Xinhua News Agency has set up a studio: acting and doing talk shows!
2024-08-25
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How to seize the commanding heights in the face of an increasingly complex international public opinion field?
Xinhua News Agency established the Zheng Jinqiang Studio at the end of 2021. Through innovative forms and creative expressions, it lowers the interest and understanding threshold of international news for ordinary audiences, allowing more audiences to resonate with the content, emotions and core values of the product.
In the process of responding to concerns about China and fighting back against smears against China, the studio has distilled two insights: "Defeat magic with magic, and win applause with laughter."
(one)
At the end of 2021, Richard Moore, head of the British MI6, called China the "number one task" facing the agency in a public speech, even before terrorism.
Half a month later, an English short film titled "0.07: No Time to Die of Laughter" that parodies the "007" blockbuster was released on Xinhua News Agency's overseas social media platform. In the film, three agents from the United Kingdom and the United States had a secret conversation after Moore's speech. After some "argumentation", the British agent discovered that the United States was the "Big Brother" that monitored the world.
Stills from the microfilm "0.07: No Time to Die of Laughing".
This micro-film is the first integrated media product launched by Zheng Jinqiang Studio of Xinhua News Agency after its establishment. It quickly became popular at home and abroad after its release. Richard Moore himself responded by "thanking" Xinhua News Agency for providing "free publicity", and Xinhua News Agency imitated Moore's tone to "thank" him for "providing free jokes".
The micro-film and the resulting social media "confrontation" attracted coverage from nearly 100 internationally renowned media outlets, including AFP, The Times, The Economist, Russia Today, and Fox News; the Weibo topic "This 0.07 micro-film is more truthful than 007" became a hot search.
(two)
In the past two years, the studio has launched nine micro-films and several talk shows. We have gradually explored a new way of international communication - defeating magic with magic.
Taking "0.07: Too Late to Die" as a starting point, the studio adapted European and American pop culture IPs and responded to the audience's life experience. It carried out international communication in the main forms of "parody shows", "commercials" and "talk shows", focusing on making up for the bias and information imbalance in Western media in its products, and strengthening the interpretation of China's legitimate position.
When NATO tried to intervene in Asia-Pacific affairs and even spread rumors of setting up an office in Japan, reporters disguised themselves as flight attendants and filmed a promotional video for the "NATO United Airlines" airline. The complete flight elements - cabin, flight attendants, strollers, safety demonstrations, etc. evoke people's daily life experience, but the audience discovered during the film that the flight attendants were vigorously promoting NATO's routes that were full of confrontation between camps.
After the micro-film was broadcast, it received widespread attention from Japan's mainstream media. Kyodo News, Japan Broadcasting Association and other media wrote special articles to report on it, and dozens of Japanese media reprinted it, effectively spreading the news facts and China's position.
For example, in response to the US government's "black operations" such as fanning the flames of the Taiwan issue, hyping up the so-called "spy balloon", and "decoupling" from China in the name of "de-risking", the studio parodied the American TV series "House of Cards" and created the "House of Cards" series of micro-films to show the scheming behind the various US policies toward China.
Political organizations and figures including the former senior adviser to the US Vice President, members of the British Parliament, the Communist Party of Great Britain, media outlets including Yonhap News Agency, and experts from institutions including the American Foreign Policy Council and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies have paid attention to the film series.
The Communist Party of Great Britain joked: "Netflix has 'no' plans to broadcast the show." Indian geopolitical expert and social media opinion leader SL Kanthan bluntly stated that the series is not a reality show, but it is better than a reality show.
Stills from the microfilm "House of Cards: Initial De".
(three)
How can we make "hard-core" international news easier to understand? We put a lot of effort into the expression of words.
The studio uses humor as its discourse feature. By presenting facts and telling jokes, it lowers the interest and understanding threshold of international news for ordinary audiences, allowing more audiences to understand the core content, emotions and value of the product. After all, "when people laugh with you, they won't argue with you."
There is a "masterstroke" in "0.07: Too Late to Die": two British agents are listing the bad things "China" has done, such as monitoring other countries and brainwashing them, when they suddenly realize that they have read the wrong script, and these turned out to be "black operations" of the US government.
In the episode "House of Cards: Who is the Most Scheming?", politician Shangmu commented on the "China experts" in American politics: "My group of 'China experts' can't even understand the People's Daily without Google Translate." This fact-based joke was cut out and circulated spontaneously by some netizens. Stephane Lagarde, a reporter from France International Radio, even commented that "Diplomacy 2.0 is soft power with a bit of humor."
The movie also suggests, through the protagonist's mouth, that people should use their imaginations to come up with new ways of smearing China, such as hyping up "China invades Australia", "Chinatowns are all China's overseas military bases", "China can collect data by selling electric blankets to Europe", etc. These seemingly absurd plots are reasonable artistic exaggerations of the U.S. government's diplomatic thinking and strategies toward China in reality.
In "NATO Lost", the flight attendant gave safety reminders to passengers: "Please put away your luggage before the cabin door is closed ('sovereignty' is put aside); during takeoff and landing, please fold and lock the small table ('independence' is folded). Please set your electronic devices to non-Huawei mode." After watching the movie, Kondo Daisuke, former deputy editor-in-chief of Japan's "Modern Weekly", said, "I laughed for four minutes with my hands on my stomach," and introduced the funny points of the whole film in detail in thousands of words.
The talk show "Very Serious News" produced by the studio focuses on "dry humor" and often analyzes international political hotspots in the form of "sarcasm".
Screenshot of the program "Very Serious News".
In response to the hype about China's "cyber attacks" by the United States and Britain this year, the reporter "praised" the United States for "picking the right day" as the hype coincided with the intelligence agencies asking Congress for budgets, and at the same time joked that the Oxford Dictionary should consider revising its edition, just because British politicians said "confirmed" one moment, "almost certain" and "extremely likely" the next, as if the words had the same meaning.
As for the US government's continued efforts to fuel the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the reporter cleverly used former US President Trump's famous saying in his talk show - Make America Great Again, and proposed that NATO, led by the United States, make Europe great again.
(Four)
Interaction is also an important part of international communication. We need to respond to external concerns and fight back against external smears in a timely manner.
On the one hand, we attach importance to the operation of social media accounts. After the broadcast of "NATO Trek", Brian Murray, a political consultant of the Republican Party of the United States, commented: "The West: driven by the engine of the Cold War; China: driven by slave labor."
The studio responded: "Some American politicians: driven by anti-China fervor." Murray commented again: "So you don't deny the existence of slave labor camps? Interesting." The studio attached a cartoon about Xinjiang previously broadcast by Xinhua News Agency and replied: "Oh, there are more than 5,800 'forced laborers' (more than 5,800 cotton pickers) in Xinjiang, of which more than 2,900 are from the United States (more than 2,900 are made in the United States)."
For example, regarding the South China Sea issue, the studio posted a message pointing out that the United States should not gain military and geopolitical benefits by fanning the flames, and the Philippines should not become an "agent" of the United States to confront and contain China. This position effectively reached opinion leaders in the Philippine political and academic circles.
On the other hand, the studio's reporters tell Chinese stories, voice China's voices, and expand China-friendly forces through interviews, reporting, and participating in activities. For example, reporters provide audiences with a perspective different from that of most Western media by talking to opinion leaders such as New Zealand media person Amberan and British MP George Galloway.
For example, journalists participated in and reported on the BRICS Media High-end Forum, the World Media Summit, the Tibet Online Image Festival and other activities to dig out Chinese stories, explain China's propositions, and expand the volume of the "South". Jonathan Richard Wells, president and director of the American West Ba Photo Agency, who had a lot of exchanges with the studio reporters during the World Media Summit, praised "I met a good reporter from Xinhua News Agency."
"Substantial, rational, and interesting" is the purpose of Zheng Jinqiang Studio. In the complex international public opinion field, we will continue to tell Chinese stories and make Chinese voices heard in new languages and forms.
