In August 1966 the “Chinese Youth Daily”, the organ of the Communist Youth League was closed down and replaced by “Red Guard” newspapers.
On September 3rd, 1966 the “Beijing Ribao” (Peking Daily), the editorial board of which had been “reorganised” in June, suspended publication. It did not reappear until January 20th, 1967, when it carried an editorial denouncing the “crimes” of its former editors.
During November 1966 about half the staff of “Renmin Ribao” were transferred to other duties. This signalled a general reorganisation of the editorial boards of newspapers throughout the country – “Jiefangjun Bao” (Liberation Army Daily) and “Hongqi” (Red Flag) being the only major organs unaffected.