On January 12, the “Founding Conference for the World Media Research Center of Shanghai Academy” and the “New Era: Media · China · World - Think Tank Expert Faorum” was grandly held at Shanghai Academy, announcing the official establishment of Shanghai Academy’s World Media Research Center. Li Peilin, Vice President of CASS, member of the CASS Party group and President of Shanghai Academy, Xu Xu, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai University and Vice President of Shanghai University, Tang Xujun, Director of the CASS Institute of Journalism and Communication, Li Youmei, First Vice President of Shanghai Academy, Wen Xueguo, former Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, and Zhao Kebin, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy, jointly unveiled the nameplate and witnessed the establishment of the Center.

Li Peilin said, the establishment of the World Media Research Center marks another achievement of Shanghai Academy. It is of great significance to giving further play to the role of Shanghai Academy as the think tank for both the CPC and the government, and will help Shanghai Academy better serve Shanghai’s economic and social development, as well as support discipline construction at Shanghai University. The new era offers more opportunities for the development of new media. That is changing the way we live and consume, and even every aspect of the society. The development also comes with special challenges. So, we shall seize the initiative, uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and pool wisdom of the journalism and communication circles both at home and abroad. We shall also innovate in methods and approaches, introduce big data, and conduct extensive cooperation, so as to improve the influence of Shanghai, and even China, in the international journalism and communication community and take a leading position.

The Center is jointly set up by Shanghai Academy, the Institute of Journalism and Communication under CASS, and Shanghai University. Tang Xujun, Director of the CASS Institute of Journalism and Communication, acts as the director of the Center; Wu Xinxun, Professor from Shanghai University, acts as the executive director, and Ji Weimin, Deputy Director of CASS’s Institute of Journalism and Communication, acts as the deputy director. Some media experts and scholars both from home and abroad are invited to be researchers and awarded certificates.

The Center will gather media experts and scholars worldwide, who will carry out cooperation with relevant research institutes both at home and abroad and conduct in-depth research on media in the new era. It will focus on the State’s major strategic deployment, carry out research on important issues about journalism and communication in both China and Shanghai, and conduct international academic exchanges about hot issues. It will train international communication talents based on the needs of China and Shanghai, and seize the international discourse power in journalism and communication, in an effort to build itself into an important think tank at home that integrates research, consulting, and education in the field of journalism and communication, and improve the influence of China in the international journalism and communication community.

The “New Era: Media · China · World- Think Tank Expert Forum” was held on the same day. At the forum, the first batch of specially invited researchers, centering on the objectives of the Center and purposes of the forum, discussed the new opportunities and challenges facing journalism and communication amid the changes in global and domestic situations. The experts said, Chinese media shall learn about the updates about international media and public opinions, lead the trends of public opinions, disseminate China’s proposals and plans efficiently, and tell a good story about China, so as to promote exchanges between Chinese and foreign cultures, advance the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative, and write a splendid chapter about China in the new era.

In high-end reports, Yu Guoming, Executive President, professor, doctoral supervisor and Changjiang scholar from the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University, said, new media have found it unable to expand influence by simply increasing input. Instead, there should be a brand-new model that suits Internet logics and meets market demand, to prevent new media from sinking into self-recreation. Cheng Manli, President of the National Institute of Strategic Communication, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University, aired her views under the theme of the “Roles of Chinese Media Workers in the New Era”. She said, media workers and institutions shall keep up with the time, summarize experience and shoulder their missions, so as to make due contribution to the national rejuvenation, theoretical practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and China’s modernization. Shan Bo, Director of the Center for Studies of Media Development, Wuhan University, professor, doctoral supervisor and Changjiang scholar at the School of Journalism and Communication of Wuhan University, delivered a speech themed “Belt and Road and Cross-Cultural Communication”. He said, scholars, on the one hand, must keep reflecting on the negative energy of neutrality and globalization in the West, and on the other hand, must think about the relations between China and the world based on cross-cultural communication and wisdom sharing, and from the perspective of the community with a shared future for mankind. Tang Xujun shared his ideas about the 2017 survey of online ideology, i.e. to avoid two tendencies and maintain three balances. The former refers to avoiding the inadequate awareness of the importance of online ideological confrontations, and avoiding exaggeration of online ideology. The latter refers to balancing the relations between those inside the wall and outside the wall, balancing the relations between China and the rest of the world, and balancing the relations between elites and the general public. Maintaining the balances is an important principle for the research on online ideological trends and online ideology.

During the round-table meeting, over 20 specially invited researchers had in-depth discussions on how to run the Center and how to pool the wisdom of experts and scholars to improve the discourse power of media in both Shanghai and China. They also gave many constructive and detailed opinions, such as focusing on basic theory research, building academic community, developing the round-table meeting mechanism, holding academic summits, conducting multilateral surveys, creating online bases, providing awards for journalism and communication, and establishing diverse forms of outcomes, like internal reference and blue books.

The said activities drew more than 100 participants. They included representatives of specially invited researchers, such as Tong Bing, professor from Fudan University, Li Benqian, Dean of the School of Media & Design, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Huang Chuxin, Director of the Journalism Research Office of the CASS Institute of Journalism and Communication, as well as teachers and students from the Major of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai University.

(Article by Xiang Jinmei, photos by Xiang Jinmei and Zha Jianguo)