Comment Forwarding the Report on the First National Broadcasting Work Conference (I)
(March 4, 1953)

Comrade Xi Zhongxun[1][2]:

Reference is made to the report of Mei Yi, Director of the Broadcasting Administration Bureau of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council, dated February 12, 1953, on the First National Broadcasting Work Conference. The report states that the Central Broadcasting Bureau recently convened the First National Broadcasting Work Conference, which established the future policy of “focusing on key construction and advancing steadily,” summed up experiences in improving the quality of broadcasting propaganda, and discussed and arranged this year’s tasks. Over the past three years, great achievements have been made in national broadcasting work, but there are still many weaknesses. First, forces are too dispersed. There are many stations but with low power; the output power of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station is insufficient to reach all parts of the country universally, let alone to undertake the task of waging effective international broadcasting struggles. Second, there is an acute shortage of cadres. There are very few editorial and broadcasting cadres, and their political and cultural levels generally cannot compare with those of cadres at newspapers of the same level; technical cadres are also few, and without concentration, it is impossible nationwide to form a complete team for capital construction covering design, civil engineering, antennas, wiring, and power supply. Third, broadcasting programs are generally large in quantity but not high in quality; stations that can play a role during campaigns are relatively many, while those that can play a role in daily life are relatively few. Fourth, the broadcasting and receiving network has developed from scratch rapidly, but it is not sufficiently sound and consolidated. Fifth, the broadcasting industry has developed greatly, but there is no unified management and unified production plan. Based on the above situation, the main tasks for broadcasting work in 1953 are: concentrate forces on the capital construction of the central station; adjust manpower, carefully run programs, and improve the quality of broadcasting propaganda; consolidate and strengthen broadcasting stations and receiving stations; uniformly formulate production plans for broadcasting work, and uniformly manage factories and repair service agencies nationwide.

[2] Xi Zhongxun was then serving as Head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Deputy Director of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council.

Comment Forwarding the Report on the First National Broadcasting Work Conference

It seems we can first have the Central Propaganda Department distribute Mei Yi’s report to all central bureau and sub-bureau provincial and municipal Party committees and their propaganda departments, and then issue the central directive (I) you mentioned. Please consider and decide.

[1] This refers to the directive on strengthening leadership over broadcasting work that the Central Propaganda Department proposed drafting for the Central Committee when submitting Mei Yi’s report to Mao Zedong.