Journalist or online star? Internet celebrity strategy in China’s mainstream media amid traffic competition

Abstract In the wave of digital transformation, the popularity of CCTV female journalist Wang Bingbing sparked a surge in Chinese mainstream media adopting the Internet Celebrity Journalist Strategy, which has become a model for adapting to traffic-driven attention mechanisms of digital platforms. Drawing on participatory observation and in-depth interviews with 15 female journalists involved in this strategy, this study examines its impact on media convergence from field theory and feminist perspective. The findings reveal that the strategy has intensified gendered habitus in the newsroom, placing female journalists in dilemmas of capital accumulation and professional identity crises within the news field. Notably, the strategy does not strengthen platform politics of mainstream media; instead, it risks diverting public discourse in pursuit of traffic.