China – China’s national broadcaster, CCTV, is to revamp its flagship news programme to include more human interest stories and critical reporting, reports the China Daily. Xinwen Lianbo, the country’s most authoritative and popular news program, will change its format to include more human-interest segments and critical reportage from June 20. “It will be the biggest change for China Central Television (CCTV) in a decade,” Yu Guoming, deputy dean of the school of journalism and communications at Beijing-based Renmin University of China and a member of the panel involved in reforming the program, told China Daily. “People care more about human interest stories and critical reportage, rather than official announcements. It points to the future of news broadcasts,” Yu said. He said the programme needed to address changing media trends and the demands of its audience or face a drop in ratings. According to statistics from CSM Media Research, it is China’s most popular news programme, with more than 72 million viewers each day. However, ratings have fallen in recent years.