The Communist Party daily with a nationwide circulation of 3.1 million copies has over the years grown from a newspaper to a modern multimedia news group.

The communication organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, People’s Daily, is by every means an example of media vitality within and without the most populous nation in the world. All and sundry in Beijing, where the news organ is headquartered, are unanimous that People’s Daily is the largest and most influential newspaper in the 1.36 billion-citizen country, published nation with a daily circulation of 3.1 million copies (2015 statistics).

At the head office of the news organ in China’s capital, Beijing, the millions of staff behind the group’s success busy up and down the state-of-the-art building that host the vibrant organ to meet up with deadlines. Talking to some news editors from 20 media organs from Africa on Thursday March 10 who are undergoing a ten-month programme in China, the Deputy Director General, International News Department of the People’s Daily, Wu Qimin said the organ has come of age.

“People’s Daily has grown from a printed only newspaper to a modern multimedia news group, distributing its news through various platforms such as newspaper, magazine, website, television, radio, digital newsstand, mobile SMS, microblog, wechat (China’s version of facebook) and mobile applications,” she said.

The organ is maximising evolutions in ICTs to reach its audience within and without China. Reason why the group today, officials say, operates 29 newspapers and magazines, 44 websites, 118 microblog accounts, 142 wechat accounts and 31 mobile applications. No doubt the readership of the group is in the neighbourhood of 310 million, representing about one fifth of the country’s total population.

To meet up with the growing needs of the public, Mrs Wu said the People’s Daily also maintains a multilingual internet presence. She disclosed that on January 1, 1997, the media organ launched its website - people.com.cn, which today stands out as the leading general-interest news website in China. “It now has a daily page view of over 400 million.

Besides Chinese version, the website also has eight foreign language versions as well as seven ethnic minority language versions,” the Deputy Director General, International News Department said. Like any other media organ here in China, the People’s Daily has also been conquering the world. It currently has more than 70 branches and bureaus nationwide and worldwide; two in Africa (South Africa and Egypt) with stringers spread across the globe.

The challenge, like in any credible media organ, however remains feeding the expectant and sometimes well-informed audience with well researched, fairly balanced and masterly written information capable of setting records straight amidst rumours and propaganda that regrettably appear to be dictating the pace in today’s expanding global media landscape.