Xinwen Lianbo - Name, Format and Distribution

Name, Format and Distribution

There is no standard English translation of the name. Variants in use include "Evening News" and "Network News Broadcast". An Oxford dictionary gives news hook-up. The Chinese name contains two words: "Xinwen" (新闻/新聞) meaning "news" and "Lianbo" (联播/聯播) closely translating to "joint broadcast" or "simulcast", referring to the fact that material is broadcast by all government television channels in China.

The programme consists of a daily news bulletin of approximately thirty minutes, beginning with the headlines and proceeding to detailed reports. In special circumstances, the broadcast is extended beyond the 30 minutes allotted when deemed necessary. For example, during the 1990s, the death of Deng Xiaoping extended Xinwen Lianbo broadcast beyond the regular time for over a week. The announcers are shown seated, with a window into the control room behind them. The format has hardly varied for three decades, even its details. Mandarin language is always used, in accordance with government language policies, and throughout the broadcast the language is formal and flowery. The delivery is stilted, without happy talk or humour.

Although CCTV has access to the latest technology, Xinwen Lianbo never includes "two-ways" and live reports, though CCTV's other news bulletins can do so (although it did air live reports of the launch of the Chang'e 2 lunar satellite on October 1, 2010). They have implemented only Vizrt-powered graphics since the September 25, 2011 newscast. As of 2007, the opening titles and music had been substantially unchanged since 1991.

The programme justifies its title with a comprehensive distribution system that has led the Washington Post to dub it "one of the world's most-watched news programs." Calculations based on official statistics suggest as many as 135 million people tune in each day, which makes sense if one considers the large number people who live in China. The Wall Street Journal calculated in 2006 that it had fourteen times the audience of the highest-rated US news show. The initial 19:00 CST of primetime television evening-nightly news bulletin is broadcast simultaneously on CCTV-1 and CCTV-13 (simulcast on CCTV), TV3 and TV9 (Malaysia), ATV Home (subsidiary of ATV) and TVB Jade (subsidiary of TVB) in Hong Kong, RCTI and SCTV (Indonesia) while of STAR News (subsidiary of STAR TV in Hong Kong) and on the primary channel of each three municipalities stations (Beijing Television, Radio and Television of Shanghai, Shanghai Television, Shanghai Satellite Television, Shanghai Mandarin Oriental Television and Tianjin Television). CCTV-13 usually repeats the programme at 9:00 pm (21:00 hours), CCTV-4 usually repeats the programme at 2:30 am (02:30 hours) and CCTV-1 usually repeats the programme at 12:30 pm (00:30 hours), 5:30 am (05:30 hours) and 12:30 pm (12:30 hours) while there are later repeats dubbed into selected minority languages for viewers in appropriate regions (as of 2006, at least Mongolian and Tibetan). This ensures that urban cable viewers may see around half the available channels carrying the programme, while it is often carried on all the available terrestrial television channels in rural China.