China news, front pages compared
Crosswire tracks 6 major China news outlets. Preview their homepages side by side below — switch between two, three and four columns, go compact, or translate every page into your language.
The China media landscape on Crosswire
Crosswire lays China's front pages next to one another so you can see which stories lead where, how headlines are framed, and what one outlet foregrounds that another leaves out. Of the 6 titles tracked here, 4 sit near the centre and 2 lean right; Crosswire currently lists no left-leaning outlet in China, so for a contrasting perspective it is worth reading one of these beside a title from another country.
By kind of outlet, the 6 titles break down as 4 daily newspapers (see all daily newspapers worldwide), 1 news agency (Xinhua) and 1 television news channel (CGTN). Crosswire lists no public-service broadcaster for China, so the fixed point in a comparison has to be a wire service or the most widely read daily instead. The wire service tracked here is Xinhua; agency copy is written to be resold across the spectrum, which makes it the plainest baseline for spotting the framing a newsroom adds on top.
China sits in East Asia, on Crosswire's Asia hub. By outlets tracked it is 1st of the 6 countries in East Asia and 2nd of the 33 across Asia, where the average is 5.1 outlets per country. Its neighbours in East Asia with hubs of their own are Japan (6), South Korea (6), Taiwan (6), Hong Kong (6) and Mongolia (4).
Leaning groupings are approximate guides drawn from widely cited media-bias assessments — see the methodology and what the labels can and can't tell you. Counts are taken from the directory as of .
Which are China's main news outlets?
Across China's editorial spectrum, Crosswire currently lists near the center, South China Morning Post, China Daily, People's Daily and Xinhua; on the right, Global Times and CGTN. Each outlet below links to a full profile — its facts, editorial leaning and a live front-page preview — and the comparison view above shows any of them side by side.
The South China Morning Post is a Hong Kong-based English-language daily newspaper covering news from Hong Kong, mainland China, and Asia. It provides political, business, and current-affairs reporting for regional and international readers. Owned by Alibaba Group, it is one of Asia's most prominent English-language news outlets.
China Daily is China's largest English-language newspaper, published from Beijing and owned by the Communist Party of China's publicity apparatus. It provides national and international news aimed at domestic and foreign readers and reflects official government perspectives. It is one of the country's principal state-run English-language outlets.
Global Times is a Chinese daily newspaper published under the People's Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party of China. Its English edition is widely read abroad and is known for nationalist commentary and a robust defence of Beijing's positions on foreign and domestic policy. As state-affiliated media, its coverage reflects official Chinese government perspectives.
CGTN (China Global Television Network) is the international, multilingual arm of China's state broadcaster, China Media Group. It produces English-language television and online news aimed at global audiences. As a state-controlled outlet, its coverage of Chinese and international affairs reflects the perspectives of the Chinese government and the Communist Party.
People's Daily is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published in Beijing since 1948. As the party's flagship organ it sets the tone for official policy communication across China, and its online edition, people.com.cn, ranks among the country's most-visited news sites, publishing in Chinese with several foreign-language editions.
Xinhua is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China, founded in 1931 and headquartered in Beijing. It is the country's largest news organization, supplying text, photo, and video coverage to Chinese and international media, and operates the news.cn portal, which presents its reporting in Chinese and several foreign languages.
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