all, the all media era, which is based on the rapid development of the Internet, will be a process of re shuffling the media, which provides opportunities for China's media communication to expand overseas. In this process, some traditional media giants who cannot adapt to and make timely changes began to decline; Some emerging media relying on new technologies and platforms are explosively growing into new media giants. More importantly, traditional media and emerging media will integrate and coexist, and walk on the road of all media development side by side. This change in the world media pattern is undoubtedly an opportunity for China's media, which is achieving leapfrog development with the rapid economic development, to emerge and expand overseas.

Secondly, all media broke the old barriers to communication, Internet terminal Mobile terminals, as well as various new reading and browsing terminals, make the media more and more capable of delivering communication content directly to individual audiences, which creates conditions for expressing China's propositions. This kind of direct communication to the audience is also a great opportunity to shape the overseas image of our military. In the past, due to the communication barriers deliberately set up by the West, China's mass communication could hardly reach overseas audiences. Direct access to the audience can make China's views and propositions less deliberately blocked and restricted by the West in the process of communication.

Thirdly, the new trend of national communication in the era of all media makes it possible for individuals to communicate with each other, which broadens the way to transmit the voice of China. This kind of folk and private communication plays an important role in shaping the image of China and the Chinese army. After the "March 14" incident in Lhasa, a large number of private websites represented by "anti CNN" websites came forward, which made western audiences pay attention to the dissatisfaction of Chinese people with the western media's blindly distorted reports.

（3） Question: Four practical challenges come with the era of all media

Although opportunities have emerged and exist, we still face many practical challenges to enhance our military's international communication capability:

First, our army still lacks the production platform and communication mechanism based on the development of all media, as well as the corresponding talent team. All media refers not only to the coexistence and mutual reflection of traditional and new media, but also to the close integration of various media. The Associated Press announced in February this year that it was planning a new business unit, AP GATEWAY ("the gate of American Union"), to create a "digital cooperative" based on the mobile AP and online video network to meet the requirements of the digital publishing era. In China, from Xinhua News Agency, as the national news agency, to CCTV, which has strong influence, to the prefecture level municipal media such as Yantai Daily, multimedia production and communication have been realized to some extent. The multi format and multi-channel characteristics of all media have brought new challenges to the existing information collection, processing and broadcasting mechanisms of traditional media. How to build a military news collection, processing and dissemination platform based on all media, how to build a set of military news release mechanism in the era of all media, and how to cultivate a military news talent team suitable for all media formats are all issues that must be paid attention to.

Second, compared with the whole time and space, and diversified perspectives of communication in the all media era, the awareness of timeliness, whole time and space, and diversified perspectives of military communication is not strong enough. Modern means of communication have made mass information horizontal. In the past, for various reasons, our response to emergencies and hot issues was relatively slow. As far as the guidance of public opinion is concerned, speed is the most important principle in dealing with emergencies, and it is impossible and impossible to wait until 100% correct decisions are formed before responding. In the era of all media, we need to take the lead.

Third, compared with the trend of popularization and niche, the voice of military communication is still relatively single, and the "communication" skills are not mature enough. In the era of all media, the boundary between internal and external propaganda has been eliminated. In this borderless or borderless communication environment, a message, a picture, a voice, and a video may attract worldwide attention in a short time. In the era of all media, we need to introduce the principles and skills of external publicity into the field of internal publicity to disseminate China's views and propositions. That is, "Chinese story, international perspective". At the same time, in the era of all media, personalized and folk communication has considerable potential influence. From the perspective of communication, the affinity of folk communication that official communication does not have is an important complement to official communication. So far, in terms of public opinion communication and image building, the potential of folk communication has not been fully exploited.

Fourth, the omni media era needs more active and effective public opinion guidance, while the awareness of military communication to actively release news and influence public opinion is not strong enough. In May and June 2004, some overseas media hyped the so-called "Dongshan Island drill". In the situation at that time, this hype was demagogic. However, our army only carried out small-scale routine military training on Dongshan Island. Although there is malicious hype, it also reminds us that if we actively release news in time in the face of overseas reports, the effect may be very different. In contrast, the press conferences organized by the military during the Wenchuan earthquake and Yushu earthquake were more effective. In this era of highly developed information, every move, word and deed of the Chinese military may be captured by the domestic and foreign media at any time. To deal with all media, we need to actively set the agenda, effectively guide and then dominate public opinion.

Part II

Strategies and methods

Today, with the rapid development of media formats to all media, how can our military's media image shaping change in response to the era of all media?

（1） Innovative communication concept {page_break}
 

Faced with the opportunities and challenges of the all media era, we need to adapt to the development and changes of new communication methods and domestic and foreign audiences' ways of receiving information on the premise of adhering to the principles of the Party spirit and strictly abiding by the political discipline of the Party and the military. This requires us to effectively implement the "five innovations" emphasized by President Hu Jintao at the World Media Summit in our practical work, namely, innovative ideas, innovative content, innovative forms, innovative methods and innovative means.

First, the concept: change from passive to active. In today's era of mass communication, closing facts intentionally or unintentionally often leads to more negative speculation, leading to the widespread spread of inaccurate information. Therefore, in the field of military news communication, it is necessary to release objective facts as soon as possible, grasp the dominant power of public opinion, guide the audience to view events objectively, and do not give foreign media with ulterior motives an opportunity.

Second, mode: from single to multiple. Considering that the western society has long been biased against China and the Chinese military, it is necessary to adopt the communication methods and perspectives that target audiences are accustomed to, incorporate their views and propositions into the facts, and highlight the elements of the Chinese military from the perspective and manner that Western cultural customs are easy to accept, And then shape the image imperceptibly. At the same time, using multiple perspectives to spread our ideas, relying on the folk communication platform to spread our views, and using the "grassroots" mouth to spread our voice, will become an important way of military news communication in the all media era.

Third, media: integration in understanding. On August 20, 2009, the website of the Ministry of Defense was launched. The British Times said that the opening of the website of the Ministry of Defense of China reflects the People's Liberation Army's adherence to and practice of the "open" policy. Today, with the establishment of a number of official military websites, such as the website of the Ministry of National Defense, the Chinese military website, the Xinhua military website, and the CCTV military website, our military news communication has taken the first step towards the era of all media. However, the adaptation of our military propaganda to the all media era has just begun, and the concept and method of Internet military news communication is still in a one-way stage.

Only by understanding the media can we achieve integration. In the first half of 2010, China's Internet users reached 420 million, mobile phone users 740 million, and the number of people using mobile phones to access the Internet reached 277 million... Mobile phone information, forum blogs, microblogs, and various new receiving or reading terminal fields that have just been born but have not yet formed a huge trend are likely to become new forms of communication that shape the image of China's military.

（2） Create an all media communication platform

All media communication is based on the collection, processing and production capacity of all media.

At present, the integration of our military communication platforms is still relatively limited. Each platform is only operating according to its own communication inertia, and has not yet formed a full media communication force.

In terms of media integration or building an all media platform, the US military has made substantive steps after years of thinking. In September 2007, the preliminary construction concept of the US defense media organization was put forward: on October 1, 2008, the operation of the merger of media and organizations within the general was officially handed over to the National Defense Information Administration. The merged institutions and media include news agencies, radio, television, media centers, print media and information bureaus. In 2009, the National Defense Media Agency Building was opened. The media organization building, which is planned to be completed in September 2011, covers an area of 186000 square meters and costs $68 million. It is directly under the Assistant Minister of Public Affairs, with a staffing of 2400.

So, is it possible for our army to establish a military news communication center based on all media communication? In such a center, the text, pictures, audio and video materials of a military news will be unified into a database, and different media departments will process and disseminate the raw materials according to the characteristics of their own media... This "flexible production line" can even be turned into a public opinion war center at any time.

（3） Forward propagation position

Focusing on the construction of international communication capacity, Xinhua News Agency recently proposed the strategy of "moving forward" to strengthen regional and intercontinental expansion and participate in international media competition more directly and effectively. CCTV also plans to build several overseas regional positions. To create a good image of our military in the international media, we can also consider the "forward position" of military news communication.

First, improve the public opinion monitoring mechanism to gain insight into public opinion opportunities. If the international public opinion market is also a battlefield, knowing oneself and the enemy is also an important magic weapon to win. This requires the establishment of a sensitive and accurate public opinion monitoring mechanism.

Second, the propagation port moves forward to improve the reaction speed. "Preemptive thinking" is an important point of communication. In the face of news, a special battlefield that counts the victory and defeat by the minute, we should explore a more scientific military communication and management mechanism, so that it not only complies with the political principles and confidentiality disciplines of military news, but also is more efficient and professional.

Third, the communication platform moved forward to expand communication benefits. It is impossible for military media to build positions overseas, but we can rely on the forward position strategy of national key media such as Xinhua News Agency and CCTV to "borrow ships to go to sea". Through intervention or cooperation, establish or use various overseas communication platforms to actively carry out international communication of military news. Under the condition that new media forms are constantly emerging in the all media era, actively exploring various emerging user information terminals such as mobile phones and mobile readers is also an effective means to move forward.

（4） Establish a military news team adapted to the development of all media

The result of media convergence has brought about significant changes in the field of news communication, which has made traditional journalists face new challenges in the era of all media. So, what kind of ability and quality should military journalists have in the era of all media?

First, we should have the ability to control the acquisition and editing of multimedia. If you can't deeply understand the characteristics of various media, if you don't have the ability to carry out multimedia editing, if you don't have a deep grasp of the technical background that various media rely on in the all media era, then you will not be a qualified military news talent in the all media era.

Second, we should have a global vision and thinking. The development of technology promotes communication to the world. In the era of all media, the news audience of the Chinese military will be global. This naturally puts forward higher and newer requirements for our communication team: while understanding the situation of our army, we should also consider the characteristics of people in different regions, different beliefs, and different cultures, achieve personalization in the global communication, and make differentiated communication for different groups. {page_break}
 

Third, they should have diversified international expression capabilities. In the era of all media, military journalists must be good at understanding and adhering to the established caliber of their superiors, flexibly using facts, and communicating with different audiences in different angles and ways on different media. Only in this way can we maximize the benefits of communication.