Dare not spread internationally？ Five new dimensions to enhance ability
Author: Zhang Xiaojun
Source: All Media Exploration, March 2024
Under the background of deep integration, how to give full play to the advantages of media at all levels to do international communication is not only the duty and mission of telling local development stories well and showing a good image to the outside world, but also an inevitable measure to enhance their competitiveness and influence.
In the all-media environment, how to smooth the channels of publicity and innovate the means of communication is a subject that media at all levels must face and think about.
New vision: vision determines the realm
With China’s comprehensive national strength and increasing international influence, telling the story of China to the world in international communication language has become a compulsory course for domestic media. Media people should learn to look at new things in China from an international perspective, be good at discovering China stories, and use diversified communication means to empathize with international audiences to create international communication influence.
Many grass-roots media are used to positioning themselves as regional media, and don’t want to or even dare to spread internationally. In fact, whether the international communication effect is good or not depends on the news events themselves. No matter the size or level of the media, as long as the news events they pay attention to have the nature of international communication, they should learn to internationalize the stories. To promote the construction of international communication ability, we must carefully build a language framework for foreign communication and enhance innovation, empathy and credibility.
In April, 2020, Qilu. com tracked and reported the situation of Shandong Province’s support to Africa in fighting the epidemic around the clue that Qingdao Hyde Group built isolation houses in Burkina Faso. This case is a powerful attempt by county-level financial media to systematically promote international communication by using linkage resources. The Media Center in Shinan District of Qingdao made full use of enterprise and provincial media resources to form a three-level linkage reporting model among provinces, counties and enterprises, gave full play to the advantages of new media platforms such as network and client, integrated the use of graphic, video, H5 and other media reporting methods, and tracked and reported this incident in all directions through foreign embassies, overseas editions of China Daily and other publicity channels, and told the story of China in Shandong practice on the international stage.
China’s assistance to the groundbreaking ceremony of the isolation room renovation project of Yalgado Hospital in Burkina Faso.
New content: Tell stories of good people, cities and cultures.
Storytelling is the best way to spread internationally. For grass-roots media, telling the story of China well means telling the stories around us, the stories of development and the cultural stories that we are proud of.
First, make a fuss about major events, take the "highlight" as the guide, and promote the innovation of international communication reports.
In the external communication, we can tell the story of China fully and vividly through our special skill-thematic reporting. For example, around the diplomatic theme of the great powers in September 2022, when the Chairman of the Supreme Leader attended the Summit of the SCO in Samarkand, Qingdao News Network cultivated the big V account of the sea media "Qingqing Island Master" and carefully planned six series of short video original reports, which became the explosion of communication. This series of works starts from a small incision and speaks with cases and data, focusing on the vivid practice of "running a good meeting and invigorating a city" in Qingdao, Shandong Province after the Shanghai Summit in 2018.
The second is to make a fuss about "people", especially to tell the story of China with the help of "outside eyes".
In 2022, Shunwang planned to launch "Foreign Friends Explore the Spring City", inviting foreign friends from Chile, such as Fu Lei, Canada’s Jixiang and Austria’s Pete, to experience the spring scenery, food, culture and customs of Jinan, and tell a vivid story of the spring city from their perspectives. In addition to being widely spread in China, the work has also been spread on international social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with a cumulative page view of more than 58 million, which has spread the good voice of Jinan in a multi-dimensional, all-round and in-depth manner.
Third, make a fuss about China culture, strengthen the topic setting, and enrich cultural communication.
For example, lightning news does a good job of international communication around the Spring Festival every year. In the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger in 2022, Lightning News, in conjunction with the Southern District Media Center in Qingdao, launched a bilingual topic "Travel Notes of Finding the Tiger Ring", reporting that Qingdao, China, and new york, London and Edinburgh in the United States jointly released a video of "Tiger and Tiger" around the world, which set off the festive atmosphere of "Global Year of China" and made Chinese excellent traditional culture out of the "international model". In the Spring Festival of the Year of the Loong in 2024, Lightning News launched "New Year! "Dragon Dragon" teaches you to send good luck in six languages, "Teach you a Chinese dish" and other international communication works.
Lightning news work "New Year! "Dragon Dragon" teaches you to send good luck in six languages.
New form: visualization, viewpoint and socialization.
Traditional media and new media are deeply integrated, and visual elements such as pictures, videos and live broadcasts have greatly enriched the media. New media products such as H5, holography and interaction have further enriched the expression of international communication, and visualization, viewpoint and mobile socialization have become the normal state of international communication.
One is the visualization of information dissemination.. Media products are spread in various forms such as live broadcast, short video and micro-documentary, which is more in line with the information consumption needs and information receiving habits of the audience. "Discovering Shandong" series Vlog is a short video special report carefully created by Shandong, China Network. This special topic appeared by online celebrity, introducing Shandong cuisine, beautiful scenery and beautiful things in English, Japanese and Korean, and guiding foreign netizens to explore Shandong’s economic and social development achievements, long history and culture and beautiful natural scenery from the first perspective. In 2021, Shandong, China.com launched more than 50 issues of the "Discover Shandong" series, with a total view of 16 million, which effectively promoted the international spread of Shandong’s image.
The second is the viewpoint of information dissemination.On the mobile Internet, which is overloaded with information and noisy, authoritative and credible mainstream media comments are "hard currency" in the field of public opinion. This is equally applicable in the field of international public opinion communication. For example, in the face of such arguments as "China threat theory" and "China collapse theory" that discredit and distort China’s reports in the western public opinion field, China Daily launched a commentary column "To The Point", focusing on China’s economic growth, high-quality development, Sino-US trade friction and other topics. With detailed facts and data, humorous style and international audio-visual language, it is a powerful display on overseas social media platforms. For another example, at the Yellow River Culture Forum held in April 2023, Lightning News made full use of the opinions of experts and scholars from nine provinces (regions) along the Yellow River and well-known foreign experts to launch a series of short videos, showing the world a brand-new image of the Yellow River culture.
The third is the mobile socialization of information dissemination.. In the ten years since the development of media convergence, fragmentation, mobility and socialization have become the common forms of information dissemination, and international communication must also adapt to the new situation and do a good job in building the international communication capacity of mobile terminals. In this regard, most provincial media in Shandong have opened exclusive accounts on overseas social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and Instagram, which has become an important window to promote Qilu culture to the world. Shandong, China. com launched a special topic around the "Hello, Confucius | Hi, Conficius" international research activity in Nishan, online celebrity, and used overseas social media platform accounts to report in four languages at the same time, publishing more than 60 posts and tweets, interacting with foreign netizens and achieving good communication effects.
New Technology: Empowering International Communication with Application Convergence
With the full development of the new generation of information technology in the world in recent years, the comprehensive role of advanced technologies in different fields such as 5G, AI and VR has given international communication a new focus.
Take the application of virtual digital people as an example. From the Japanese "Hatsune Miku" to the Xinhua News Agency "New Macey", virtual digital people are becoming more and more mature in technology and widely used, which has aroused widespread concern around the world. "Hailan" is the first surreal digital host launched by Shandong Radio and Television. Since its debut in January 2023, it has appeared in large-scale events such as Shandong News Network and Cultural Travel Expo, and has become a spokesperson of Shandong culture to promote Shandong to the world and publicize its brand-new image. The digital twin "Su Xiaomei" takes the host Wang Su as the prototype, and opens up multilingual expressions such as French in the program "Speaking Chinese Characters in Su Xiaomei", which promotes the international spread of the program.
Not limited by time and place, the virtual human with high efficiency and accuracy has many natural advantages since its birth. Shandong Radio and Television Station is planning to let "Hailan" participate in the weather forecast broadcast, so as to realize the intelligent development of conventional columns.
New platform: building an international communication center closely following regional positioning.
A powerful international communication platform is an important carrier for international communication. In recent years, a number of regional international communication centers have been launched in various places closely following the strategic communication orientation of the country to the local area.
On November 26th, 2023, the launching ceremony of Shandong International Communication Center was held. With high standards and a high starting point, the center will build an international communication leading platform with wide influence at home and abroad, integrating the functions of international communication platform, communication content production, foreign cultural exchange, communication talent construction, international communication research and foreign discourse innovation, and strive to tell the Shandong chapter of China story well.
During the two sessions of the National People’s Congress in 2024, Shandong Radio and Television Station took advantage of the resources of Shandong International Communication Center, integrated the communication matrix of "two networks (Qilu network and Shandong, China network)+two ends (lightning news client and Shandong client) +N marine media accounts", and spread the good voice of Shandong through multiple channels around the themes of cultural "two innovations", ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin, so as to comprehensively improve the efficiency of international communication.
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Based on local characteristics. In the past two years, media at all levels in Shandong have created many excellent international communication works, which also reflects the powerful exploration made by media at all levels in media integration. In the era of all-media, media at all levels should dare and be good at using media-melting means to exert their efforts in external publicity, open up internal and external propaganda bottlenecks, and add a new engine to all-round economic and social development.
(Author Zhang Xiaojun: Director of the Government Liaison Department of Shandong Radio and Television Media Information Center)
This article was published in the March 2024 issue of All Media Exploration, with the original title of "Five New Dimensions of Promoting the Construction of International Communication Ability".
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