The president of People’s Dailygave students at Shanghai’s Fudan University a rare insight into how the party mouthpiece rallied behind the Communist Party with a series of commentaries over the downfall of the disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai.

The speech by Zhang Yannong on Thursday is part of a public relations campaign the paper launched at mainland universities this year as it struggles for relevance in a diversifying media market.

Zhang, who has worked at People’s Daily since 1996 and became its president in 2008, highlighted the role the party paper played following Bo’s spectacular fall from grace. Bo is being investigated for “serious violations of party discipline” linked to alleged criminal activities of his wife. The New York Times reported yesterday that Bo was also alleged to have ordered the wiretapping of President Hu Jintao‘s phones.

People’s Daily ran 11 commentaries, including three that…