Making Laughter: How Chinese Official Media Produce News on the Douyin (TikTok)

• Published in: Journalism practice Vol. ahead-of-print; no. ahead-of-print; pp. 1 - 25
• Main Authors: Zhao, Luming, Ye, WeiMing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 22.04.2023
• Subjects: Chinese official media; Digital platform; Douyin; News production; Social media logic; TikTok
• ISSN: 1751-2786; 1751-2794
• DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2023.2199720

As algorithm-driven content platforms sweep the world, what is changing in journalism? This article investigates news production of the Chinese official media on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok). From the perspectives of news gathering, professional role, and news value, we conducted a manual content analysis (N = 991) of four representative Chinese official media (People's Daily, China Youth Daily, Southern Metropolis Daily and Sichuan Observer) to reveal the commonalities and heterogeneities of their news production on Douyin. Then, through an automated content analysis of Sichuan Observer (N = 16,045), we illustrate how district media convergence centers have fought for public attention as emerging actors in the news ecosystem. Overall, we map the current practices of Chinese official media on the emerging algorithm-driven content platforms, focusing on how they pursue a new type of news orientation and popularize the Party's message while disseminating entertainment content. Contributions, such as the expansion of the classification framework of Chinese official media, and the catering of journalism to platforms, are discussed.