大眾傳播概論（專題之一）

Entertainment in Political News: Reflection of Deep Social Changes in China

Prof. Feng WeiSchool of Literature and Journalism

&Communication Shandong University

Chinese Prime Minister Wen JiabaoGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel

众传播概论

Last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid her visit to Beijing. On the next early morning after arriving in Beijing, Merkel, accompanied by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, took a walk in a park. Being introduced the way to play taiji-ball by Wen Jiabao, Merkel tried for a while as it was shown, then Wen Jiabao kicked the shuttlecock, but failed soon after he began. Wen Jiabao burst into laughing like a happy child and Merkel followed him to laugh, too……

This is very scene of video was broadcast on CCTV later. This kind of news---reporting political activities with entertainment, which seldom could be seen in the traditional China media, nowadays in China is becoming more and more popular.

Of course we can catch such a scene frequently in BBC and CNN. For example, Prime Minister Tony Blair performed a signing show outside NO. 10 Downing Street in order to boost England’s morale in the World Cup in Germany; President Bush, wearing like a cowboy, held his dog in his left arm while gave back a salute to a solider with his right arm when he came back to the White House from David Camp.

What I want to say is that, making political news more entertaining, means much more in China than that in the West, for the tradition of political culture and the media system in China are quite different from that in the West. So the bud from political news to public amusement in China should be taken seriously by our academic circles.

In Chinese “政治”， is translated to “Politics” in English. However from ancient times to nowadays ， in China “ 政治” has been referring to “ the affairs of the State”, as China has a thousand years-long history of monarch domination, and the monarch domination is what we called “ 政治”。 The kind of “bureaucrat-centered” political tradition has being lasted till now.

It is now surprising that in China the supreme policy-making group is called “the Political Bureau” of the ruling party; as a result the supreme leaders are in some way sacred, their public affairs are called “political activities”, and their instructions may turn to be popular “political slogans” or “political assignments”.

In a word, politics or anything about politics in China are important matters which have a strong sense of principle: the media concerned politics must be treated solemnly, prudently, seriously, cautiously, strictly and rigorously. That is why in China the bud of political news are broadcast by the mass media in a way full of human feelings, even ridiculousness, deserves the high attention of our academic circles.

In Chinese mind, in the West the entertainment in political news has been excessive or in flood. And this phenomenon has aroused the rethinking and critique of the western academic circles, of which Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, published in 1985, could be considered as significance.

• In this book, Postman held the idea that, the soul of the national culture being lost, the solemn public affairs being vaudevilled, and people degenerating to infant, will occur if a nation or a society immersed itself in the overflowed entertainment made by the media all the time.

However, some cultural conservatives in China borrowed the standpoint in Postman’s book to criticize the tendency of political entertaining in China media after the book’s being published in China in 2004. They even criticized the pure entertaining program called “Super Girl”. I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment on the reality in China media in the view of Mr. Postman.

In my opinion, the entertainment in China media, especially in political news, is not enough, not excessive at all. Compared to the other communicative patterns in China such as “the interpersonal communication”, which offers so extensive and wide-ranging political jokes in Chinese daily life, or “the organization communication”, which is so affluent in hearsays at various meetings and conferences, the information broadcast by the mainstream mass media seems to be poor, dry and coarse. Nowadays in China the official spoken system of the government represented by the media is completely different from that of the folks, ordinary Chinese.

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As we all know, China media is in an environment of interweaving and balancing of the two systems. On the one hand, China media is controlled by the ruling party as an affiliated tool of politics, on the other hand , China media is in pursuit of the economic profit and market occupation.

Being controlled by the ruling party, China media may incline to be conservative; while as an enterprise, its tendency must be more open. The entertainment in political news is the result of the openness.

That is to say, it will do good to our society if China media and the political news become more entertaining

Firstly, it will do good to the improvement of the political democracy. Reporting political news in a worldly or ridiculous way reflects the growing up of the concept and the sense of equality and democracy. People’s focus and measurement on the political topics are being verified.

Secondly, it will do good to the transformation of China mass media system. The acceptance of the newspaper, radio and TV broadcast will influence the business’ profit and the employee’s income. So people working for the media want to get rid of the control of the ruling party and want to please its audience. At the same time, the original pattern “local media followed the central media”---- caused all the channels of the whole country performed the same messages----is dispelling.

Thirdly, it will enrich the cultural life of Chinese people. While its functions, which have existed for a long time, as the tools of political propaganda and political education are becoming weaker, China media is strengthening its functions as the mediation to articulate the public opinions, to express the ordinary people and to entertain the audience.

Thank you