Zhang Yang

nicolezyyy@163.com

A MEDIA delegation consisting of 23 journalists, freelancers and editors from 16 countries in central and eastern Europe visited the Shenzhen Press Group yesterday to seek cross-border media cooperation with the group.

Accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staffers from China Radio International, the delegates attended a meeting with the press group’s leadership yesterday afternoon.

Xuan Zhuxi, editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Press Group, gave a brief introduction of the press group as well as its newspapers and news apps during the meeting and answered questions posed by media practitioners from the overseas delegation.

One of the main issues discussed at the meeting is the profitability of the press group’s newspapers as traditional media is facing the impact of new-media development.

According to Xuan, the major task the press group currently must accomplish is to maintain the profitability of its newspapers because of the declining revenue in recent years. He said the press group’s most profitable newspaper was the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, which is the press group’s flagship newspaper and also a Party newspaper.

“The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily earned 600 million yuan (US$88.26 million) a year at its peak, but now its annual revenue is only 300 million yuan,” Xuan said, adding that the press group might shut down some of its 10 newspapers by 2020 based on the newspapers’ brand influence, circulation and profitability, and those that lose money for three consecutive years would be fully transformed into digital media outlets.

Xuan also answered a question raised by Ruslanas Irzikevicius, a Lithuanian website editor, about the major competitors of the press group.

Xuan said the main rival of the press group’s newspapers is Internet media and self-curated media. But he said the press group still has its own competitive power as its newspapers are considered reliable and credible by most readers.

Dong Haitao, editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily, the first local English newspaper in China, also gave a brief introduction of the newspaper. Apart from publishing hard-copy newspapers, the Shenzhen Daily also operates English websites for municipal and district governments in the city and runs two WeChat accounts, including Shenzhen Daily and EyeShenzhen, to provide news, leisure and entertainment information for its readers.

Huo Yuzhen, an ambassador from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Shenzhen is the youngest and most vibrant and innovative city in China and the media delegates from the 16 central and eastern European countries can gain a deeper understanding of China through Shenzhen as a window and develop further cooperation with the Shenzhen Press Group in different aspects after the visit.