release conference of the Blue Paper

On October 23, 2021, the Report on the China’s New Media Social Responsibility (2020-2021) was officially released at the 2021 China New Media Communication Association Annual Conference. At the conference, Xu Minghua, professor and PhD supervisor of the School of Journalism and Information Communication (SJIC), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), introduced the Blue Paper.

The Report on the China’s New Media Social Responsibility (2020-2021) was jointly organized and compiled by the team of SJIC professor Zhong Ying and the China Network Communication Association. The research report has been published seven times since its first edition in 2014. This year’s report focuses on cutting-edge topics, discusses the performance of different new media platforms in the context of the epidemic, and covers the research results of new media social responsibility in 2020-2021.

The report brings together the latest research results from more than a dozen institutions across China, including more than 30 new media frontier observers in the academic and industry. It comprehensively, systematically and objectively presents the performance of social responsibilities in the domestic new media industry in 2020-2021 .

According to current media development practices, the report has optimized the traditional evaluation index system of new media social responsibility, and has constructed a three-level index system in line with the current communication environment. The report conducted a comprehensive social responsibility evaluation on different types of new media platforms such as national mainstream media VLOG news, mainstream media Weibo, county-level integrated media centers, short video platforms, audio platforms in terms of four first-level indicators of information production, value orientation, cultural education, and coordinated communication. The report has showcased the current status of the implementation of new media social responsibilities in 2020-2021, and further proposed social responsibility optimization plans based on the communication characteristics of different types of platforms.

The report focuses on new problems, new phenomena and new trends in China’s new media development in the past two years. Specifically speaking, first, as a global emergency, the COVID-19 has brought new research issues to the communication and the fulfillment of social responsibilities of new media; second, new communication phenomena, such as the county chiefs’ live streaming for selling goods and the health QR code communication, have appeared; third, based on the development of new media in the past two years, this report incorporates research objects with bench-marking effects such as national mainstream media VLOG news, county-level integrated media center, and government affairs Tiktok, into the discussion.

As an important achievement of the research team and the China Network Communication Association, the Report on the China’s New Media Social Responsibility (2020-2021) takes a new view to examine the current situation, expecting to bring more new knowledge and thinking to colleagues who are concerned about the development of China’s new media.

The 2021 China New Media Communication Association Annual Conference was held at Communication University of Zhejiang (CUZ). With the theme of “Searching for New Knowledge: Rethinking New Media”, this annual conference was hosted by the Network Communication History Association, Chinese Association for History of Journalism and Communication, and was organized by the School of Journalism and Communication, CUZ. Many experts, scholars and young students from Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Xiamen University, Fudan University, HUST, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other universities and research institutes, gathered in Hangzhou to discuss the development of new media in the technological age.