201182652 Mid-Term Essay PIED 2448

201182652

PIED2448 Politics of Contemporary China

“Assess the role of journalists as political actors in contemporary China”.

Word count: 3234 words

Seminar Tutor: Kingsley Edney

    “In China, the media is regarded as a propaganda tool of the Communist Party. This is in keeping with Mao Zedong’s cardinal doctrine: Revolution depends on two barrels, the barrel of the gun and the barrel of the pen” (Qing Dai, 1994, p.12) said Qing Dai, a newspaper reporter for the Enlightenment Daily. Recently, Xi Jinping announced, “All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’s will” (Chin, 2016).

    First, the journalists seem to be the “Voice of the Party” (Scoton, 2010, p.112). In the international community, many people feel that the party intimidates and prevents Chinese journalists from telling the truth, being subjected to an authoritarian regime. They consider Chinese journalists as party tools, attached to its propaganda. However, the reality is much nuanced. The history of Chinese journalism is not only based on the control of information. Indeed, during the last thirty years, economic changes in China have reversed the contemporary history of journalism through an openness towards the practice of journalism of quality and with more objectivity.

    At first sight, the journalism assures the free flow of ideas essential to democracy and to social progress. The selection and representation of information is the key role which journalists usually attribute to themselves; they analyse events and evaluate policy. Thus, journalists exercise a political role as far as they participate in the knowledge of public life. (Burgh, 2003, p.10) Nevertheless, it is interesting to seize and to assess the dimensions which embody the journalists as political actors. Above all, to understand the political role, to trace chronologically the evolution of the relationship between the political power and the journalists relieve from a necessary step.

    Before the reform era began in 1979, all media outlets were controlled by the state, the number of media sources was regulated, and newspapers were restricted not only in content but even in length and format. Moreover, all journalists were financed either directly by the state, indirectly through a policy contribution that kept circulation numbers high. At the end of 1978, China’s leader, Den Xiaoping, launch economic reforms to open the country to the world. Many frameworks of the relationship between the party and the press began to evolve with the reforms of Deng Xiaoping. Beijing began to allow increasing commercialization of the media. The first-period reform ground to a halt in 1989, with the Tiananmen repression on students’ protests. Journalists were dismissed because of their positions and their relationship with protest students. The media are decreased to their propaganda role. The period of silence lasted until 1992 when Deng Xiaoping brought the reform back to China to reinforce its legitimacy during his visit to Shenzhen.

    Thus, two visions can be distinguished from the observation that Chinese journalists are political actors because they are related to Chinese leadership. Firstly, journalists are as "mouthpieces" of the Communist Party unchanged from the Maoist era. Secondly, journalists become "American-style professionals" because they are less oppressed by the party and thereby, they can criticize the political system. (Liebman, 2005, p.25) To have better access to information and not to be restricted in their interviews and reports, journalists must maintain a relationship with the political authorities because they can examine and monitor the spread of public information. They act both as political defenders, but also as watchdogs. Watchdog Journalism means, “watching over the powerful few in society on behalf of the many to guard against tyranny.” (Kovack, 2001, p.17) Thus, investigative journalists act as political actors by a control of public life, wished by the leaders of the party to stop corruption and give a good image to the people.

    How do Chinese journalists position themselves in the face of Chinese political power? Can we talk about convergence or divergence between the journalists and the political system, lapdog or watchdog? What are the limits to the role of political investigator of journalists?

    First, this essay will examine the Chinese propaganda system to seize the convergence between the journalists and political system, thus part I argues the China’s media system is built upon the idea that the journalists are an instrument by which the party propagates its policy and ideology. Part II argues that commercialization of the media has led to an independence over media content because the leaders encouraged the practice of investigative journalism to serve their own interests. Finally, part III qualify the political role of journalists due to the lack of prestige of investigative journalism and corruption of journalists in recent years.

    Firstly, to study the Chinese propaganda system through these institutions and processes to grasp the framework of submission of journalists to the party represent a principal aspect. Thereby, journalists were assigned to play their role as a mouthpiece of the party and propagandists of communist indoctrination.

   The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses the journalist to set up his political agenda and spread his official ideology. The CCP’s willingness is use the media and the journalists as a political tool. The regime’s media strategies are summarized in the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. The procedure resolved by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee. Other relevant official agencies introduce the State Press and Publication Administration, the State Administration of Radio, etc. Decisively, the New China News Agency (Xinhua) is assigned with the task of gathering and distributing information. These strategies underline the concept of “Party Journalism”. (Zhao, 1998, p.84) Indeed, many medias are under domination of the Party. People’s Daily is the organ of the Party Central Committee. Central People’s Radio (CPR) and China Central Television (CCTV) are monopolies. The news medias, developed after 1950, must accept the Party’s ideology and leadership. Thereby, the Party exercised strict control over its publication and the Chinese journalist become CPP’s tools. The service between the journalists and the people are arbitrated by the Party. While the journalist simplifies communication between citizens, the Party decides which news should be traded and which ones should be condemned. Chinese politicians do not only hold the power to control the information, they are also able to reciprocate against journalists who have published negative news about them. Journalists can leave their profession when trying to obtain compromising information about the party.

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