Spokespersons call for improved system for spreading messages

Improving China's news release system to better engage with the public and address their concerns was emphasized by spokespersons at various levels of government at the Fourth China Spokesperson Forum in Beijing on Saturday.

Mo Gaoyi, director of the State Council Information Office, said news releases should be rooted in the public's perspective, aimed at delivering authoritative information to a broad audience and meet societal expectations.

China's spokesperson mechanism, established in the 1980s, has become a key channel for public communication. The forum, hosted by the Renmin University of China, brought together more than 100 spokespersons from local and central government departments, State-owned enterprises and academia to assess progress and propose reforms to enhance the system's effectiveness.

Mo called for a comprehensive framework to support spokespersons in fulfilling their roles.

"Establishing an information aggregation system would enable spokespersons to gather key information and better understand the broader picture," he said. "Additionally, news should be released in diverse formats and accompanied by public opinion research and impact assessments."

Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said spokespersons must be able to clearly convey complex policy matters.

"They should have a deep understanding of policies and be able to translate policy language into terms the public can easily grasp," he said.

China has seen a steady increase in the number and frequency of news conferences across all levels of government, supported by a structured release system and increasingly professional spokesperson teams, said Zhou Qing'an, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University.

The Foreign Ministry held 230 news conferences last year, during which spokespersons answered more than 2,500 questions from both domestic and foreign reporters, according to ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun. The ministry remains the only foreign affairs department in the world to hold news conferences on every working day, Guo said.

Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, shared the ministry's efforts to promptly address environmental concerns through news releases, emphasizing the importance of making technical environmental information accessible to the public.

Shen Zhanli, spokesperson for the Ministry of Emergency Management, reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to openness and transparency.

"We provide timely information and organize experts to offer professional explanations after emergencies, helping to clarify confusion and ease public anxiety," she said.

Participants stressed the need for the spokesperson system to evolve alongside the rapidly changing media environment, and to actively adopt new tools such as social media and artificial intelligence.

Panel discussions following the forum addressed topics including shaping public expectations, responding to public opinion and further developing the spokesperson system.