Media Reform in China

What are the aims of the Chinese media reform and what progress is it making?

Old media: a radio from the cultural revolution declares in Chairman Mao's red handwriting: "Serve the People"

"Since 1949 (1), and after 1978 (2), the objective of Chinese media has been to support the government. Now the aim of the media, and the aim of the media reform, is to give people the news they need and to make the media the voice of the people, to give a voice to the people for the matters they want to raise."

"The first major change under the reform has been to move from state-owned to privately owned media companies, and even foreign-owned media companies. This has already happened except for CCTV [China Central Television], the People's Daily, the Economic Daily and the Guangming Daily."

"For now, although ownership has changed from state to private, it is important to note the nature of the news itself, the editorial content has not moved into the privately managed category. You have to see this as a process. China is moving forward. Yesterday everything was state-run, today only non-editorial content is privately owned and managed, tomorrow, who knows, perhaps everything will be privately run."

"There are two kinds of rules, the rules on the surface, the Three Respresents Theory (3), and there are also another level of unseen rules in operation. Before, the ministry in charge of newspapers used to say "we give you the money and we tell you what to do" but now it says "we won't give you the money but you still have to do what we say". But at the same time there is greater tolerance. It is a complex situation, dynamic, and we're in a strange type of limbo. "

"Western commentators are not seeing progress as progress, but they are judging according to their own criteria, they're not giving a clear picture of what is happening. An absolute analysis, saying this and that is wrong, is not the right way to do it. You should see that this is a dynamic process and that it is moving in the right direction. It can't all be done at once, a gradual process is needed to reduce resistance to the changes here in China."

The challenge from digital media

Professor Yu Guoming of the School of Journalism and Communication, at Renmin University of China: "Since 1949, and after 1978, the objective of Chinese media has been to support the government. Now the aim of the media, and the aim of the media reform, is to give people the news they need and to make the media the voice of the people, to give a voice to the people for the matters they want to raise."

"China is now facing the challenge of digital media. Previous years' budget for newspaper advertising grew in double figures. In 2004 they grew by 5%, and if the first half of this year is anything to go by, this year it is projected to fall by 10%. This is because of digital media. Newspaper readers are getting older. A recent survey shows that in the under 35 group 10% of those who did read papers are now not reading papers because they get their news from the internet."

"Another challenge is coming from satellite TV. China is putting a satellite in space that is capable of showing 300 channels, and with people now being allowed their own dish it is impossible to control what they see. Also, internet TV and 3G are having impacts. "

"The government sees what is happening and it has to be practical, its policy is being affected by what is practical. Because the government is taking away financial support they know it is difficult to survive so it is giving media more freedom to allow them to survive. Because of so many changes it is harder to control the media, therefore policy must reflect lack of control."

"There is a new Government Information Access law, this is visible progress in terms of responsibility of government, this increases the accountability of the government."

New media: one of hundreds of internet cafés in Beijing. The emergence of digital media is having an impact on media policy.

"With the development of media, instead of finding only one voice in the media, the voice of the government, people can find other people with similar views and interests and join together with them. For example blogging is very popular in China now."

"Before, the characteristics of journalists were to listen to the party and write well. Now journalists need creativity, analytical skills, and to not be afraid to take risks, to dare to talk about difficult issues that others are afraid of dealing with. Why will anyone want to read you? Because your powers of analysis are greater than others, and you dare to deal with difficult issues that others shy away from. That's what distinguishes a good journalist now, and that is what is giving Chinese media a more interesting role."

Sean Hawkey

Links:
CCTV website, English version,
The People's Daily, English version,
China Daily, English version.

Notes:
1) 1949. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established under Chairman Mao Zedong and the country came under communist government.

2) 1978. Under Deng Xiaoping, Mao's successor, market-based reforms were begun which focused on 'the four modernisations': agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence.

3) The Three Represents Theory was proposed in 2000 by Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. The awkwardly-named theory states that party won the support of the people because throughout the historical stages of revolution, construction and reforms, the party has always represented (1) the development demands of China's advanced productivity, (2) the forward direction of China's advanced civilization, and (3) the fundamental interest of China's broadest populace. The media has been asked to support the theory. For more information see here
and also here