As part of China's ongoing crackdown on news, president Xi Jinping has ordered journalists to learn "Marxist news values" and uphold the values of the ruling Communist Party.
Journalists "must learn to master Marxist news values", according to guidelines issued by the All China Journalists' Association, published by the official Xinhua news agency.
“Let us hold high the banner of socialist core values,” the report said.
There have been several measures tightening control of domestic media this year.
In July the media watchdog, the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, said it would increase restrictions on journalists revealing state secrets and commercial information.
In August last year, the propaganda department announced that more than 300,000 reporters, producers and editors would have to pass a new ideology exam to keep their press cards, and do training in Marxist news values.
Losing control online
All media are carefully watched by the Communist Party in China – the biggest broadcaster, Chinese
Central Television
(CCTV), is directly run by the government, as are the major papers such as
People’s Daily
and the
Global Times
.
Mr Xi has called for greater convergence between traditional media and new media, but maintaining control of this burgeoning sector has proved difficult.
The growing popularity of online media has been hard for the Chinese government to keep tabs on, despite the system of internet controls known as the Great Firewall of China.