Anchors step down from major news program

Zhang Hongmin, CCTV news anchor

Li Ruiying, CCTV news anchorwoman

Two news anchors for one of China's most influential TV news programs will retire from their positions, State broadcaster China Central Television confirmed on Wednesday, with the move expected to better cater to younger audiences.

Li Ruiying, 52, said that she and Zhang Hongmin, 53, will retire from Xinwen Lianbo and move to another department within the broadcaster to train new anchors, according to a CCTV statement posted on the Sina Weibo micro-blogging service on Wednesday.

A staff member from CCTV's broadcasting department also confirmed the news on Wednesday with China Daily.

Xinwen Lianbo has been one of CCTV's most important news programs since it first aired in 1978. The program, believed to have more viewers than any other TV program in China, is broadcast live every day from 7 to 7:30 pm and covers domestic and international news.

"We (Zhang and I) are grateful for China Central Television for cultivating us, and we appreciate the support from our audiences," Li said in a text message posted online. "We think the younger news anchors have grown up and it's time for us to continue to work backstage as their trainers and mentors," she said.

Wang Sixin, a professor at Communication University of China, said he was "rather surprised" to hear that Li and Zhang will retire from their posts.

Wang said they have been major news anchors at CCTV for a very long time and are admired by their audiences.

"Their faces and voices have become deeply rooted in the minds of the viewers, and their sudden exit may be upsetting to some people."

But their move will also bring more opportunities for fresh talent at CCTV to stand out, he said.

With the rapidly changing media industry, younger news anchors may be better in tune to what young audiences want, and new faces and broadcasting styles may attract more viewers, he said.

Yu Guoming, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China, said Li and Zhang's retirement is a normal personnel change and will not have much effect on Xinwen Lianbo.

CCTV employs strict rules and standards to ensure consistency in style for its programs, including Xinwen Lianbo, he said.

"Xinwen Lianbo will not see a big change in the way it delivers the news after new anchors take over," he said.

Other senior news anchors have been replaced by younger ones in recent years. Xing Zhibin, a former news anchorwoman at CCTV, retired in 2009 after serving as the top anchor at Xinwen Lianbo for 28 years. Her exit from the position drew a lot of attention from the public.

Li and Zhang could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Both of the veteran journalists graduated from Communication University of China, which has a high reputation for producing news anchors. They both started to work at CCTV in the 1980s and have been anchors for Xinwen Lianbo for many years.

Li, director of CCTV's broadcasting department, covered a number of major events, including the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997, and the magnitude-8 Sichuan earthquake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing in 2008.