November 8, 2025 – China Headlines

Story gist: On China’s Journalists’ Day, Xinhua published an article addressing over 230,000 journalists nationwide, urging them to carry the era’s new voice with their pens. CCTV Net emphasized telling China’s story and spreading its voice, while Beijing News highlighted faith in journalism’s power amid the algorithm era.

Bias summary: Left-leaning outlets like CCTV Net frame the story with enthusiastic, patriotic tone, emphasizing state-directed narratives of spreading China’s voice globally. Center outlets like Beijing News adopt a balanced, professional emphasis on journalism’s enduring strength against digital algorithms, focusing on internal industry resilience. Right-leaning perspectives are absent, leaving out potential critiques of media control or calls for independent reporting.

Story gist: The US government shutdown has led to widespread flight cancellations, threatening the aviation industry. Bipartisan negotiations in Washington remain deadlocked as of recent reports.

Bias summary: Left-leaning outlets, like China Daily, frame the shutdown critically, emphasizing it as breaking a ‘disgraceful’ record to highlight US governmental dysfunction. Center outlets, such as Yicai, report factually with neutral titles focusing on impacts and stalled talks without judgment. Right-leaning perspectives are absent, leaving out potential defenses of Republican positions or blame on Democrats for the impasse.

Story gist: Fang Hongwei, Xi’an municipal party secretary and central committee alternate member, was placed under investigation. This is the first in-office downfall of a provincial capital party secretary this year.

Bias summary: Left-leaning outlets like New Beijing News frame the story straightforwardly, focusing solely on the investigation without additional context. Center outlets like Caixin provide neutral details, emphasizing Fang’s age, failure to advance in the Fourth Plenum, and the event’s timing. Right-leaning Epoch Times highlights Fang’s personal ties to Xi Jinping as a hometown fellow and alumnus, using dramatic language like ‘officially falls’ to underscore CCP corruption.

Story gist: China’s first electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, the Fujian, entered service on December 31, 2023, in Shanghai. President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning ceremony, presented the flag, and inspected the vessel.

Bias summary: Left-leaning outlets like gov.cn frame the event positively, emphasizing national pride and Xi Jinping’s direct involvement in the ceremony. Center outlets such as RFI report factually but highlight limitations, noting the carrier’s third status and years needed for combat readiness, omitting celebratory details. Right-leaning Epoch Times adopts a critical tone, focusing on ‘six anomalies’ in the event to imply irregularities or weaknesses, absent from other lanes.