30 September 2025, Volume 14 Issue 5

    

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  An Exploration of the Early Internationalization of School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China

  Deng Shaogen, Cui Siyu

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 3-12.

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  From 1955 to 1958, the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China launched a series of pioneering internationalization efforts in response to the national call to learn from the Soviet Union. In 1955, the department was established and invited Soviet experts to deliver courses, assisting in curriculum and textbook development. In 1956, the department founded the International journalism class, aiming to cultivate talents for international communication through foreign languagefocused training. In the same year, it launched the newspaper Journalism and Publishing which served teaching internships and focused on international journalism theories and practices. By 1957,the department had established academic exchanges with institutions in the socialist bloc, including Moscow State University and Charles University in Prague, laying the groundwork for sustained international engagement. The series of explorations has initially laid an international foundation in teaching, talent cultivation and academic platform construction, providing tradition and reference for the subsequent construction of the discipline of international communication.
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  Establishing the Foundation: Early Construction of Marxist Journalism in the Department of Journalism at Renmin University of China

  Li Xingbo

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 13-19.

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  In the early days after its establishment, the Department of Journalism at Renmin University of China conducted various explorations and practices focusing on the construction of Marxist journalism studies. The department initiated the research by compiling textbooks, consolidated the foundation of Marxist journalism studies in response to the argument that “journalism is not an academic discipline”, and deepened the understanding of core propositions of Marxist journalism studies through academic debates. These explorations and practices launched the localized journey of Marxist journalism research, established the correct direction for disciplinary development, and laid an important foundation for the construction and subsequent development of the Marxist journalism system in China.
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  The “Trager” of China’s Newmodel Formal Journalism Education: A New Exploration of An Gang’s Journalism Education Thoughts

  Zhou Hangyi

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 20-29.

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  As the first generation of journalism educator in New China, An Gang was the “trager” who played a crucial role in establishing the first higher journalism education institution founded by the CPC and marking the inception of China’s newmodel formal journalism education. Drawing upon firsthand historical materials, this paper delves into An Gang’s journalism education thought, revealing that it was shaped by his practical experience in founding the Journalism Department of Renmin University of China under the CPC Central Committee’s mandate, with the Soviet model and his personal experiences serving as points of reference. Guided by MarxismLeninism and Mao Zedong Thought, he not only took the lead in studying both the “upper and lower ends,” compiling the first set of journalism textbooks in New China, and guiding faculty and students in ideological transformation to “establish MarxistLeninist views of journalism.” With an emphasis on foundational knowledge and practical experience as its training approach, An Gang advocated for “mastering theoretical knowledge thoroughly” and “emphasizing journalism while engaging with society,” thereby nurturing journalism students to become versatile professionals or “jacksofalltrades” in journalism work. The value implication can be summarized as pioneering China’s newmodel formal journalism education, which not only opened a new chapter for the CPC’s newmodel formal journalism education, blazed a new trail for journalism education in the new period, but also provided practical insights for journalism education in the new era to inherit fine traditions and perpetuate the red lineage.
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  Bonds of Trust: User Engagement Practices and Relationship Expectations in Digital Journalism

  Du Lijie

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 30-37.

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  Trust is key to understanding social relationships and is a vital link between users and the news industry. In the complex digital media environment, digital news development faces two major challenges: declining trust in news and decreasing user engagement. This paper considers news trust a “specialized trust” that involves three aspects: institutional trust, interpersonal trust, and informational trust. The affordances of digital technology have changed the sources and formation of news trust, but the crisis has been exacerbated by fake news, information overload, and platform manipulation. User engagement practices reshape the trust relationship between users and the news industry, presenting a dynamic process of “relationship breakthrough” “relationship maintenance” and “relationship building”. This process ultimately creates a trust ecosystem that transcends a simple binary relationship. This paper argues that the trust relationship based on user news engagement is not only related to the past interactions between users and the news industry but also to their future expectations of each other. News expectations are the anticipated behaviors that users and the news industry have for each other in news practices, and the fulfillment or violation of these expectations will affect their trust relationship. In summary, user news engagement is one of the key paths to rebuilding news trust. It requires the joint efforts of users and the news industry to establish an inclusive trust relationship that transcends traditional professional boundaries, and to collectively shape a healthy and orderly news trust ecosystem.
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  Occupation or Vocation: The Life Course, Career Choice, and Generational Transformation of Chinese Journalists (1978-2018)

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 38-48.

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  The study of journalists remains a vital area within media scholarship, offering a unique lens through which to examine the interplay between journalism and broader societal forces. This research focuses on Chinese journalists who entered the profession between 1978 and 2018, drawing on 68 semistructured interviews and a range of secondary materials. The study shows that as modernization progresses and market reforms intensify, journalists experience ongoing tensions between ‘profession’ and ‘mission’. Unlike commercialized, individualistic professional concepts, Chinese journalists maintain a professional perspective centered around the nation and organizations, while upholding a distinctive ethos of “literati spirit” within their professional niche. While the aura of journalism as a ‘vocation’ has somewhat diminished in the digital era, the profession remains characterized by a dynamic interplay of historical continuity, temporal context, and a deep orientation toward serving the country. This research not only offers new insights into understanding the development and transformation of the journalism profession, but also provides theoretical and practical references for analyzing their role and responsibilities in contemporary society.
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  Misaligned Imaginations: Identity Construction and Authenticity of Cancer Vloggers on Douyin

  Chen Daxi, Sun Shaojing

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 49-57.

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  This study focuses on videos published by cancer patients on the Douyin platform, employing content analysis, semistructured interviews, and photo elicitation methods to explore the relationship between the platform’s affordances and the authenticity constructed within this digital space. The findings reveal that the authenticity of cancer vloggers is coconstructed through their interactions with both the audience and the platform’s technological affordances. The study proposes a framework for understanding communicative authenticity on Douyin, consisting of five dimensions: originality, spontaneity, transparency, consistency, and noncommerciality. The imagined identities of vloggers and audiences emerge as key factors shaping public perceptions of authenticity. When the “Imagined audiences” aligns with the “imagined patients,” the vloggers’ identities and video content appear more authentic. This paper provides a new perspective on authenticity in mediated health communication and offers empirical insights for platform management and health promotion.
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  Analysis of the Embodied Communication Logic and Privacy Governance Path of Computational Advertising

  Lin Shengliang

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 58-66.

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  The core of computational advertising is algorithm communication, and the governance of privacy issues in computational advertising cannot be separated from the fundamental exploration of algorithm communication theory. This paper critically examines algorithm communication in the computational advertising from the perspectives of advertising reflection in accelerated social theory, consumption rediscussion of the information cocoon phenomenon, and the demystification of datadriven thinking. This paper also focuses on the inherent relationship between algorithm communication and embodied communication in computational advertising, revealing the paradox between the two: the more advanced the algorithm communication in computational advertising, the more profound the embodied consumption experience, and the more severe the algorithm alienation. Through theoretical speculation from the Frankfurt School, the Media Environment School, and the Empiricism School, the paper points out that the governance path of computational advertising privacy should strengthen the supervision of the monopoly of algorithm platforms, endow personal information with property rights to protect user rights, and balance the interests of multiple stakeholders through threelevel control before, during, and after the event.
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  The Soviet Women’s Movement from Paper to Action——A Study Centered on the Grassroots Communication Practices of the Newspaper of Red China (1931-1934)

  Zhu Yujie, Xiong Guorong

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 67-76.

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  As an important tool for the Chinese Communist Party to embed in rural areas and organize women, the Newspaper of Red china has launched grassroots communication practices.The development of grassroots correspondents has enhanced the accessibility of newspapers, sparking a wave of women’s activism on paper. These calls on paper ultimately reach rural women through a network of horizontal and vertical communication: Horizontally, Red China infiltrates women’s daily literacy and newspaper reading and listening cultural activities through literacy classes, clubs, women’s night schools and other mass cultural groups; Vertically, Red China guides women’s organizations at all levels to quickly implement the latest party resolutions and carry out refined digital management. The influence of the Party radiates from the top down to individual women in every corner through specific actions. The grassroots transformation of newspapers has opened up a practical path different from Western print capitalism.
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  The Wisdom and Strategy of Revolutionary Propaganda: A Study on the Advertising Incident of Das Kapital in The Central Daily in 1947

  Zhang Zhenting, Tu Huifeng

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 77-85.

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  In February 1947, an advertisement promoting Das Kapital appeared prominently on the front page of The Central Daily, described as a “bombshell” dropped on the Kuomintang region. The success of this incident mainly lies in the initiative and careful planning of underground CPC members and revolutionary publishing workers; The Central Daily’s corporate reform and eagerness to seek advertising resources to cope with sudden increases in costs have reduced the resistance to sensitive advertisements. In addition, the mixed personnel changes within The Central Daily and the personal friendship between the revolutionary publishing workers and the newspaper staff also provided a rare opportunity. The “Das Kapital” advertising incident was a result of the CPC’s ingenious utilization of an adversary newspaper for revolutionary propaganda. It stands as a vivid historical practice of Marx’s revolutionary propaganda experience within the CPC’s propaganda work, and represents one of the Party’s consistent methods and distinctive features of revolutionary propaganda.
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  Debate, Breakthrough, and Unfinished Exploration——The Intellectual Journey Behind The Nationwide Audience

  Wang Chenyuan, Yang Mingxia

  Journalism Evolution. 2025, 14(5): 86-95.

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  Existing studies often regard The Nationwide Audience as a test case for “encoding/decoding” model, thereby creating discrepancies with Hall’s own accounts. To clarify this puzzle, the study revisits the work within the context of its creation. The research finds that The Nationwide Audience not only benefited from “encoding/decoding” model, but also emerged through critical dialogue with the sociology of education and Screen theory. From the perspective of academic history,Nationwide propelled audience studies into a new realm while leaving important questions unanswered. Since the new millennium, later scholars such as Moores and Couldry have continued to explore the academic direction pioneered by The Nationwide Audience, attempting to incorporate the embodied and practical aspects of audience activities—overlooked by Morley—into the framework, thereby uncovering the academic value of audiences as pivotal points for reflecting on cultural hegemony.