The Varsity of Propaganda: The Publicity Department of the CCCP - 中共中央宣传部 [zhōnɡ ɡònɡ zhōnɡ yānɡ xuān chuán bù]

While we often go to great lengths to disassociate PSYOP from Propaganda, we recognize that it is important to study the efforts of others to influence their target audiences. The Economist of June 25, 2016 featured an article “Who draws the party line?” (see: http://www.economist.com/news/china/21701169-xi-jinping-sends-his-spin-doctors-spinning-who-draws-party-line, which is also the photo source.

The article describes the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. It’s influence on the kind of massive scale you would associate with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). According to the article the Department “around $10 billion a year trying to get the Chinese government’s opinions into foreign media outlets.”

The Department directly or indirectly ‘supervises 3,300-odd television stations, almost 2,000 newspapers and nearly 10,000 periodicals.” And churns out almost 500,000 pro-government tweets a year!

The article goes on to describe some of the political machinations associated with the Department. They talk about how the Department has to “keep pace with the chancing political requirements of its boss”.

From a MISO community perspective, I wonder how much overlap and exchange there is between the Department and those charged with MISO in the People’s Liberation Army. One could argue that since the PLA and the Department both serve the Party and of course, Xi Jinping, China’s president, shouldn’t these entities be able to move people between them to broaden each other’s horizons?

The article concludes: “Like media organizations everywhere, the Publicity Department is struggling to keep pace with changing consumer demands. Unlike most such organizations, it is also having to keep pace with the changing political requirements of its boss, Mr. Xi. As an institution, these have made it more important than it was.”

It’s nice to know that consumerism is befuddling to even the largest influence organizations.