Changing Media, Changing China

by Shirk, Susan L.

• ISBN13: 9780199751976
• ISBN10: 0199751978
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This collection of essays--many of them written by pioneering Chinese journalists--explores how transformations in China's media are changing the country. The growth of Internet access in China has multiplied the amount of information available, the variety and timeliness of the news, and its national and international reach. The most dramatic effect of the Web is how fast it can be used to spread information and skirt official censorship. Nonetheless, China is still a long way from having a free press. As of 2008, it stood close to the bottom of world rankings of freedom of the press--181 worst out of 195 countries--as assessed by the international NGO Freedom House. In detailed case studies, the authors describe how the media is reshaping itself from a propaganda mouthpiece into an entity that practices watchdog journalism, how politicians are reacting to increased scrutiny from the media, and how television, newspapers, magazines, and Web-based news sites navigate the cross currents between the market and the CCP censors. In addition to Western experts on China, contributors to this volume include a number of prominent Chinese journalists: Hu Shuli, the editor-in-chief of China's leading business and finance magazine, Caijing ; Qian Gang, former managing editor of Southern Weekend , China's most progressive newspaper; Qiang Xiao, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual collaborative website China Digital Times ; and Zhan Jiang, former reporter and editor of the Yangzhou Daily News .

Author Biography

Susan L. Shirk is Director of the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, and Professor at University of California, San Diego. A leading authority on China, she has written numerous books and articles on the subject, including China: Fragile Superpower and pieces that have appeared in the Washington Post, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Table of Contents

Changing Media, Changing China	p. 1
China's Emerging Public Sphere: The Impact of Media Commercialization, Professionalism, and the Internet in an Era of Transition	p. 38
The Rise of the Business Media in China	p. 77
Between Propaganda and Commercials: Chinese Television Today	p. 91
Environmental Journalism in China	p. 115
Engineering Human Souls: The Development of Chinese Military Journalism and the Emerging Defense Media Market	p. 128
Changing Media, Changing Courts	p. 150
What Kind of Information Does the Public Demand? Getting the News during the 2005 Anti-Japanese Protests	p. 175
The Rise of Online Public Opinion and Its Political Impact	p. 202
Changing Media, Changing Foreign Policy	p. 225
Acknowledgments	p. 253
Contributors	p. 255
Index	p. 259
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