Author: Wang Chaowen born on July 14, 1960, former president, party secretary and senior editor of reference newspaper, former vice president of the French-speaking regional branch of Xinhua News Agency, chief of the Africa branch, director of the European general bureau, director of the foreign affairs bureau, enjoy the special government allowance of the State Council.
Reporting on China overseas
To tell Chinese stories overseas, we must master the skills, start from small places, start from emotions, study the psychology, needs and habits of the audience, the language should be accurate, in line with foreign habits, easy to understand, so that the story can be told well, foreign audiences can understand and listen, the story can be spread, and the Chinese views can be disseminated in storytelling. Therefore, I led the reporter to take the lead in studying the external propaganda skills of the West, planning and formulating a plan for external reporting, and determining the topic of the report.
High-level foreign visits are the best time to expand foreign propaganda. During my tenure as president of the Africa Branch and the European Branch, I gave full play to my regional advantages, mobilized and integrated regional reporting resources, strengthened authoritative information dissemination and policy interpretation around the visits of the top leaders of the mainland, skillfully and actively set and embedded specific topics that highlighted my values and conformed to the acceptance habits of foreign audiences, comprehensively and truly demonstrated to the world China's development progress and brilliant achievements in various fields, and vigorously disseminated the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
▲ Wang Chaowen (first from right) led a team to interview the Africa Summit of the World Economic Forum in South Africa.
In view of the special situation of a large number of European languages, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the report, on the basis of mainly English reporting, I resumed the French editorial office in the Paris branch according to the request of the party group of xinhua news agency, and organized the Berlin, Rome and Bucharest branches to strengthen client coverage in German, Italian and Romanian. In order to expand the communication power, I dispatched the editorial staff of the general branch to create the "Xinhua Europe" bilingual client in Chinese and English, and created a new external propaganda platform for Xinhua News Agency in Europe.
In 2014, on the night of the launch of the "Xinhua Europe" client in Brussels, where the EU headquarters is located, French Prime Minister Valls, Spanish Prime Minister Lajoy and other dignitaries congratulated "Xinhua Europe" with inscriptions. The mainstream media and websites of more than ten countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Spain, Italy, Albania, Finland, Latvia and other countries reported on the launch of the "Xinhua Europe" client, of which the Italian mainstream media AGI News Agency reported in six languages and text, pictures and videos. The number of download users in the few months of the client opening exceeded 10 million, which aroused the great attention of the Western media.
Compete with the West for the right to speak
In 2011, the BBC made a documentary called "Chinese Is Coming", which is divided into two episodes to describe the situation of Chinese in Africa and overseas. The film is full of Westerners' discomfort with China's rise, both jealous and hostile. The film discredits China-Africa relations through storytelling and discredits China's image overseas. At that time, I was serving as the director of the Africa Branch of Xinhua News Agency. After seeing the BBC documentary, the duty and mission required me to resolutely refute the smear of the West and defend the national interest. I immediately asked the relevant reporters to write a manuscript and effectively counterattacked.
In 2012, seeing that China's influence in Africa is getting bigger and bigger, there are more and more friends, and Africa's feelings for China are getting better and better, the United States and other Western countries began to spread rumors that China is engaged in "neo-colonialism" in Africa. In accordance with the requirements of the head office, I organized and planned a series of manuscripts on "The World Significance of the Chinese Road" and "China Is Not Engaged in Neocolonialism," which forcefully refuted the rumors of the United States and the West.
In 2016, Europe suffered a crisis in the steel industry, and some Western media pointed the finger at China. In response to the false reports of the Western media on the Chinese economy, I immediately organized a report to expound China's efforts to solve the crisis in the steel industry, refute the trade protectionist tendencies of Europe and the United States, clarify the facts, and correct the public. While organizing criticism and refutation, I organized reporters to organically combine China's economy, China's economic and trade interaction with Europe, and other issues to strengthen China-related reports, especially China-related economic reports. Take the initiative to interview and collect influential experts and scholars in Europe, as well as the remarks of politicians from various countries, such as former French Prime Minister Raffarin and "Mr. Brics" O'Neill, etc., singing the theory of China's economic brightness.
The key to competing for international discourse power is how to set the agenda and lead the topic. It can be said that in today's international public opinion field, whoever grasps the right to set the topic and who can lead the topic will take the initiative in the international public opinion field.
In 2016, on the eve of the General Secretary's visit to Serbia and Poland, I organized branches in Warsaw, Madrid, Belgrade, Budapest, Athens, Sarajevo and other branches to conduct in-depth research on the construction progress and difficulties of the "Belt and Road" in Europe, covering important contents such as China-Europe express trains, economic and trade cooperation, and difficulties in promoting.
In order to tell the Story of China well, in 2016, I organized the General Branch to take the initiative to set up topics, carefully organized the publicity of major themes such as the governance of the Party Central Committee, the "Chinese Dream", "Four Comprehensives", "Belt and Road", and the G20 Hangzhou Summit; focused on the overall national strategic situation and the overall situation of diplomatic work, and launched reports on major diplomatic activities visited by General Secretary Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang and other national leaders to Europe; at the same time, around major China-related events such as China's market economy status and the Terrorist attacks in Paris, the Greek financial crisis, Major international events such as the European refugee crisis have taken the initiative to speak out, actively seized the right to speak, and organized a series of reports. Two reporters from the General Branch and the Hague Branch who participated in the reporting of the illegal arbitration case in the South China Sea were praised by many parties for taking the initiative in their interviews and reports and vigorously safeguarding China's core interests.
Dare to speak out, be good at speaking out, take the lead in major reports, and use important events and important nodes to actively set topics in order to lead the topic. Speaking with facts and impressing talents with true stories is an effective way to spread Chinese voices. During my time in Africa, I took advantage of the important node of the International Children's Day to organize and plan dozens of Chinese and foreign language pictures and video manuscripts such as "African Children Need More Attention from the International Community - Interview with the UnICEF Regional Director of Eastern and Southern Africa", "Interview: For the Rights and Interests of Women and Children, We Will Continue to Work", "Where is the Future of Refugee Camp Children", "The Red Sun Rising in the Refugee Camp", "Ugandan Children Love Chinese Martial Arts", etc., introducing the real Africa to the world, by introducing the real Africa, Spread Chinese views and Chinese voices to enhance China-Africa friendship.
In order to compete with Western media for the right to speak, in 2012, the Africa Branch of Xinhua News Agency opened "Xinhua SMS" and "Xinhua Mobile Newspaper" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Dr. Congo) and Nigeria, respectively, with a total of more than 300,000 users in two months. The continuous expansion of Xinhua News Agency's influence in Africa has aroused great concern in the West, and the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Germany's Le Monde, and France International have all written articles commenting on the influence of Xinhua News Agency in Africa, and Oxford University has taken Xinhua News Agency's influence in Africa as a key academic research object.
▲ Wang Chaowen was appointed As UnArcq-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Environment Steiner.
In the past 40 years, I have experienced countless unforgettable and magnificent years, had the privilege of witnessing and recording countless exciting historical moments, interviewed many major historical events, interviewed many national dignitaries and world celebrities, witnessed China's reform and opening up and the process of going to the world, and participated in and witnessed the process of Xinhua News Agency going to the world. Thanks to the party's cultivation of me and the trust placed in me by the party group of Xinhua News Agency, I have been able to study, temper and grow in more than ten different positions in the work of Xinhua News Agency in the past 40 years of work, and have allowed me to grow from an ignorant young journalist to a news all-rounder with certain practical combat and management experience. I would also like to thank all the old leaders and comrades who have supported me, and all the comrades who have worked with me, and my growth path is inseparable from their help and support.
Although I bid farewell to my front-line posts, I will never forget that I am a soldier on the international communication front, and I will always work tirelessly to help the motherland's external propaganda cause and strive for the international communication that I love all my life.
[Note: This article was published in China Reporter, No. 12, 2021]
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