ABSTRACT
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has consistently asserted that the news media play a key role in consolidating the proletarian dictatorship. The party uses three means to control the media: the party organization, the personnel department, and the financial department. All newspapers in China must establish a party organization. If a unit has more than fifty party members, it has to form a "party committee"; if the membership does not exceed fifty, then the unit has an option of creating a "general party branch" or a "party branch" to oversee the "party cells", depending on numbers. The editor-in-chief and the deputy editor-in-chief as well as the desk chief at all the major newspapers must be party members. The editor-in-chief, usually head of the party organization, is appointed by the higher-level propaganda department; the head of each desk is appointed by the party committee after reporting to the higher propaganda department for approval.
