Xinhua is both apublisher and anews agency; it publishes in multiple languages and serves as a channel for distributing information related to the Chinese government and the rulingChinese Communist Party (CCP). Its headquarters in Beijing are located close to the central government's headquarters atZhongnanhai, and its head,Fu Hua, is a member of theCCP Central Committee.
Xinhua tailors its pro-Chinese government message to the nuances of each international audience.[2][3] The organization has faced criticism for spreadingpropaganda anddisinformation as well as criticizing people, groups, or movements critical of the Chinese government and its policies.[4][5][6]
The predecessor to Xinhua was the Red China News Agency (紅色中華通訊社;Hóngsè Zhōnghuá Tōngxùnshè), founded in November 1931 as the ChineseSoviet Zone ofRuijin, Jiangxi province. It mostly republished news from its rivalCentral News Agency (CNA) for party and army officials. The agency got its name of Xinhua in November 1935, at the end of theLong March, in which theChinese Red Army retreated fromJiangxi toShaanxi. By the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Xinhua'sReference News translated CNA news from theKuomintang, and also international news from agencies likeTASS andHavas. Xinhua first started usingletterpress printing in 1940.[7]
During thePacific War, the agency developed overseas broadcasting capabilities and established its first overseas branches.[8] It began broadcasting to foreign countries in English in 1944. In 1949, Xinhua followed a subscription model instead of its previous limited distribution model.[7] In the direct aftermath of theChinese Civil War, the agency represented the People's Republic of China in countries and territorieswith which it had no diplomatic representation, such asBritish Hong Kong.[8] In 1956, Xinhua began reporting on anti-Marxist and other opinions critical of the CCP. In 1957, Xinhua switched from a journal format to a newspaper format.[7]
The agency was described by media scholars as the "eyes and tongue" of the CCP, observing what is important for the masses and passing on the information.[9] A former Xinhua director, Zheng Tao, noted that the agency was a bridge between the CCP, the government, and the people, communicating both the demands of the people and CCP policies.[10]
By 2021, Xinhua had 181 bureaus globally, publishing news in multiple languages.[21] Xinhua is also responsible for handling, and in some cases, censoring reports from foreign media destined for release in China.[22]Xinhuanet is a publicly tradedstate-owned enterprise controlled by Xinhua News Agency, originally established as the agency's website.[23] In 2010, Xinhua acquired prime commercial real estate onTimes Square inManhattan and started an English-language satellite news network.[24] In 2017, Xinhua founded China Fortune Media Group to expand its reach.[23] Xinhua has paid other media outlets such asThe New York Times,The Washington Post, andThe Wall Street Journal to carry itsadvertorial inserts, branded as "China Watch" or "China Focus".[25][26]: 191–194
TheCCP's internal media system, in which certain journals (neican) are published exclusively for government and party officials, provides information and analysis which are not available to the public.[27] Xinhua produces reports for these internal journals that contain information that the CCP considers too sensitive for public consumption and can pertain to subjects for security andintelligence purposes.[28]
Xinhua maintains a traditional intelligence gathering function and its reporters file certain internal reports to the CCP leadership fromsecure rooms in some Chinese embassies.[29][26]: 49, 191 Informed observers note that journalists generally like to write for the internal publications because they can write less polemical and more comprehensive stories without making the omissions of unwelcome details commonly made in the media directed to the general public. The internal reports, written from a large number of countries, typically consist of in-depth analyses of international situations and domestic attitudes towards regional issues and perceptions of China.[30]
The Chinese government's internal media publication system follows a strict hierarchical pattern designed to facilitate party control. A publication calledReference News—which includes translated articles from abroad as well as news and commentary by Xinhua reporters—is delivered by Xinhua personnel, rather than by the national mail system, to officials at the working level and above. A three-to-ten-page report called Internal Reference (Neibu Cankao) is distributed to officials at the ministerial level and higher. One example was the first reports on theSARS outbreak by Xinhua which only government officials were allowed to see.[31] The most classified Xinhua internal reports are issued to the top dozen or so party and government officials.[32]
Xinhua headquarters is located in Beijing, strategically located near Zhongnanhai, which houses the headquarters of the CCP, the General Secretary, and the State Council. Xinhua established its first overseas affiliate in 1947 in London, withSamuel Chinque as publisher. It distributes its news from the publication's overseas headquarters inNew York City, in conjunction with distributing coverage from theUnited Nations bureau, as well as its other hubs in Asia, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.[33]
As of 2024, Xinhua has over 170 overseas bureaus.[34]
Xinhua's branch in Hong Kong was not just a press office, but served as thede facto embassy of the PRC in the territory when it was under British administration. It was named a news agency under the special historic conditions before the 1997handover, because the People's Republic did not recognize British sovereignty over the colony, and could not set up a consulate on what it considered to be its soil.[35][36]: 64 In the early 1980s, the deputy secretary of Xinhua, Wong Man-fong, negotiated with Hong Kong-basedtriads on behalf of the Chinese government to ensure their peace after the handover of Hong Kong.[37]
In 2015, Xinhua and other Chinese state media outlets signed cooperation and content-sharing agreements with Russian state media outlets.[43][44]
In November 2018, Xinhua News Agency and theAssociated Press (AP) of the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation. Some lawmakers in theU.S. Congress asked the AP to release the text of its memorandum of understanding with Xinhua. In response, AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton toldTheWashington Post that AP's agreement with Xinhua is to allow it to operate inside China and has no bearing on AP's independence, and that Xinhua has no access to AP's sensitive information and no influence over AP's editorial decisions.[45]
In December 2022, journalistJoshua Kurlantzick said that Xinhua has had more success than other Chinese state media outlets such asChina Global Television Network andChina Radio International in acting as a part of China's media offensive, with Xinhua having signed content sharing agreements with many news agencies around the world.[21] He noted that "unlike with, say, a television station that a viewer has to actively turn on, and probably knows the channel, most print or online readers do not check the bylines of news articles—making it easier for Xinhua copy to slip through to readers."[21] He also noted: "In developing countries, Xinhua is increasingly stepping into the void left by other news wires like the Associated Press, because Xinhua content is free or cheap", and warned about Xinhua content being used by local news outlets in countries such asThailand, saying: "Readers don't really notice where it comes from. That's going to skew the views of the general reading public, and that's quite dangerous."[46]
In 2005,Reporters Without Borders called Xinhua "The World's Biggest Propaganda Machine", pointing out that Xinhua's president held the rank of a minister in the government. The report stated that the news agency was "at the heart of censorship and disinformation put in place" by the government.[3][51]
In a 2007 interview withThe Times of India, then Xinhua presidentTian Congming affirmed the problem of "historical setbacks and popular perceptions" with respect to Xinhua's credibility.[52]Newsweek criticized Xinhua as "being best known for its blind spots" regarding controversial news in China, although the article acknowledges that "Xinhua's spin diminishes when the news doesn't involve China".[53]
During the2002–2004 SARS outbreak, Xinhua was slow to release reports of the incident to the public. However, its reporting in the aftermath of the2008 Sichuan earthquake was seen as more transparent and credible as Xinhua journalists operated more freely.[54][55]
Xinhua has criticized perceived foreign media bias and inaccurate reporting, citing an incident during the2008 Tibetan unrest when media outlets used scenes ofNepalese police arresting Tibetan protesters as evidence of Chinese state brutality[56] with commentary fromCNN'sJack Cafferty calling China's leaders "goons and thugs". CNN later apologized for the comments.[57]
During theMay 68 events in France, Xinhua and the PRC embassy press office staff were reported to exploit civil unrest to undertakeindustrial espionage at French factories.[36]
Xinhua staff struggled to find the "right line" to use in covering the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Although more cautious thanPeople's Daily in its treatment of sensitive topics during that period – such as how to commemorate reformist CCP leaderHu Yaobang's April 1989 death and then ongoing demonstrations in Beijing and elsewhere – Xinhua gave some favorable coverage to demonstrators and intellectuals supportive of the movement. Conflict between journalists and top editors over the censorship of stories about the Tiananmen Square crackdown lasted for several days after the military's dispersal of demonstrators on 4 June, with some journalists going on strike and demonstrating inside the agency's Beijing headquarters. Government oversight of the media increased after the protests – top editors at the agency's bureaus in Hong Kong andMacau were replaced with appointees who werepro-Beijing.[58]
2012 Mark Bourrie resignation and espionage allegations
In 2012, Xinhua'sOttawa correspondentMark Bourrie resigned after Ottawa bureau chief Zhang Dacheng allegedly requested him to report on theDalai Lama for Xinhua'sinternal media, which Bourrie felt amounted to gathering intelligence for China.[59][60][61] Zhang denied the allegation, telling theCanadian Press that Xinhua's policy is to "cover public events by public means" and that his bureau's job is to cover news events and file the stories to Xinhua's editing rooms, which would then decide which stories would be published.[62] Bourrie, who had a press pass providing him access to the Parliament of Canada, had previously tried to consult theCanadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2009 on the matter of writing for Xinhua, but was ignored by CSIS.[63]
Portrayal of Indians during the 2017 Doklam standoff
During the2017 China–India border standoff, Xinhua's English-languagenew media programThe Spark released asatirical video named the "Seven Sins ofIndia" on 16 August 2017, in which presenter Di'er Wang spoke of Indians having "thick skin" and "pretending to sleep" on the matter of the border dispute. Wang stated that India was physically threateningBhutan, and compared India to a "robber who breaks into a house and does not leave". An actor in the video portraying "India" with aturban,beard and accent sparked allegations ofracism andanti-Indian sentiment.[64] The video was criticized onTwitter and by Indian and Western media.[65][66]
In January 2018,The New York Times published an investigative report on social media promotions, alleging that the US-based companyDevumi was providing "Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses and anyone who wants to appear more popular or exert influence online." The article alleged that an unnamed Xinhua editor bought "hundreds of thousands of followers and retweets on Twitter".[67]
In 2019, Xinhua was criticized for perceived bias in its portrayal of the2019–20 Hong Kong protests as violent and illegitimate, which led Twitter to ban it and other state-sponsored media outlets from ad purchases.[6][68]
In 2020, Xinhua was one of several Chinese state media agencies reported to have been disseminating propaganda, targeted advertisements and social media posts, and news that showed the Chinese government in a better light.[69][5][70][71]
In 2022, journalistJoshua Kurlantzick noted that Xinhua's coverage of the pandemic, while being "sometimes factual and on the face of it little different in style from other newswires, often downplayed the threat of the virus within China and to other countries", and that it frequently highlighted the efforts of doctors and citizens in combating the virus, while ignoring the ways China had initially covered up the signs of an outbreak and Chinese citizens' growing anger at the government's response.[26]: 181–200
In 2012, Xinhua launched aUyghur language website.[72] In 2021, Xinhua published a "fact check" following the publication of aBBC News report on the situation in Xinjiang, which, according toThe Diplomat, "included an attempt to directly refute the testimony of one witness quoted in the BBC report. (Notably, Xinhua's fact check did not address the bulk of the testimony from other survivors.)"[73]
Following the2025 India–Pakistan conflict, the Twitter accounts of Xinhua andGlobal Times were blocked in India after both continuously published Pakistani claims of Indian military losses during the conflict.[81] While the block on the Twitter account ofGlobal Times was lifted on the same day it was imposed, Xinhua's account continues to remain blocked in India.[82]
^Zhao Wenhan (赵文涵) (22 October 2022).（二十大受权发布）中国共产党第二十届中央委员会委员名单.Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese).Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved8 November 2022.
^Charles Glasser. (2009). International Libel and Privacy Handbook: A Global Reference for Journalists, Publishers, Webmasters, and Lawyers. Bloomberg Press.ISBN978-1-57660-324-6
^Dannen, Fredric (14 June 1997)."Partners in Crime".The New Republic.ISSN0028-6583.Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved30 October 2023.Wong Man-fong, the former deputy secretary-general of Xinhua, China's news agency in Hong Kong (which reputedly acts as a de facto embassy), admitted it during a forum at Hong Kong's Baptist University. Wong said that in the early 1980s, at Beijing's behest, he "befriended" Hong Kong's triad bosses and made them an offer they could not refuse: China would turn a blind eye to their illegal activities if they would promise to keep peace after the handover.
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