Xinwen Lianbo

Xinwen Lianbo is a daily news programme produced by China Central Television. It is shown simultaneously by most terrestrial television channels in mainland China, making it one of the world's most watched television programmes. It has been broadcast since 1978. and ''Network News Broadcast''. An Oxford dictionary gives ''news hook-up''. The name has two words: ''Xinwen'' means "news" and ''Lianbo'' is a portmanteau which closely translates to "Joint news broadcast", referring to the fact that material is broadcasted by all government television channels in China.

The programme consists of a daily news bulletin of approximately thirty minutes, beginning with the headlines and proceeding to detailed reports. In special circumstances, the broadcast is extended beyond the 30 minutes alloted when deemed necessary. For example, during the 1990s, the death of Deng Xiaoping extended ''Xinwen Lianbo'' broadcast beyond the regular time for over a week. The announcers are shown seated, with a window into the control room behind them. The format has hardly varied for three decades, even its details. Standard Mandarin is always used, in accordance with government language policies, and throughout the broadcast the language is formal and flowery,. The delivery is stilted, without happy talk or humour.
Although CCTV has access to the latest technology, it never includes 'two-ways' of the kind that are common in 21st century Western bulletins. Even the opening titles and music have remained unchanged: a comparison of the 1991 and 2007

Political significance

News values

Quotation|What is the judgement for important news in the minds of many Chinese journalists working for the official media or for propaganda journalism today? Xu Zhaorong, a reporter of Xinhua makes the following 14 observations :
*''1. Important activities, personnel changes and meetings of the party and the state, such as the banquets of the National Day, meetings of Party and the national People's Congress'';''
*''2. The activities of party and state leaders, such as their inspection tours, their meetings with foreign guests, their meetings with home delegates, the departures and arrival of their visits abroad and the tea parties hosted by them;''
*''3. Important policies, guidelines, laws, rule, regulations and documents of the party and the state;''
*''4. Important commentaries on important events and policies''...|Li Xiguang| When significant events or speeches are covered, the camera will carefully pan across the Politburo Standing Committee.

Progaganda aims

The programme plays a role in the CPC's communication mechanisms at both the mass and élite levels.

On the one hand, it is the news source with the widest reach amongst China's large population, and so it provides the Party with the opportunity to influence the masses. According to Li, watching the bulletin has traditionally been "a national ritual at the family dinner table." It is also one of CCTV's major earners. While there are no commercials during the show, the slots immediately afterwards sell for US$100,000 each, and the five-second slot just before 7 pm is the most expensive CCTV offers, worth 24 million RMB in 2003 .