China's news sector employed approximately 1.0 million employees in the 2020 and 2021 calendar years, according to a report by the All-China Journalists Association (ACJA) unveiled Monday.
Omni-media and platform-based communication became a rising trend in the country’s news media industry during the period, said the report.
The report, titled "Development of China's News Media," the sixth of its kind from ACJA since 2014, reviews the new developments in the country's news media sector in the era of deep convergence.
New media became an important growth point in the media industry. Citing statistics, the ACJA noted that as of December 2021, the number of online news users had reached 771 million, increasing by 28.35 million from December 2020 and accounting for 74.7 per cent of China's total Internet users, reports Xinhua.
Over the past two years, traditional media such as radio, television, and newspapers have seen a slow pace of growth and continued to focus on deep convergence and digital transformation, the report noted.
According to the report, emerging technologies, such as media platforms, data transmission, high-definition video technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G, have driven media reform and innovation.
"In this context, the media workforce in China is becoming younger and better educated, and more capable," read the report.
The report also noted that the past two years saw further efforts made by the ACJA in protecting journalists' rights.
According to the ACJA, the report, originally in Chinese, will also be made available in multiple languages, including English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic.