More efforts are urged to study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on news reporting and public opinion, and local journalism professionals must adhere to correct political orientation when accelerating the high-quality development of the Jingzhou’s mainstream media, and strengthening the penetration and credibility of the media and its ability to guide and influence, a senior city official stressed. Wu Jin, Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee, called for concrete measures to raise the city’s key media organizations’ abilities to communicate, so as to empower the construction of the demonstration zones for high-quality development in Jianghan Plain at a symposium on improving the publicity work of the city’s major media outlets on the afternoon of February 13.

Zhou Zhihong, Mayor of Jingzhou and Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee, Zhou Xiangyang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee, and other officials Li Shuibin, Liu Huiping, Xia Guanghong and Yan Hong attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Liu Huiping, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee and head of the city’s publicity department.

Wu highly appreciated the achievements made in the city’s information and publicity work. He pointed out that the city’s mainstream media outlets had stuck to the CPC’s leadership and Marxist news outlook, maintained the right tone in public communication, and focused on positive coverage over the past few years. He also fully acknowledged the contribution made by such media in cultivating a favorable environment of public opinion for advancing the construction of the demonstration zones for high-quality development in Jianghan Plain by serving the people’s overall interests, ensuring that positive energy and mainstream values prevail, and boosting public morale.

Wu said that promoting the high-quality development of the city’s key media outlets is a specific measure to carry out the major decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and to strengthen the Party’s leadership in the ideological sphere, a reform and innovation for following the trend of the times and improving the systems for communications across all forms of media, and a must for picking up pace in transformation and enhancing the city influence. He urged efforts to enhance political stance, keep pace with the trends of the times and constantly adjust the strategies and policies in accordance with changing circumstances, in a bid to remain clearheaded about the situation, seize the initiative, increase the influence and competitiveness of mainstream media, and create a new environment of mainstream public opinion.

Wu stressed the innovation on the basis of what had worked in the past, and reiterated the expectation for marked progress results in driving the high-quality development of the city’s key media outlets. He required that journalists and news industry workers maintain the right tone in public communication, give better play to the roles of media in supervision and participation, serve the economic and social development and encode positive energy into every aspect of the work on guiding public opinion. He said that in the digital age, the development of digital media and mobile media should be given top priority, and to seize an advantageous position in public communication and provide more excellent works in an era of convergence media, the roles of new-media platforms should be enhanced. He said new media should adhere to the concept of “Content is King”, and expected to see more methods could be used to capture even the most minute details in the process of presenting the city image, recording people’s unremitting endeavors and reflecting on the exploration with accurate description, vivid pictures and eye-catching videos. He also placed high priority on innovation, stressed industry mentality, the mindset of website flow, as well as the service-based business concepts, and pushed ahead with the mechanism innovation in areas of generating content, industrial development, distributing salaries, integrating platforms and marketing, with the aim of vigorously developing Media Plus industry and exercising sound and efficient governance in today’s media operations. He underscored the importance of developing a high-caliber, and quality work force for the journalism industry, including training, recruitment, and placement, thus giving full play to the role of talent.

Wu stressed that a responsibility system for the CPC’s leadership over ideological work must be put in place. He urged efforts to strengthen organization and leadership, enhance the mechanism of inter-departmental coordination, and consolidate and further improve the publicity work with extensive participation from the people from all sectors of society and various government departments. He underlined the enhancement of coordination, and asked for steady reform of convergence media, so as to forge a strong synergy to advance the quality development of Jingzhou’s key media organizations.

Zhou Zhihong said that the city’s Party-run media outlets should fulfill their responsibilities and missions, focus on the theme of high-quality development, fully carry out reform and innovation, and coordinate the resource utilization. She called for steady progress in digitalizing the traditional media, and adopting market-oriented work approach to expand brand influence, with the goals of telling Jingzhou’s stories well, spreading Jingzhou’s voice, showcasing Jingzhou’s image, and creating a favorable environment of public opinion for constructing the demonstration zones for high-quality development in Jianghan plain. She urged relevant government departments to enhance the policy research, strengthen service guarantee, and fully support the high-quality development of the city’s key media outlets.

The persons in charge of Jingzhou Daily and Jingzhou Radio and Television Station reported their work during the meeting, and officials from relevant government departments also gave remarks on their work responsibilities.