Party-State Media Flash Report | March 4, 2025
An analysis of the front page in the CCP's flagship newspaper, the top military paper, and one regional mouthpiece.
Summary Analysis
On March 4, 2025, China's party-state newspapers focus extensively on the opening of the annual "Two Sessions" — of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The front pages prominently display these events with consistent layout patterns across publications. The convergence of messaging across all three outlets shows tight discipline of the message as the political meetings commence. The most prominent narrative is the central role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership under Xi Jinping in advancing "Chinese-style modernization" (中国式现代化) amid both domestic and international challenges.
As the chief mouthpiece of the CCP, the People's Daily (人民日报) sets the agenda on the political meetings with the key frames of "solidarity," "consensus-building," and "rallying strength." The paper prominently features an official editorial (社论) welcoming the CPPCC opening, highlighted in a distinctive red box, emphasizing its role in promoting unity and demonstrating the party's claimed "whole-process people's democracy" (全過程人民民主). The paper strongly emphasizes the institutional accomplishments of the People's Congress system on its 70th anniversary (it was founded in September 1954).
The People's Liberation Army Daily (解放军报) strongly echoes these themes while adding elements specific to the military — in particular the goal of achieving military modernization by the PLA's centenary in 2027, described as an "offensive" (攻坚战) in which victory must be achieved. The military newspaper prominently features a story with a bright red headline about the formation of the PLA delegation to the NPC, signaling the military's political importance.
The provincial Nanfang Daily (南方日报), the official mouthpiece (a CCP term) of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CCP, largely republishes central content with minimal local adaptation, a typical instance of how provincial media generally on any given day serve first and foremost to amplify messaging from the center — before giving priority to local Party messaging (and lastly to local news). Some front-page space is devoted to the activities of the Guangdong delegation to the NPC. However, central government priorities dominate.
All three papers share treatment of developments in China's space program, in particular plans for manned lunar missions by 2030. This reflects an emphasis on technological achievements as a means of reiterating the Party’s leadership. These plans, included toward the bottom of the list in the People’s Daily and PLA Daily, are given Priority One coverage in the Nanfang Daily, appearing in the “newspaper eye” (报眼) directly to the right of the paper’s masthead.