Neican

Internal Reference (内部参考), abbreviated as neican (内参), is a series of internal reports with limited circulation prepared for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government officials in the People's Republic of China.^[1][2][3]

Content

In the internal reference system of Xinhua News Agency, the internal reference reports are divided into four levels. The highest level is the Domestic Dynamics Proof Attachment (《国内动态清样附页》), which is specifically provided for members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee and relevant officials, usually reflecting highly significant and urgent situations. The second level includes the Domestic Dynamics Proof (《国内动态清样》) and the international-news Reference Proof (《参考清样》), which are provided to provincial- and ministerial-level leaders and their deputies, mainly covering important developments, sensitive issues, and key recommendations. Additionally, the third-level Internal Reference (《内部参考》) is directed at prefectural and departmental levels, with a lower sensitivity level than the Domestic Dynamics Proof. The fourth level (lowest tier) is the Internal Reference Selection (《内参选编》), which compiles less sensitive content from the Internal Reference and the Domestic Dynamics Proof; issued weekly, it is distributed to county- and regiment-level grassroots cadres for internal reading and discussion, although it still allows more leeway than publicly available materials.^[4][5]

In addition to Xinhua News Agency, other state-run media outlets also publish internal publications in various formats. These include the Compilation of Public Letters (《群众来信摘编》), the Situation Compilation (《情况汇编》), and the Special Issue of the Situation Compilation (《情况汇编特刊》) by the People's Daily; the Situation Report (《情况反映》) by the Guangming Daily; the Compilation of Youth Letters (《青年来信摘编》) by the China Youth Daily; and the Situation Briefing (《情况简报》) by the Shanghai Jiefang Daily, among others.^[6]

According to the media regulation in China, certain matters that media outlets believe would harm the image of the Chinese government, threaten social stability and unity, or other matters not suitable for open publication, such as certain events of corruption, social unrest, and large-scale business swindles, should be reported internally rather than publicly. The neican serves to keep CCP leaders informed about the issues that are seen as too sensitive be reported and discussed in the public publications.^[3] Thus, the internal reference is supposed to offer more realistic and less censored version of events.^[2] They are often similar in form to investigative reporting, and are prepared by the journalists working for the official media such as Xinhua News Agency and the People’s Daily.^[3] As such, certain information collected by the Chinese media is published in the internal reference, not in the public publications.^[7] Some government think tanks also produce neican.^[8]

The popularity of neican has been on the rise in recent years, with some estimates suggesting a several-fold increase in the last decade from 2000.^[1]

Since CCP general secretary Xi Jinping has consolidated power, neican have been subject to censorship previously applied only to media for the general public.^[9][8]

Criticism

Neican have been criticized for being slow and inefficient.^[1][2] Often, they focus on information already available in the Internet, but not in the Chinese traditional printed mainstream media, which is both censored by the government, and in which self-censorship of sensitive items is present.^[1][2] They are also seen as biased (produced by CCP members for other party members), often saying what the writers expect the superiors want to hear, and downplaying or omitting unpleasant news.^[1][2] Criticism of Xi Jinping's policies is avoided in neican.^[8] As Hu Xingdou, a professor of social science at the Beijing Institute of Technology, notes: "[...] there are some issues that even neican won't touch", for example, military affairs and high-level corruption.^[2]

Some lower-level neican by lower-level non-popular media turn into profit centers for their publishers, which try to increase their subscription base.^[1][2] Sometimes, the term neican is used to refer to restricted literature (books available only to individuals with certain clearances).^[10]

See also

• Internal media of the Chinese Communist Party
• Dibao (ancient Chinese gazette)
• President's Daily Brief - equivalent in the United States