The Role of Newsprint

Xu Baohuang, China's earliest journalism educator, emphasized that the most crucial responsibilities of news are to provide information, comment on current affairs, support commerce, and supplement education. He believed newspapers wielded control over public opinion, and the accuracy and thoroughness of the news they delivered directly impacted the integrity of that opinion.

Political commentator Chen Bulei contended that newspapers must not pursue economic gains at the expense of their social responsibilities. Conversely, the public should not demand newspapers exhaust themselves for the public good to the point of rendering news organizations unsustainable.

“Faithfulness” is the foremost principle newspapers must uphold. Newspapers constitute living, contemporary history; beyond chronicling events, recording words is their fundamental duty.