New Changes in the Ideological Sphere under New Technological Conditions

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, in ideological construction, restored the original and fundamental, established rules and regulations, raised the banner and drawn the sword, driving a comprehensive and fundamental transformation in the situation in the ideological sphere. The ideals and convictions of the entire Party have become firmer, positive energy throughout society has become more abundant, and the atmosphere of the whole country uniting as one to advance the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has grown increasingly thick. However, ideological work involves construction, fostering uprightness, and dispelling evil influences in the realms of thought, culture, and public perception; it is work that must constantly be renewed. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, oriented toward the New Era and the new journey, clearly states that “there are still many challenges in the ideological sphere.” This requires that, on the basis of summarizing existing achievements and experiences in ideological construction, we directly confront new situations, new problems, and new challenges. A key focus that should be attended to now and in the future is to concentrate on studying the new manifestations and new characteristics of problems in the ideological sphere under new technological conditions, grasping the new requirements and new pathways for ideological work, so as to enhance the targetedness, initiative, and effectiveness of doing ideological work well.

党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央在意识形态建设上正本清源、建章立制、举旗亮剑，推动意识形态领域形势发生全局性、根本性转变，全党理想信念更加坚定，全社会正能量更加充盈，全国上下凝心聚力推进强国建设、民族复兴的氛围愈益浓厚。但意识形态工作是在思想文化、舆论认知领域搞建设、扶正气、驱寒邪，是一个常做常新的工作。党的二十大报告面向新时代新征程明确指出，“意识形态领域存在不少挑战”。这就要求我们在总结好既有意识形态建设成就和经验的基础上，直面新情况新问题新挑战。当前和今后应当关注的一个重点，就是要着力研究新技术条件下意识形态领域问题新表现新特点，把握意识形态工作新要求新路径，以增强做好意识形态工作的针对性、主动性、有效性。

Major Changes in the Communication Landscape of the Ideological Sphere in the All-Media Era

全媒体时代意识形态领域传播格局发生重大变化

Although mainstream media are committed to continuously expanding into new media fields to maintain and expand their dominant influence, the rise of self-media and the intervention of capital forces have squeezed the status and influence of traditional mainstream media in the all-media era. Various ideological opinions clash and surge within the internet domain, and the production, distribution, dissemination, and reception of various information and viewpoints take on a diffuse character. The challenges facing ideological construction are unprecedented. In this situation, mainstream thought and public opinion do not naturally occupy a dominant position in the internet public opinion sphere. If they cannot form a sufficiently large influence or provide viewpoints with leading power, it will be difficult to guarantee their dominant position. The mainstream is obtained, not self-evident; it is obtained by expanding influence, not by occupying a certain position. This constitutes the hard-core logic that must be clearly understood for consolidating and strengthening mainstream thought and public opinion.

尽管主流媒体致力于不断向新媒体领域扩展以保持和扩大其主导性影响力，但自媒体的兴起、资本力量的介入等使得全媒体时代传统主流媒体的地位和影响力受到挤压，各种思想舆论在互联网场域中相互激荡，各种信息与观点的生产、分配、传播、接受呈弥散化态势，意识形态建设面临的挑战前所未有。在这种情况下，主流思想舆论并非当然地在互联网舆论场中占据主导地位，如果它们不能够形成足够大的影响力，不能够提供有引领力的观点，就难以保证其主导地位。主流是获得的而非自得的，是通过扩大影响力而获得的，而非通过占据某种地位自得的，这构成巩固壮大主流思想舆论必须看清楚的硬核逻辑。

This change in logic inevitably requires a transformation in the evaluation criteria for the work performance of mainstream media and mainstream thought and public opinion institutions. The focus should be not mainly on what they do, but on what they achieve; not mainly on whether they fulfill their work responsibilities, but on whether they realize their work functions. Furthermore, it can be said that those media and institutions that can continuously and successfully perform the function of consolidating and strengthening mainstream thought and public opinion can be supported or recognized as “mainstream.” This requires us to adopt a more open and inclusive attitude toward ideological work in the all-media era, approaching this work with the attitude that “heroes are not judged by their origins” and “the enemy of my enemy is my ally.” This is also a concrete manifestation of the concept of “the whole Party taking action” in the field of online ideology.

这种逻辑的变化，势必要求转变对于主流媒体和主流思想舆论机构工作绩效的评价标准，主要不是看做了什么，而是看做到了什么；主要不是看是否履行了其工作职责，而是看是否实现了其工作功能。进而还可以说，哪些媒体和机构能够持续成功发挥巩固壮大主流思想舆论的功能，这些媒体和机构就可以被扶助或认定为“主流”。这就要求我们对于全媒体时代的意识形态工作持一种更加开放、包容的态度，以“英雄不问出处”“对手的对手就是帮手”的态度来做好这项工作。这也是“全党动手”理念在网络意识形态领域的具体体现。

A New Form of Struggle in the Ideological Sphere in the Era of Cognitive Warfare

认知战时代意识形态领域斗争呈现新形态

After the forceful rectification since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, various obvious and direct attacks on mainstream ideology in the realm of public opinion have basically disappeared. But risks do not vanish; they merely shift, and new risks are even more challenging. The struggle between various non-mainstream ideologies and mainstream ideology for dominance over public opinion and discourse has generally shifted from “contention over doctrines” to “contention over issues,” from “debating principles” to “entangling over events,” from “targeted attacks” to “impact effects.” Particularly in specific cases and incidents, they insinuate and exploit pretexts, aiming to tear apart public opinion, disturb correct cognition, and accumulate energy and momentum through strategies of “advancing pawns” and “loosening the soil,” thereby causing “dam-burst effects,” “avalanche effects,” and “drip effects” on mainstream ideology. This is a tactic of cognitive warfare, upgraded from past information warfare, propaganda warfare, and public opinion warfare under new technological conditions.

经过党的十八大以来的强力纠治，在公共舆论领域各种明显而直接的针对主流意识形态进行攻击的观点言论已经基本销声匿迹。但风险不会消失，只是发生了转移，而且新风险更加具有挑战性。各种非主流意识形态同主流意识形态对于舆论主导权、话语权的争夺，总体上从“主义之争”转向“问题之争”，从“争辩于理”转向“纠缠于事”，从“靶向攻击”转向“效应冲击”，特别是在具体案例和事件上含沙射影、借题发挥，以撕裂舆论为企图，以扰动正确认知为目的，以“拱卒”“松土”策略蓄能积势，从而对主流意识形态造成“溃坝效应”“雪崩效应”“滴水效应”。这是一种在新技术条件下由过去的信息战、宣传战、舆论战升级而来的认知战的战法。

In the era of cognitive warfare, the requirements brought by the transformation of tactics for fighting the battle to consolidate and strengthen mainstream ideology are profound and systematic: what tactics to use on what issues is not determined by us, but by the way the issues present themselves; it is not about fighting with what we are good at, but about fighting with whatever tactics are effective. This requires that all our media and institutions that should perform ideological functions be adept both at “dynamic perception” through elevation—grasping and understanding various ideological and public opinion phenomena and their essence from a theoretical and political height—and at “precision strikes” through reduction—resolving each risk point in online public opinion by countering moves and taking the initiative.

在认知战时代，打好巩固和壮大主流意识形态的战斗，战法转变带来的要求是深刻的、系统的：在什么问题上采用什么样的打法，这不是由我们决定的，而是由问题呈现的方式决定的；不是我们擅长什么就打什么，而是什么打法有效就怎么打。这要求我们所有的理应发挥意识形态功能的媒体和机构，既要善于升维“动态感知”，从理论和政治的高度把握、认识各类思想舆论现象及其实质，又要善于降维“精准打击”，在见招拆招、主动出招中破解一个个网络舆论风险点。

Maintaining Ideological Security in the Post-Truth Era Is More Arduous and Complex

后真相时代维护意识形态安全更加艰巨复杂

In the post-truth era, what matters more than truth is the narrative about truth. The same fact can have multiple narratives; whoever dominates the narrative dominates the discourse. Traffic means influence, profit income, and discourse power. Therefore, various forces and manipulators use various methods to target various social phenomena and problems, frequently intervening in and hyping hot spots of social public opinion to achieve the goal of “riding the traffic wave.” Objectively, this dissolves and weakens the influence and dissemination power of mainstream discourse. At the same time, a more serious consequence is that it has become common for non-ideological issues to be imbued with ideological content and for non-ideological issues to evolve into ideological issues. The boundary between ideological issues and non-ideological issues is increasingly blurred. Ideological risks often accumulate due to other risks, and ideological issues frequently emerge triggered by other issues. The difficulty for people to identify phenomena and problems in the ideological sphere has greatly increased.

在后真相时代，比真相更重要的是关于真相的叙事。同一个事实可以有多样的叙事，谁主导了叙事谁才主导了话语。流量意味着影响力、利润收入和话语权，因此各种势力和推手以各种手法将矛头指向各种社会现象和问题，频频介入、炒作社会舆情热点，达到“蹭流量”的目的，这在客观上就消解、削弱了主流话语的影响力和传播力。同时，造成的更加严重的后果是：非意识形态问题被附加意识形态内容、非意识形态问题演化为意识形态问题成为常见现象，意识形态问题与非意识形态问题的界线越来越模糊，意识形态风险经常因其他方面的风险而累积，意识形态问题经常因其他方面的问题诱发而出现，人们对意识形态领域现象和问题的辨识难度大为增加。

Faced with this complex, mixed, and intertwined situation of problems in the ideological sphere, traditional methods such as blocking and deleting are increasingly losing their effectiveness, and may even produce counterproductive results. Therefore, enhancing the ideological capacity and ideological literacy of Party members and cadres has become an inevitable strategic response. This is because, when it is difficult to change this complex situation, effective countermeasures and actions must be formulated based on objective reality. Apart from adopting necessary technical and legal means, another important strategic measure is to enhance the ideological capacity and literacy of the audience. That is to say, by enabling more Party members and cadres to continuously strengthen their ability to understand, reflect on, and judge relevant ideological phenomena and problems, erroneous thought and public opinion will become “rats crossing the street” and “targets of universal condemnation,” thereby losing their influence.

面对这种复杂、混合、交织的意识形态领域问题态势，传统的封堵、删除等方法日益失去效力，甚至会产生事与愿违的效果。因此，提升广大党员干部的意识形态能力与意识形态素养成为一种必然的战略性应对选择。这是因为，在难以改变这种复杂态势的情况下，就必须从客观实际出发，形成有效的对策和举措。除了采取必要的技术、法治等手段外，另一个重要的战略举措就是要提升受众的意识形态能力与素养。也就是说，通过使更多党员干部不断增强认识、思考、评判有关意识形态现象和问题的能力，使错误思想舆论成为“过街老鼠”“众矢之的”，从而失去其影响力。

Online Editor: Paul

网络编辑：保罗