In February 2021, Phoenix Satellite TV issued an internal notice appointing Sun Yusheng as the executive vice president of Phoenix Satellite TV, whose work is responsible to the chief executive officer; responsible for Phoenix Satellite TV's program planning, program style, program content, program production, and coordination of channel management. As the winner of the inaugural Taofen Journalism Award, Sun Yusheng, born in June 1960, is a native of Dunhua, Jilin Province. Before coming to Phoenix, he was best known for his more than 30 years of experience at China Central Television, serving as deputy director, deputy editor-in-chief and director of the news center.
During this period, the "Oriental Time and Space" column, which was planned and founded by Sun Yusheng, was not only the first morning program in the history of CCTV, but also created a revolution in the history of the development of television news in the mainland with its intention of "getting close to the masses and entering life" and the characteristics of "fresh news and plate-style magazine programs". "The gold cup and silver cup are not as good as the people's reputation", at that time, some viewers commented that after watching "Oriental Time and Space", "it was like just carrying back a fluttering live fish and a bundle of green vegetables from the morning market in the south".
In May last year, at the seminar on the re-edition of "Ten Years" written by Sun Yusheng, old colleagues Bai Yansong, Jing Yidan, and Shui Junyi attended the seminar. "Sometimes a lot of things are like this, one person is right, a group of people are right." Bai Yansong's evaluation of the old leader is a matter of faith.
He is low-key and calm, speaks slowly and logically, and does things vigorously, almost unanimously commenting from friends who are familiar with Sun Yusheng. And "reform" is a clear and recognizable keyword for combing through his personal resume. How can a news veteran who once presented a morning program that fell to the ground like "a fluttering live fish" to a large television audience turn to the once "fierce" Phoenix SATELLITE TV when he is close to retirement? It is undoubtedly quite remarkable.
The newly designed Phoenix SATELLITE TV starring studio He Jianmin photographed
At the beginning of the new year in 2022, the newly redesigned Phoenix Satellite TV shows itself in front of the global Chinese with a new style, new positioning and new pattern. Phoenix Satellite TV's Chinese Station, Information Station, Hong Kong Station, phoenix network along the characteristic positioning, matrix cultivation, benchmarking services and other innovative directions, completed the ontological, systematic and in-depth reform of the top-level design.
Hu Zhengrong, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, commented, "This is a new UP of the mainland media in the process of profound changes in the global media landscape, 'rising from the east and falling from the west' ... On the one hand, the entire Phoenix Satellite TV is more prominently based on Hong Kong and highlights the unique positioning of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; on the other hand, each sub-platform is also repositioned, highlighting the vertical development path. ”
Speaking of data, since the comprehensive revision for four weeks Chinese station's viewership data has risen continuously, with the overall ratings rising by 13% and the per capita viewing time rising by 25% in the first week. In terms of the "highlight" of the revision of Hong Kong, the ratings on the two paid platforms in Hong Kong, China, have also achieved a breakthrough of zero - last year's ratings on NOWTV and cable TV were basically unable to monitor data, and the viewership data can already be seen on these two pay TV platforms a week after the revision.
On January 18 this year, The Paper's reporter was invited to beijing Phoenix Center to conduct a video interview with Sun Yusheng, executive director, executive vice chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Phoenix Satellite TV and chairman of Phoenix New Media, who are far away in the headquarters office of Phoenix Satellite TV in Hong Kong. On the same day, it coincided with the thirtieth anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's 1992 inspection speech in the south. Naturally, the topic of the interview was first discussed by a series of TV documentaries that Sun Yusheng participated in that year, "Guangdong Trip" (which began on January 1, 1993). During the conversation, he did not change the northeast accent, and Sun Yusheng said that even at that time, he was no stranger to Guangdong.
Sun Yusheng was interviewed by The Paper. Photo by He Jianmin
"Guangdong Trip": "The Contrast between The North and South of Shenzhen"
"Before doing "Guangdong Trip", I was a reporter from the CCTV News Interview Department who ran the forestry mouth, went to Guangdong to interview afforestation and greening, and did a series of reports. That gave me an unexpected: green civilization and economic civilization are actually closely related. Guangdong is at the forefront of reform and opening up, the economy is relatively developed, and after the government has sufficient financial resources, it will pay for the purchase of saplings, which will be provided to the peasants free of charge, and the peasants will contract the barren mountains, and the proceeds after the greening of the barren mountains will be handed over to the peasants. This greatly mobilizes their enthusiasm for planting trees. At that time, Guangdong's afforestation and greening was at the forefront of the country, which many people did not know. When I was a forestry journalist, I came to Guangdong to run a lot of places, especially in some remote areas. ”
"In 1992, we filmed "Guangdong Trip" after Xiaoping's southern tour, a new ideological emancipation, so CCTV decided to make a series of programs showing Guangdong's reform and opening up. In what way is this theme expressed? There was a debate within the film crew at the time. Is it in the form of a political commentary film? Or is it expressed in documentary terms? Two techniques, two creative ideas. Later, it was decided to shoot the documentary in a documentary manner, and the response was very good after it was broadcast. ”
In Sun Yusheng's view, a total of 12 episodes of "Guangdong Trip" fully reflects the advantages of television media. "It was the sense of presence and reality that this form represented that completely changed my philosophy — that we should change our dull, newsletter-style traditional news programs in this way." This gave rise to the style of the "Oriental Time and Space" column launched on May Day in that year (1993), "This is a question of what form the content and theme of the TV program should be expressed in what form to express the effect better." Many times we do not lack good ideas, but lack good expressions. The documentary form of the TV column should start from "Oriental Time and Space". ”
At that time, the "Guangdong Trip" was based on the vision from north to south. Now working in Hong Kong, the exchange of physical space has given Sun Yusheng an observation angle from south to north, and the feeling of "thirty years of Hedong, thirty years of Hexi" came out of nowhere.
At the end of last year, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor formally proposed the development of the "Northern Metropolitan Area" in the new policy address. Sun Yusheng, who has been living in Hong Kong for more than half a year, noticed this big idea related to Hong Kong's future development, "Within a few days of the report, I went to the field to investigate. The northern metropolitan area is actually this area on the south side of the Shenzhen River. Before the reform and opening up, there was a 'great escape from Hong Kong', in which mainlanders smuggled themselves into the Shenzhen River and crossed the barbed wire into Hong Kong. It was the first time I looked north from this side of Hong Kong – when I shot "Guangdong Trip", Guangdong was at the forefront of opening up, especially Shenzhen was leaning on Hong Kong. Standing on the north side of the Shenzhen River, you can imagine the bright lights in the south. At that time, a trip to Hong Kong was a very luxurious thing for mainlanders. ”
Sun Yusheng recalled that during the filming of "Guangdong Trip", due to the inability to enter Hong Kong, the film crew could only experience the prosperity of Hong Kong in Zhongying Street in Sha Tau Kok in Shenzhen. "That small street is said to receive 100,000 people a day at its peak, and what impressed me more is that there are many shops selling electrical appliances on the side near Hong Kong, and all kinds of products are dazzling, which is very envious."
"Nowadays, looking at Shenzhen across the river and north, I think Shenzhen is very prosperous, and there are many high-rise buildings. On the south side of the Shenzhen River, it is very desolate, basically still in a state of undeveloped, and some of the houses are also low-rise. This is a very emotional thing, in 40 years, Shenzhen has changed from a small fishing village to a metropolis, and the GDP has already surpassed Hong Kong. The contrast between the north and south of the Shenzhen River should be studied by someone, what is the reason for this earth-shaking contrast and change? It is also a good topic for a special program, which has sociological and political economic significance. The editor-in-chief's self-questioning and self-answering unconsciously turned this interview into a topic selection meeting.
"Use your own signal" to broadcast Hong Kong's return to the motherland
In the 1991 Gulf War, CNN became famous with its 24-hour uninterrupted rolling field livestream. Live broadcasting has also become the last decade of the 20th century, and even if it enters the Internet era, real-time news presents the most intuitive form. As one of the unforgettable memories in the history of new Chinese news reporting: the return of Hong Kong in 1997, the first large-scale and long-term live broadcast in the history of Chinese television has long been recorded in history. It can be said that this is also the first time that China's television organizations have become the tv media that provide the main signal to the world in the reporting of major events in the world. Sun Yusheng, on the other hand, had a period of "intimate contact" with Hong Kong.
"The return of Hong Kong in 1997 is still vivid. At that time, I was responsible for the content of the program that returned to live broadcasting, and the technology was responsible for Ding Wenhua, who was the director of the broadcast center at the time. More than a year before the handover, we often traveled back and forth between the mainland and Hong Kong to prepare for the 97 live broadcast. Sun Yusheng recalled, "At that time, it was still the British government in Hong Kong, and it was not as convenient to enter and exit as it is now, and what was even more inconvenient was whose signal was used on the day of the handover ceremony?" ”
"Before the early morning of the 30th night, it belonged to British control, and then it was Chinese control, which was actually a matter of one second, but television equipment is a huge system, and it is reasonable to say that after the sovereignty is recovered, the signal should be made by us, and the British will use our signal." Before that, we have to use their signals. But television broadcasting is not so simple, the camera has a language, but also a position. At that time, through the negotiation and coordination of the relevant departments, it was decided that the two companies were at the scene at the same time, before and after the handover of power at zero point, CCTV was on the scene, the BBC was also on the scene, the camera position was basically balanced, and each broadcast was using its own signal. Sun Yusheng said.
"For us, for Chinese television, doing such a large-scale live broadcast, it was set at 72 hours, and there were several events in these 72 hours, and we were the first time. In the whole three days of live broadcast of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, there are experiences - pioneering, recording history, and lessons, and many places are worth summarizing. Two years later, when Macao returned to the motherland, we were very mature in doing live broadcasting, and it should be said that it was seamless. The start of China's large-scale live television coverage was suddenly changed from zero to 72 hours, which is very historic. ”
Sun Yusheng recalled that the most direct lesson was that he did not know that live broadcasting needed to set up a regulatory "valve". "Because it's impossible for all the activities to be carried out exactly according to the established schedule, sometimes the start time is advanced, especially the end time often changes a lot. What exactly regulates this difference? It should be adjusted by the studio, so it is not okay to have only one host in the studio, there must be a guest, and two guests must be used when the change is large. Using the way the host and the guest chat to make the uncontrollable time controllable, which is a big experience we had in that live broadcast. ”
Since participating in the planning of the live broadcast of Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, sun Yusheng has basically made live broadcast signals on the spot since the five-year change of Hong Kong's chief executive. What made him sigh was that he was re-elected as chief executive in March this year, and took office in July, and his role as a TV person changed, "I was originally the producer of the live broadcast signal, and now as the editor-in-chief of Phoenix, I am the user of the CCTV live broadcast signal." ”
In 2011, Sun Yusheng hosted the establishment of a global news reporting network on CCTV. The Asia-Pacific Center station is located in Hong Kong, "Since then, I have also come to Hong Kong many times, and I am actually not very unfamiliar with Hong Kong." Since last year, Phoenix has been here for 10 months, and I have adapted faster than I thought. Judging from the current situation, I will spend most of the time in Hong Kong and a small part of my time in Beijing. ”
Sun Yusheng, "Ten Years: Starting from Changing the Voice of Television (Collector's Edition)"
"Rebuilding Hong Kong Station" in the Era of Convergent Media
Early last year, Sun Yusheng and Xu Wei from Shanghai came to Phoenix TV. Mr. Xu is now the chairman of the board and chief executive officer, presiding over the overall work of Phoenix Satellite TV Group. I am the Editor-in-Chief and am responsible for the group's content. "Speaking of which, both are peers in the radio and television industry, and it is even more coincidental that the two have intersected at work before." In 2010, Mr. Xu was in charge of the publicity management of the Shanghai World Expo, and at that time I was the deputy director of CCTV and the director of the Press Center, responsible for the coverage of the World Expo. At the busiest time, CCTV stationed a reporting team of more than 200 people at the Expo site and built a studio in the Expo Park. At that time, I often met with Mr. Xu, but I didn't expect that now we are coming to Phoenix together, and we have a tacit understanding of cooperation. ”
"Phoenix's transformation first emphasizes its foothold in Hong Kong, as an international Chinese-language media, we did not work much in Hong Kong. In the past in the public opinion ecology in Hong Kong, the influence of the phoenix should be said to be equal to nothing, and the Hong Kong public did not regard the phoenix as a local media. ”
For example, Sun Yusheng said that there is a Hong Kong station (Yu wei Chinese station, information station, and phoenix network) in Phoenix Satellite TV's "three stations and one network", "Hong Kong station has always been spread in two cable paying user platforms." Our channel itself doesn't charge, but Hong Kong residents have to pay a fee to watch cable TV at home, so the coverage itself is smaller. Moreover, in the 10 years since the establishment of Hong Kong Station, there has been insufficient investment, and when we came, there were more than a dozen employees maintaining this channel. Therefore, since we want to base ourselves in Hong Kong, we must strengthen the awareness of serving local audiences and consider what aspects we can meet the needs of local audiences. ”
"Based in Hong Kong" and strengthening the dissemination of Cantonese can be described as the top priority of this revision. Phoenix TV has 60 press stations in major countries and regions around the world, and has a unique global news reporting network for Hong Kong media. The revised version of Hong Kong Tv makes full use of this unique advantage to provide Hong Kong, Mainland and global major news and local people's livelihood news with three news programs in the morning, middle and evening of the Hong Kong Morning Post, Noon Express and Global News Report, and broadcasts one hour each daily, using Cantonese to provide Hong Kong, Mainland and global major news and local people's livelihood news.
Lin Yanling, a famous Hong Kong TV anchor known as "Peter Pan", has joined Hong Kong Station to host the evening prime-time news "Global News Report"
Sun Yusheng (right) discusses the details of the broadcast with the host of the "Phoenix Noon Train". Photo by He Jianmin
"In the past few months, we have basically rebuilt The Hong Kong Station." Sun Yusheng told the surging news reporter, "The newly revised Hong Kong TV is very different from the past. The first is that we've increased the number of news programs, which is basically three times the original. There used to be only two news slots, half an hour each, but now there are three tidbits of news, one hour each. Then there is the Hong Kong radio in the past 10 years, has never broadcast TV series and variety shows, we have made a targeted supplement this time, especially the TV series, broadcast two times a day in Hong Kong, each is two episodes of simulcast, every day equivalent to 4 episodes of TV series, plus replay, should be a large dose. ”
According to reports, the revised Hong Kong TV has introduced more than 200 (nearly 5,000 episodes) of head dramas and variety shows from mainland TV stations and video websites from iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video, etc., covering popular Hong Kong and Taiwan artists and suspense, emotion, food, cute pets and other themes that are popular with the Hong Kong people. These large doses of high-quality film and television variety entertainment content have undoubtedly become a scarce resource unique to similar media in Hong Kong. In line with the real needs of the Hong Kong people, "service service and re-service" is another major selling point of the Hong Kong taiwan revision. New programmes such as the health program "Dan Qiu Health", the Kanyu program "Xuan Lai is Ugly" for skygazing, stargazing and meteorological viewing, and "Golden Stock QiMing", which provides real-time financial and financial information for hong Kong and investors in the Greater Bay Area, will all be staged one after another.
"TV dramas and variety shows are entertainment programs, and I think entertainment is the original attribute of television. Whether it is domestic or foreign, the mainland or Hong Kong, the ratings of entertainment programs are very high. Sun Yusheng is quite pleased that the original Hong Kong station basically has no viewership data in the local area, and the data began to be available a week after the revision, "although the current data is very small, it has begun to change." According to my prediction, after the reconstruction of Hong Kong TV, the future change of Hong Kong TV's viewership data will not be very slow, because this is a gap that meets the needs of Hong Kong audiences and is filled by us. ”
According to the regulations of the local television industry in Hong Kong, the prerequisite for obtaining a free television license is that the program language must have an English channel in addition to Chinese channels. "This should be the rule of the British government before the handover, and it is incomprehensible that it will continue after 25 years of the handover." This provision invisibly raises the threshold for applying for a free TV license, and we also note that it is already the era of media integration. Sun Yusheng believes that in such a situation, it is obviously unwise to only consider the communication channels of traditional television media. Before leaving Beijing, he had been in charge of the new media department of CCTV, "CCTV News was founded by me, and after 5G the year before, I founded the CCTV video client, which was relatively early in the mainland." ”
The "Pot Drama Time" Theater began to launch the first batch of TV dramas in January, and every Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 12:00 pm, the suspense drama "Icebreaker Action" and the fantasy love drama "Dear Living Ancestor" produced by iQiyi have been broadcast.
Speaking of media convergence, Sun Yusheng mentioned a book that inspired him in recent years. "Online, written by Wang Jian, chairman of Alibaba Group's technical committee, is a very well written book. I have not seen Wang Jian so far, he was not an academician at that time. After reading "Online", I also recommended to Ding Wenhua, who was already an academician, that Wang Jian should become an academician. Wang Jian was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2019, and it is not known whether Ding Wenhua voted for him or not. ”
"I read 'Online' very seriously, and the book mentions a concept: big data is not 'big', but online. In Google Maps, the data has long been available, not Google's, but the data can be navigated online. This gave me an inspiration that big data only becomes a new resource after it is online. This is actually very similar to our live TV, that is, zero time difference, synchronization. Live television has become the media with the largest audience, which has a lot to do with its zero time difference. The charm of live broadcasting is that it is full of suspense and unknown due to synchronization, especially when the live broadcast is live, especially when the live broadcast is sudden, because the audience wants to see the scene. Therefore, when major events occur, doing live reporting can achieve a media, the earliest is CNN, before the Phoenix Satellite TV in the live broadcast of this piece is also good, Wu Xiaoli in the Great Hall of the People to ask the premier a question, it can be said that a question of fame. Sun Yusheng said.
"Due to the rapid advancement of 5G, the form of online live video broadcasting is also rapidly evolving. When Wuhan was locked down, it took ten days to build two hospitals, Vulcan Mountain and Leishen Mountain, can it be realized? There is a lot of suspense, and this is the biggest advantage of online live broadcasting, so I let the central video that has just been launched quickly set up a camera to two construction sites, and the 24-hour backhaul video signal is broadcast online, there is no explanation, only white noise, and the daily active data of the central video rises sharply, and finally doubles several times. In the history of world communication, 'slow live broadcasting' has thus entered the room and begun to intervene in the reporting of major news events. Sun Yusheng added.
Back to the revision of Phoenix Satellite TV, when preparing for the new media, Sun Yusheng repeatedly held internal planning meetings and had a motion to launch "Hong Kong V". "Originally, I was going to call it Hong Kong video, but my Hong Kong colleagues said that the concept of video is actually quite mainlandized, and Hong Kong does not express it in this way, so I gave up." The English language of the video is video, and the name 'Hong Kong V' is based on this, and it also carries the 'victory' lipstick. Hong Kong V is still in the preparatory stage, and after we go online, we will use 'Hong Kong V' to spread the content of Hong Kong TV. Of course, it is not a simple porting, to turn 'Hong Kong V' into a Cantonese client, a new media platform, only The content of Hong Kong Station is certainly not enough, it will have a lot of originality itself, especially it will expand the breadth and strength of Cantonese communication through international social media. ”
Talking about the future communication strategy of Phoenix Satellite TV Hong Kong, Sun Yusheng proposed that Hong Kong TV and "Hong Kong V", which use Cantonese communication as the main content, do not consider entering the mainland for the time being, "We are targeting Hong Kong audiences. Now the transformation of many traditional media is to use traditional media to graft new media, this time we want to "install" Hong Kong Station in turn into 'Hong Kong V', so that 'Hong Kong V' and Hong Kong Taiwan can operate in an integrated manner. It must be the way of thinking of new media, and it must be the way of communication in the era of mobile Internet, which is the focus of our next step in architecture. ”
Serving Hong Kong, "Cantonese Journalism Talent,
We welcome you."
Hong Kong and Taiwan do not consider entering the Chinese mainland for the time being, but the "Greater Bay Area" game of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao has been included in the overall consideration of Phoenix Satellite TV, "The entire Greater Bay Area speaks Cantonese, we will regard the Greater Bay Area as an important interview resource, and tell the news and stories of the Greater Bay Area to the Hong Kong audience through our channels and platforms." Sun Yusheng deeply understands this, "Nowadays, Guangdong and Hong Kong are indeed inseparable, and the exchanges of personnel between the two places are very frequent. Many of Phoenix's employees would have lived in Shenzhen without the epidemic, and it is much faster to work in Hong Kong than in Beijing from the suburbs to the city center. In the past two years, many mainland employees have gone back, and we are now facing the difficulty of shortage of employees. ”
When it comes to the local media environment in Hong Kong, Sun Yusheng also has a clear sense of urgency. "In the past, when we came to do the live broadcast of the CHANGE OF THE SAR government, we always dealt with the Hong Kong media, so I also had some friends in the Hong Kong media. This time, I can really feel that although Hong Kong is only a city of 7.2 million people – in the mainland, there are more than 10 million people – but the media here is highly developed, it is also highly saturated, and the competition is very fierce. Although he still adheres to the judgment of individuals more than ten years ago, "the media has developed to the audiovisual stage, and video is the highest form of communication, which has not changed for more than a hundred years, and will not change in the future, what has changed is the channel, terminal and presentation method." At the same time, Sun Yusheng also admitted that as far as he knows, the media that makes videos in Hong Kong are not yet profitable, "all are facing a difficult situation." ”
In the book "Ten Years", Sun Yusheng combined his own experience of "ten years of exploration of news reform" to specifically explore how television can build a benign "public opinion ecology" space. He believes that no matter in which region, the media is ecologically distributed, each has its own positioning, each has its own style, and has its own way of living, but one thing is common, that is, they are all pursuing the maximization of communication and the maximization of influence. "On this basis, there is another point that should be common, that is, the social responsibility of the media, no matter how the media changes, this point should remain unchanged."
In Sun Yusheng's view, Hong Kong, as an international metropolis, should be diversified and diversified. "But there seems to be a lack of a media like Phoenix TV here." Although there are many Hong Kong media, there are not many international media, basically local media, whether it is traditional newspapers and periodicals, or later radio and television, are mainly local, the audience is local, and the material of news is basically local. As far as I know, the Local English-language south China Morning Post in Hong Kong is international, but Chinese media, especially in the field of television, it is almost impossible to say that any media is international. ”
"Phoenix SATELLITE TV has established 60 journalist stations in the world in recent years, which is an international media. We have a lot of original international news, not like the usual local media, which is broadcast by other world news agencies. However, Phoenix localization has not done well in the past, and we are planning to embed Cantonese journalists in important overseas journalist stations to increase the ability to report on major events in Cantonese. At the same time, it will also increase the number of local news reports in Hong Kong, so that Hong Kong Tv will not only become an authoritative channel for the release of important international and domestic news in Cantonese, but also provide more comprehensive local information services for Hong Kong citizens. So cantonese-speaking journalists, we welcome you! During the interview, Sun Yusheng laughed and said that his Cantonese was not good, "My sensitivity to news is OK, and the sensitivity to language is very general, but I require the reporters and production staff of Hong Kong Station and 'Hong Kong V' to use Cantonese, must be Hong Kong, and must use more Hong Kong employees." ”
Photo by He Jianmin of Phoenix SATELLITE TV Hong Kong Tv
Hong Kongization must pay attention to the local people's livelihood. "From the perspective of doing journalism, a very important principle is proximity. The news that Hong Kong people pay the most attention to is local news. 'Subdivided house' is a very hot word in Hong Kong, I also specifically checked the dictionary, I know what it means, that is, to cut a complete suite into several sets, and then rent it to others. After cutting into several sets, there is also a small bathroom in each set, which can live independently, but it is very small, only a few square meters, the facilities are very poor, and some Hong Kong families of three or even four people are crowded in such a few square meters of space to live. How many people live in such houses in Hong Kong? More than 200,000. In Sun Yusheng's view, this problem can be said to be the "shame of Hong Kong", "the same is the former 'Four Little Dragons', Singapore did not have this problem." The SAR government is not without money, the entire area of Hong Kong is currently only 22% developed, and there are still large areas of vacant land, but due to various reasons such as environmental protection and interests, these vacant land cannot be used to build houses, which is really strange. ”
"Last October, we did six debate programs on this issue, which is also the largest program since the establishment of Hong Kong's Taiwan Station, called "Farewell to the Great Debate of the Subdivided House". We invited Hong Kong government officials, real estate elites, Legislators, Hong Kong People's Congress deputies, and also invited representatives of relevant social organizations, households and environmental protection groups, etc., plus the audience asked questions on the spot, and the debate scene collided views, and the atmosphere was warm. I would like to emphasize that this debate program is not an entertainment show, nor does it have a positive and negative side, but an expression of true opinion. We are also the only media outlet in Hong Kong so far to do this theme in a debate format. After the broadcast, the response was very good, and after I told the director of Radio Television Hong Kong that we had made such a program, he said that they could broadcast it. We are ready to continue this kind of program. ”
"Debate makes the facts clearer and clearer, and the truth becomes clearer and clearer." In Sun Yusheng's view, there is also a topic in Hong Kong that is very suitable for debate, that is, whether Hong Kong needs reform or not, "In the past 40 years, the mainland has undergone such great changes because of reform. Without reform in Hong Kong, the land problem of bidding farewell to subdivided houses cannot be solved unless land is reclaimed, but it will take 20 years to solve the problem of subdivided houses in this way. It's not that there is no money, it's not that there is no land, it's how this land is bound by a lot of rules and regulations in the past. I once attended a local media symposium in Hong Kong, and a vice president of TVB said that what rules and regulations on the issue of subdivided houses cannot be changed? Nor is it god-ordained. Frankly speaking, after I came here, I found that Hong Kong's efficiency in some aspects is still very low, especially in the past few years of continuous social unrest, many bills cannot be decided, and many things can be seen clearly but cannot be implemented. Among the Four Asian Tigers, Hong Kong once surpassed Singapore a lot, but now it has long been surpassed by Singapore. I also chatted with local friends here, they know the mainland very well, and joked that this kind of housing problem of more than 200,000 poor people really pulled China State Construction (China State Construction Group Co., Ltd.) over, as long as there is land, within two years, these 200,000 people will definitely live in new homes. I think that whether Hong Kong needs reform or not is still worth debating, when Roosevelt's New Deal was reform, increasing state intervention, and the results were immediate. Reform is also the proper meaning of Hong Kong's next development. ”
"Pinzi three 'mouths', say good to yourself,
Experts say yes, audiences say yes"
A while ago, the conflict in Russia and Ukraine became increasingly tense, and when the Phoenix News client was opened, Lu Yuguang, a well-known journalist in Russia, wore a leather hat and goggles, and behind him was a Russian tank cluster under the snow. He sends video reports from the Russian-Ukrainian border almost daily. "In the past two days, our correspondents in Europe have entered Ukraine again, to the Ukrainian-Russian border, and our correspondents have entered the Russian-Ukrainian border and the Ukrainian-Russian border." Sun Yusheng said, "After the Taliban returned to power last year, Phoenix was the first international media to send journalists into Kabul, and there was no second. ”
As an international Chinese-speaking media, international news reporting has always been the strength of Phoenix TV. Sun Yusheng said that after the comprehensive revision, this aspect will only be strengthened, not weakened. Photo by He Jianmin
"Run" faster than anyone? The style of Phoenix TV is still unchanged. Sun Yusheng is quite proud that at last year's high-level dialogue between China and the United States in Alaska, "the reporters of Phoenix TV changed the agenda of the first round of talks." "When I got the news to talk, I had just arrived in Phoenix and said I must send a reporter over." The United States has our press station, and at the beginning it was said to send a group, but according to my experience, we should send two groups, one group of reporters inside the venue and one group of reporters outside. I have been involved in this kind of major international occasion in the past, and I know very well how journalists are regulated, one group in the venue, one group in the corridor. I told the reporter that at the critical moment, I had to shout two sentences, and once I answered, it would become news. ”
The result is known to everyone. Diplomacy is about reciprocity, and according to the plan, after the speeches of both China and the United States, the reporters left. But U.S. Secretary of State Blinken clearly had something to say and signaled reporters not to leave. After the US side made a tough statement, it directly asked the Chinese reporter to leave. "This is unreasonable, at this time our reporter shouted, 'Please Director Yang to leave us behind!' Live recording at the same time. (Yang Jiechi spoke: 'Why are you afraid that the reporter is present?'" There's no need to be afraid of journalists being there, right? Isn't it about democracy? You, the United States, have two rounds of speeches, and you should also give the Chinese side the right to speak in two rounds. Our reporter really stayed and recorded the sound of the scene before it was disseminated. ”
In the book "Ten Years", Sun Yusheng once proposed that "do not do a column that replaces others, but to do a column that others cannot replace." Today, he still sees it this way, "We should think well about the positioning of Hong Kong Station, in such a fierce competitive environment, as a latecomer, how to survive here and improve our influence here?" To do a thing to replace others, it is estimated that it is very difficult, TVB is called a big station here, which is equivalent to the mainland CCTV, accounting for about 80% of the market share, is irreplaceable, at that time ATV did not compete for it. Not to mention TVB, even several other TV media we are difficult to replace. We just want to find our own irreplaceability and be an international local media. Phoenix SATELLITE TV has a news report network in the world, and we know it very well in the mainland, which is the biggest difference from local media. The next step is to recruit some Cantonese journalists to embed them in the main press stations, including the United States, Europe and some other major regional stations. If you want to narrow the distance of transmission, you must first start with the language, and be sure to use the local language (Cantonese). ”
He graduated from the Department of Economics of Jilin University in 1984 and was assigned to the newly established Economic Department of CCTV in the same year. For many years, I have been on the front line of the television industry, and in addition to my busy work, my habit of reading books has not changed. In addition to the "Online", during small talk, he also recommended Snowden's autobiography "Permanent Record" to reporters, which Sun Yusheng believed may have been ignored by many Chinese readers, exposing the hypocrisy of the US government from another angle. "The book published in 2019, I read last year. After the 9/11 incident was mentioned in the book, the US intelligence agencies concluded that the reason why the terrorist attack was not detected in time was because the monitoring of communications was insufficient, so the United States introduced a secret plan at that time, "monitoring the world, permanent preservation, and access at any time." The U.S. government and some media often accuse Huawei of being unsafe, and the Chinese government can monitor U.S. institutions and citizens through its 'backdoor,' but it is the United States that monitors the world, and they do not spare calls from former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ”
Looking back at the 1980s, one of the books that impressed Sun Yusheng was former US President Jimmy Carter's autobiography "Why Not the Best". Sun Yusheng said that the specific content of the book is no longer remembered, but this sentence has always been the "mantra" of his career. "I often say that the media should pursue quality communication, because this is the fundamental point of enhancing influence. The three 'mouths' of the character are to say good to themselves, good to experts, and good to the audience. In pursuit of quality communication, we must always ask ourselves, what is the best? Why not the best? What's the best? Phoenix should have more reports like our reporters' interviews in Alaska, like our reporters entering Afghanistan, and more reporters entering the Russian-Ukrainian border and the Ukrainian-Russian border. Good is always relative, and in practical work there is often no best, only better. I also often remind our employees that they must often ask themselves what is news, what is becoming news, and what will become news, which is a very important sign of whether you can be a good journalist and a good media organization. ”
On New Year's Day 2022, Xu Wei (back row center right) and Sun Yusheng (back row center left) inspected the first day of the revision in the main control room of the studio. Photo by He Jianmin
"Based in Hong Kong, facing the global Chinese is the new positioning of Phoenix Satellite TV, and the mission of Mr. Xu and me is to lead a good team and revitalize Phoenix." Phoenix's goal is also very clear, that is, to build a world-class Chinese-language media. Hong Kong needs such a media, and China also needs such a media to tell the Chinese story well through the phoenix, spread the Chinese voice, especially through our dissemination to enhance the global Chinese people's sense of identity and cohesion with Chinese culture and the Chinese nation. At the end of this interview, Sun Yusheng said.
Source: The Paper