A micro-path of spreading China's core socialist values from the perspective of new media

Bulgarova Bella Akhmedovna ORCID: 0000-0001-6005-2505 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Mass Communications; RUDN University Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia bulgarova-ba@rudn.ru Other publications by this author     Li Yan' ORCID: 0009-0007-4573-6846 Postgraduate student; Faculty of Philology; RUDN University Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia liyanemi000@gmail.com Khan' Chaochao ORCID: 0000-0002-9491-9928 Postgraduate student; Faculty of Philology; RUDN University named after P. Lumumba Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia 1042225273@pfur.ru

An' Syaoyui ORCID: 0009-0002-4519-4868 Graduate student; Faculty of Philology; RUDN University named after P. Lumumba Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia an.xiaoyu1205@gmail.com

1. The proposal of the problem and its research significance

In the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was pointed out that "advocating prosperity, democracy, civilization, and harmony, advocating freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law, advocating patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendliness, actively cultivating and practicing socialist core values". This not only puts forward the basic categories of socialist core values, but also demonstrates its basic characteristics. The "Opinions on Cultivating and Practicing Socialist Core Values" further enriches and develops the spirit of the 18th National Congress, reflecting the Party's high attention to values. The socialist core values undoubtedly have significant theoretical value and practical significance for realizing the great Chinese Dream, enhancing China's comprehensive national strength, and enhancing China's discourse power ^{[1, p. 295-302, 2, p. 38-41, 3, 42-54]}. The selection of the dissemination of socialist core values based on new media as the research object of this report is mainly due to the following considerations:

(1) Cultivating and practicing socialist core values requires studying communication issues. At present, China is in the critical period of reform. The reform of the system and mechanism, the change of the social structure, the adjustment of the interest pattern, and the change of the lifestyle have brought unprecedented impact on the Chinese people's ideological activities and even values. In this period of development, the contradictions will inevitably lead to the confusion of the value concept. Based on this, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposes to cultivate and practice the core socialist values, which is not only a new proposition that fully reflects the current social situation and the requirements of the times, but also a major theoretical innovation in implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics. Spreading the core socialist values is the prerequisite and foundation for cultivating and practicing them ^{[4, p. 1-8]}. To make the socialist core values deeply rooted in people's hearts and play their due role, it is necessary to widely spread them. Although the issue of values has been a hot topic in academia in recent years, scholars have focused more on theoretical issues such as its concept, content, and function, neglecting the role of disseminating socialist core values. What tools, channels, and methods should be used to promote the effective dissemination of socialist core values has become an important issue that China urgently needs to address.

(2) The political emphasis on socialist core values and the alienation from daily life require research on communication issues. The socialist core values are the values that occupy a dominant position and play a leading role in the socialist core values system. Its dissemination process is the process of political information diffusion and acceptance, and its dissemination subject is the Party and the government. Its dissemination is guaranteed politically from beginning to the end. Since the first proposal and definition of the socialist core values system at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, this trend has risen on the land of China, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that the socialist core values system is the soul of national rejuvenation, the essence of advanced socialist culture, and determines the development direction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China condensed and summarized the socialist core values for the first time. The political status of the socialist core values has never been shaken, and the country has invested a large amount of funds, manpower, and material resources in theoretical propaganda, academic research, and educational promotion. However, the public generally adopts a detached attitude towards this formulaic propaganda that is outdated in form, dull in content, lacks audience interaction, and ignores the laws of communication. This is in stark contrast to the high political importance attached by the country, and requires us to explore in depth the ways and methods of communication ^{[5, p. 248]}.

(3) Studying the dissemination of socialist core values requires special attention to new media. The occurrence, development, and changes of social trends are all related to information transmission, distribution, and guidance. The carrier of information distribution mainly relies on a media system composed of various media. New media is a form of media that has emerged under a new technological support system. It naturally has the function of disseminating public information, which not only drives the development of information dissemination, but also triggers changes in human social production, life, and thinking patterns, thereby affecting changes in social structure. As Negroponte pointed out in "Digital Survival", the development of digital technology will change the way humans survive, "computing is no longer just about computers, it determines our survival". While we are proud of the convenience brought by new media communication in the face of information scarcity, we also have to face the negative effects of current information overload and loss of control on communication. These negative effects not only affect the healthy development of the new media communication ecosystem, but also lead to changes in China's ideological structure. With the introduction of socialist core values, this influence extends to the field of values. It can be seen that in today's widely used new media, how to effectively disseminate socialist core values through the application of new media has become an urgent problem to be solved.

2. Basic concepts and related theories of new media and the dissemination of socialist core values 2.1 Basic Concepts of New Media

What exactly is new media? At present, there is no consensus in the academic community on its concept. The author believes that new media is proposed relative to traditional media, and a comprehensive understanding and recognition of new media is more important than defining it. Therefore, it is necessary for us to comprehensively understand and comprehend what new media is through diverse definitions. At present, the definition of new media both domestically and internationally can be roughly divided into two categories: one is to define new media from a technical perspective. Warner Bros. President Spitzweg believes that new media is a non-linear broadcasting medium ^{[6, p. 227-236, 7, p. 15-17]}. Writer Dan Gilmore believes that new media should be a new concept that emerged after the widespread application of digital technology in communication ^{[8, p. 566]}. In summary, it is not difficult to see that the technological foundation of new media includes digital technology, network technology, information processing technology, mobile communication technology, and so on; Secondly, starting from the comparison between new media and traditional media. New media is a new type of media that is completely different from traditional media. It surpasses the strength of previous media, the breadth of television media, and the depth of print media. "New media" is a relative concept, and its content will develop with the advancement of communication technology. From the perspective of human communication history, it should be a category of the times, specifically referring to "today's new" rather than "yesterday's new" or "tomorrow's new", and so on ^{[9, p. 37-53]}. From the comparative analysis of new media and traditional media, it is not difficult to find that new media is a relative concept that is constantly updated with the development of technology.

In summary, we can conclude that new media is a concept that is constantly evolving and changing, and the current "new media" is the future "traditional media", making it difficult to provide a strict definition. The concept must reflect the essential attribute of things. Based on this, this paper relies on the existing definition to explore the essence of new media, and defines it as: new media is an emerging media based on digital, Internet, mobile communication and other technologies, aiming at surpassing traditional media and providing various services.

2.2 Basic Concepts of the Spread of Socialist Core Values

The term 'dissemination' is translated from the English word 'communication' and originally includes meanings such as communication, information, dissemination, and sharing. In modern Chinese, "dissemination" represents a dynamic behavior, where "transmission" means "delivery, transmission, expression", etc. ^{[10, p. 111-126]}. 'Broadcast' refers to the meaning of 'spreading and disseminating'. There are many definitions of communication, each with its own emphasis: the "sharing theory" that emphasizes information sharing holds that communication refers to the sharing of information between the transmitter and the receiver; The "communication theory" that emphasizes information exchange believes that the process of communication is a two-way activity with back and forth; the "influence theory" that emphasizes that communication is an intentional act of exerting influence believes that communication is the behavior of the communicator who intends to influence the recipient. No matter from which perspective communication is defined, information is the core of communication, and the purpose of communication is to convey information.

Spreading socialist core values is the prerequisite and foundation for cultivating, practicing, and promoting the popularization of socialist core values. The dissemination of socialist core values through storytelling, teaching, and media dissemination is of paramount importance in China's ideological work at present. It is an important measure to promote the great development and prosperity of socialist culture, and an important way to influence the psychological and behavioral patterns of social groups. The dissemination of socialist core values includes three meanings: firstly, information sharing. The dissemination of socialist core values is a process of sharing theory between the dissemination subject and the audience, followed by its implementation role. The dissemination of socialist core values is the process in which the dissemination subject purposefully influences the audience to recognize, identify with, and practice socialist core values: once again, symbolic value. The dissemination of socialist core values is a process of symbolic information exchange and interaction.

3. The correlation between new media and the dissemination of socialist core values

New media is a form of media that has emerged under a new technological support system, and is an important channel for people to disseminate information and an important platform for communication and interaction. The dissemination of new media and socialist core values has both inherent logical connections and is an integrated entity that is interrelated, interdependent, and inseparable ^{[11, p. 223–240]}. On the one hand, new media is an indispensable new battlefield for the dissemination of socialist core values. On the other hand, new media requires the guidance and direction of socialist core values. More importantly, new media communication highly meets the reading needs of current audiences, and plays an irreplaceable role in enhancing the traditional media's ability to guide public opinion, innovate ideological propaganda work, and seize the high ground of communication in the dissemination of socialist core values.

3.1 New media: an indispensable new battlefield for the dissemination of socialist core values

In the era of traditional media, newspapers, radio, and television were the main strongholds of the Party's public opinion. However, the emergence of new media has changed the public opinion pattern of traditional media controlling information, bringing about a huge transformation in the way information is disseminated. This transformation not only affects people's social life, but also their values, becoming an important new battlefield for public opinion. After more than a decade of development, the role of new media has gradually been recognized and paid attention to by more and more people. More and more enterprises and individuals are using new media, such as governments, enterprises, and institutions, which have established portal websites. Celebrities, politicians, and others have opened personal Microblogs, Social media platforms such as WeChat have been widely used. The development speed of new media is unmatched by other traditional media. New media is the result of the continuous development and innovation of network technology. The emergence of new media has made the reception and dissemination of information more diverse, convenient, personalized, and exclusive. New media has created an unprecedented free and active interactive platform, radiating unprecedented vitality and development momentum.

New media is an emerging media based on digital technology, Internet technology and mobile communication technology. It not only undertakes an important mission in social life, but also brings opportunities for the dissemination of socialist core values ^{[12, p. 51-60, 13, p.64, 14, p. 816-828]}.

(1) The interactivity of new media has promoted the popularization of the dissemination of socialist core values.

Interactivity is the most prominent feature of new media. Interactivity has two meanings, one is that the information exchange between the sender and receiver is bidirectional; The second is that each participant has equal and mutual control over the content. The interactive function of new media not only lays a solid foundation for the equal dissemination of socialist core values, but also effectively promotes the popularization of socialist core values dissemination.

(2) The super temporal and spatial nature of new media has achieved faster and wider dissemination of socialist core values.

Traditional mass media mainly relies on ground systems to transmit information, and the speed of this dissemination method is limited by the information receiving devices, resulting in a very limited transmission range. New media broke through the boundaries of time and space. New media used the Internet, wireless communication networks and satellite networks to break the limits of geographical space. As long as there are computer mobile phones, digital television and other information receiving equipment, people can receive the information transmitted by new media in any corner of the earth. The digital technology of new media has greatly shortened the speed of information dissemination and achieved real-time global dissemination.

(3) The hypermedia service function of new media enriches the forms of dissemination of socialist core values.

Newspapers rely on text and images to convey information, radio relies on sound to send information, television uses sound and images to transmit information, and new media combines the strengths of all traditional media, all of which rely on the hypermedia service functions of new media. The hypermedia service function not only realizes the comprehensive application of text, images, sound, and graphics, but also enables users to set conditions to receive different forms of information according to their preferences. "Audiences have a lot of freedom to choose, they can choose various forms such as silent words, sound and image, and combined images and text according to their preferences, and fully mobilize various senses. New media relies on digital technology to integrate multimedia information, providing information users with multimedia information such as text, images, audio, and video.

3.2 The Necessity of Spreading Socialist Core Values through New Media

The rise of new media represents the application of advanced technology and social progress. The dissemination of socialist core values through new media is not only important but also necessary. It is necessary to actively and effectively utilize new media to promote socialist core values in response to changes in audience reading methods, enhance public opinion guidance capabilities, innovate ideological propaganda work, and seize the high ground of communication ^{[15, p. 286-294, 16, p. 218-226]}.

New media can effectively compensate for the shortcomings of traditional media. As the most powerful tool for disseminating information at present, new media plays an important role in political communication. The openness, low cost, and spatial-temporal nature of new media allow the public to participate in politics and freely express their political views and ideas through the Internet, and this power of expression is difficult to control. The virtuality of new media can conceal the true identities of participants and establish communication and dialogue on an equal footing. Based on such a platform, participants can break free from the influence of real power and financial relationships, and the characteristics of de authoritarianism enable political figures and the public to express and present their opinions more directly. In addition, the interactivity of new media enables both the sender and receiver of information to communicate directly, which is conducive to stimulating public participation enthusiasm and achieving real-time interaction. However, due to the relatively casual dissemination of information by new media disseminators, the quality of information varies greatly, and the massive amount of information is filled with false information and entertainment oriented information, the authority and professionalism of news reporting are clearly insufficient. These all weaken the effective dissemination of socialist core values to a certain extent, and determine that new media cannot completely replace traditional media.

3.3 The guidance and guidance of socialist core values on new media

Values are the deepest essence of culture. Values have the function of concentrating energy and strengthening the foundation internally, and can enhance a country's cultural soft power externally. Therefore, in order to seek the status of a great power or a strong nation, countries around the world are paying great attention to the construction of values. The socialist core values are an important indicator of China's cultural soft power and a code of conduct that we must adhere to in building a socialist modernized strong country. The socialist core values lead and guide all aspects of social life, and new media, as an important carrier for disseminating socialist core values, naturally cannot do without the guidance and guidance of socialist core values.

Values have a significant impact on the prosperity and stability of a country, as well as the development and progress of society. They lead and guide every aspect of social life. As the core of Chinese values, socialist core values have gradually formed and improved along China's development process, and are the action guidelines and ideological principles that we must adhere to in the long run. New media is the most important carrier of communication today, and its healthy development naturally relies on the guidance and guidance of socialist core values.

Conclusion

With the development of information technology, new media represented by the Internet is bringing mankind into the new media era. The development of new media has changed people's lifestyle, especially in the field of values. As the most important carrier of communication at present, new media combines various forms of communication and has become an important tool for the dissemination of mainstream values and the main battlefield for ideological struggles. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the socialist core values have become an academic hot topic. Although there are different understandings in the academic community regarding the ways in which socialist core values are condensed and expressed, the importance of socialist core values in politics and academia is consistent. Scholars unanimously believe that there is indeed a need for a mainstream ideology that leads social trends and values, a spiritual symbol, and the need to spread to the world what spirit China pursues, what ideas it promotes, and what beliefs it adheres to.

The flourishing development of new media technology has made the dissemination environment of socialist core values more complex, the dissemination content fragmented, and the dissemination methods diversified, thus bringing tremendous impact on the dissemination effect. The acceptance of values is a systematic process involving human knowledge, emotions, intentions, actions, and other aspects. Therefore, cultivating and practicing socialist core values should start from these internal points and basic aspects, and educate people's hearts through the entire process of national education, so that socialist core values can truly become the faith and persistence of the people, and then become the guide for their thinking and action. The dissemination of socialist core values is a long-term and complex task that cannot be rushed. By effectively combining new media with traditional media and under the guidance of scientific theory, the dissemination, education, and solidification of socialist core values can achieve twice the result with half the effort.