A blueprint lays out steps to enhance the party’s authority over films, TV and newspapers, as well as foreign affairs and economic policy, among other areas.
BEIJING — China on Wednesday issued a blueprint for shaking up its bureaucracy that will sharpen the Communist Party’s power over films, books and newspapers, while raising the profile of hitherto secretive party groups that steer policy on the economy, the internet and foreign affairs.
The plan, released by the state-run news agency Xinhua, complements narrower changes the national legislature approved on Saturday, which focused on merging government ministries, not the party’s powers. The latest, broader plan highlights just how far the party’s leader, President Xi Jinping, is committed to expanding its role. Here are the main changes:
Chinese films, television shows and newspapers are already heavily controlled and censored by the Communist Party, but control of entertainment and news is likely to deepen.
Under the new plan, the party’s Department of Propaganda will take direct control of film, the news media and publications from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, a government agency. In effect, the thin partition that had separated the Communist Party from direct oversight of film production and imports of foreign films has been stripped away.
The plan said the change reflected the “especially important role of cinema in propagating ideas and in cultural entertainment.” Newspapers, books and magazines will also fall under the propaganda department’s direct supervision.
China’s main state-run radio and television broadcasters, domestic and international, will be merged into a single conglomerate called the “Voice of China,” which will be a state entity under the leadership of the party’s propaganda department. The reorganization will “enhance international broadcasting capacity,” according to the plan.
