The Communication Practice and Future Path of the Popularization of the Party’s Innovative Theories in the New Era

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we must disseminate Marxism well, not by reading scripts mechanically or quoting passages out of context, but by making it popular and accessible. This has charted the course for the popularization and dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories in the New Era. The core of popularizing the Party’s innovative theories is “the people.” Specifically, this means adhering to a people-centered stance, so that the Party’s innovative theories “go toward” the people and truly “fly into the homes of ordinary people.” [1]1 “Fly into the homes of ordinary people” is a Chinese idiom (飞入寻常百姓家) originally from a Tang dynasty poem, here used metaphorically to mean that the Party’s theories should become accessible and familiar to everyday people.

习近平总书记指出，我们要传播好马克思主义，不能照本宣科、寻章摘句，要大众化、通俗化。这为新时代党的创新理论大众化传播指明了方向。党的创新理论大众化的核心是“大众”。具体来说，就是坚守人民立场，党的创新理论要“走向”人民，真正“飞入寻常百姓家”。

The year 2024, which has just passed, marks the 30th anniversary of China’s full-function access to the international internet. The emergence and flourishing of the internet is undoubtedly the most important “global event” since the 1990s. As a technological revolution centered on information technology, the effects of the internet are still unfolding. The emergence of the internet is not merely a change in communication technology—adding a channel, pathway, and platform—but also a revolution in communication structure. As a completely new “high-dimensional medium,” the internet has fundamentally changed people’s habits and methods of receiving information, and thereby has changed the patterns of connection, modes of thinking, and value concepts of people. It is against this backdrop that the internet has become the main battlefield, the main front, and the forefront of propaganda and ideological work and ideological struggle.

刚刚过去的2024年，是中国全功能接入国际互联网30周年。互联网的出现和勃兴，无疑是上世纪九十年代以来最重要的“全球性事件”。作为一项以信息技术为中心的技术革命，互联网效应仍在持续发酵之中。互联网的出现不仅是一场传播技术的变革——增加了一种传播渠道、通路和平台，更是一场传播结构革命——作为一种全新的“高维媒介”，互联网从根本上改变了人们的信息接收习惯和接受方式，进而改变了人们的连接样态、思维方式和价值观念。正是在这一背景下，互联网已经成为宣传舆论工作、意识形态斗争的主阵地、主战场、最前沿。

If we do not occupy the positions of public opinion, others will. The dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories in the New Era must also strengthen internet thinking, fully advance into this main battlefield of the internet, and, based on the communication characteristics of networked integrated media, employ a “combined punch.” [2]2 “Combined punch” (组合拳) is a boxing metaphor commonly used in Chinese political discourse to describe a coordinated set of measures or strategies applied together for maximum effect.

舆论阵地，如果我们不去占领，别人就会去占领。新时代党的创新理论传播也要强化互联网思维，全面挺进互联网这一主战场，立足网络融媒体传播特性，打好“组合拳”。

First, adhere to interactive communication. Compared with traditional media, the most important feature of the internet is its strong interactivity. The rise of the internet has broken the linear communication model based on the binary separation of “communicator-audience” in traditional media, replacing it with an interactive communication model. In linear communication, the relationship between communicator and audience is a one-way communication of influence and being influenced. In the interactive model, however, the boundary between communicator and audience “disappears.” In interactive communication, the communicator always centers on the concerns and expectations of the audience, and through multi-level communication and two-way exchange with the audience, gradually changes the audience’s thoughts and actions. At the same time, the audience, through interaction with the communicator, increases their identification, understanding, and support for the communicator, accepting the communicator psychologically. The dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories should make full use of internet forms convenient for following up, commenting, liking, sharing, and Q&A, allowing the audience to fully participate and express themselves diversely, and to increase their familiarity with and acceptance of the theory through active participation and expression.

一是坚持互动式传播。与传统媒体相比，互联网的最重要特点就是其强互动性。互联网的兴起打破了传统媒体中建立在“传者-受众”二元分立基础上的线性传播模式，取而代之的是互动传播模式。在线性传式中，传者和受众之间是一种影响与被影响的单向传播关系，而在互动模式中，传者和受众之间的界限“消失”——在互动式传播中，传者始终以受众的关切和期望为中心，在与受众多层次的沟通和双向交流中由浅入深改变受众的思想和行动。与此同时，受众也在与传者的互动中，对传者增加更多的认同、理解和支持，在心理上接纳传者。党的创新理论传播要充分运用互联网便于的跟帖、评论、点赞、转发、问答等形式，让受众能够充分的参与和多样化表达，在主动参与和表达中增加对理论的熟悉和接纳。

Second, adhere to segmented communication. In the era of traditional media, the essence of communication was a “one-to-many” mass communication, with a broad and uncertain target audience. The technological advantages of the internet make “precision communication” and “segmented communication” possible. Networked integrated media can fully mine data resources, analyze user preferences, create “precise portraits” of the audience, and formulate personalized information, thereby launching “menu-style” and “on-demand-style” segmented content. This kind of segmented communication is crucial for the dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories. For example, when addressing the younger generation, who have a natural aversion to preaching, careful consideration must be given to both the language content and the mode of expression. When explaining theory, one should be adept at using lively “everyday language,” at telling “humorous words” that integrate critique and constructiveness while differing from vulgar comedy, and at speaking “moving words” that appeal to both emotion and reason, so that profound theories truly “enter the brain” and “enter the heart” of the younger generation.

二是坚持分众化传播。在传统媒体时代，传播的本质是一种“一对多”的大众传播，传播对象广泛而不确定。互联网所具有的技术优势为“精准传播”“分众传播”提供了可能。网络融媒体可以通过对数据资源的充分挖掘，分析用户喜好，给受众进行“精准画像”，制定个性化信息，从而推出“菜单式”“点播式”的分众化内容。这种分众化传播对党的创新理论传播至关重要。比如，面向对说教有天然抵触情绪的年轻一代，不论是在语言内容还是在表达方式上，都要有深入考量。讲理论要善于用表达形式活泼的“家常话”，要善于讲集批判性和建设性于一体又区别于低俗搞笑的“幽默话”，还要讲动之以情晓之以理的“动情话”，真正让深奥的理论在年青一代中“入脑”“入心”。

Third, adhere to immersive communication. The communication characteristics of integrated media based on the internet facilitate “visual communication” and “situational communication.” The dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories is not a simple process of information transmission, but a process of constructing situations and sharing meaning. In the dissemination of the Party’s innovative theories, one can fully explore and utilize emerging display technologies such as naked-eye VR, 3D digital projection sand tables, and holographic phantom imaging, as well as interactive designs like AI interaction, multi-touch, and scene painting, to build or recreate an observable and perceptible “real” situation, allowing the audience to be subtly influenced in their thoughts and concepts while immersed in it.

三是坚持沉浸式传播。基于互联网的融媒体传播特性为“可视化传播”“情境传播”提供了便利。党的创新理论传播不是一个单纯的信息传递过程，而是一种建构情境、共享意义的过程。在党的创新理论传播中，可以充分探索利用裸眼VR、3D数字投影沙盘、全息幻影成像等新兴展示技术以及AI互动、多点触控、场景绘画等交互设计，搭建或再现一个可观、可感的“真实”情境，让观众在沉浸其中的同时思想和观念受到潜移默化的熏染。

No matter how the form of communication changes or how the communication landscape shifts, the iron law that “content is king” will not change. As mentioned above, the Party’s innovative theories fundamentally come from the people and are for the people. The content of communication must also be close to the people, constantly strengthening “problem awareness”—closely focusing on the most direct and realistic interests of the broad masses of the people, allowing the theory to demonstrate its inherent charm and power in responding to real doubts and solving real problems.

不论传播形态如何改变、传播格局如何转换，“内容为王”的铁律不会变。如前所述，党的创新理论根本上来自人民、为了人民，传播内容也一定要贴近人民，时时刻刻强化“问题意识”——紧扣广大人民群众最关心、最直接、最现实的利益问题，让理论在回应现实疑惑、解决现实问题中展现其应有的魅力和力量。

Author: Zhang Sen (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Journalism and Communication, Guangming, China University of Political Science and Law)

作者：张森（中国政法大学光明新闻传播学院教授、博士生导师）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧