The Chinese Media – Party Rules and Market Logic

The Chinese Media – Party Rules and Market Logic

By Alex Pevzner

Director, Chinese Media Center, School of Media Studies, The College of Management Academic Studies

EARLY JOURNALISM/KMT ERAMissionaries

establish first newspapers in China

Dagong Bao 大公报 (L’Impartial) 1902, Tianjin

Alex Pevzner, Director, Chinese Media Center, למנהל המכללה

EARLY JOURNALISM/KMT ERA -1Starting from 1927 the ruling Guomindang

began to exercise censorship. (Efforts continued in Taiwan by limiting to 1.5 sheets and no new newspapers)

Journalists could ignore propaganda directives before 1949/politically-unaffiliated periodicals ( 大公报 , 新民报，新闻天地，观察 )


EARLY JOURNALISM/KMT ERA- 2 CPC propaganda work before 1949

History of the Party press - radical journals of the late 1910s and early 1920s/Chen Duxiu, Mao Zedong (eds.)

“Today news has become a most important and most effective propaganda method.” (Hu Qiaomu, 1946)


CPC ERA – TOTAL CONTROL - 1

“As long as class distinction still exists in the world, the press will always be an instrument of class struggle.” (Mao Zedong, 1957)

“A thousand newspapers with one face”

Media responsible for mass mobilization


CPC ERA – TOTAL CONTROL - 2The scope of propaganda oversight includes: “newspaper

offices, radio stations, television stations, publishing houses, magazines, and other news and media departments; universities, middle schools, primary schools, and other vocational education, specialized education, cadre training, and other educational organs, musical groups, theatrical groups, film production studios, film theaters, drama theatres, clubs, and other cultural organs, literature and art troupes, and cultural amusement parks; cultural palaces, libraries, remembrance halls, exhibition halls, museums, and other cultural facilities and commemoration exhibition facilities.” (Shambaugh/ 中国共产党建设大字典 )


THE REFORM ERA Transition from planned economy to market-

base economic development

Government gradually reduces subsidies to media outlets; competition over readership

New outlets are born in broad experimentation in profit making

Commercialization but media remains “tongue and throat” of the party (sensitive periods)


THE MEDIA MARKET TODAY

“If a state TV station reports problems here and there every day, how can it be called the tongue and the throat of the party?” (Remarks by Yang Weiguang, then-President of CCTV, in 1996)Alex Pevzner, Director, Chinese Media Center, למנהל המכללה

THE MEDIA MARKET TODAY“As the saying goes, television today is like a

double-gendered rooster: propaganda departments want it to crow while finance departments want it to lay eggs.”

Over 2,000 newspapers; 130 million copies daily


THE MEDIA MARKET TODAY – cont.


THE MEDIA MARKET TODAY – cont.



CHINA’S MAIN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS cont.

China Business News 第一财经日报 (est. 2004, circ. 250,000)China’s Bloomberg, the CBN Group operates print and broadcast business news services. The Group’s newspaper, China Business News, is published Monday through Saturday. Many international news media source information from the paper because it is fast and authoritative.

China Securities Journal 中国证券报 (est. 1992, circ. 800,000)Established by Xinhua News Agency, it is designated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission to disclose information on listed companies, insurance companies and trust companies. Positions itself as an investment adviser.


CHINA’S MAIN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS cont.

Caijing 财经杂志 (est. 1998, circ. 225,000)A bi-weekly magazine, used to be one of China’s leading business publications, styled itself after The Economist.

Caixin Media 财新传媒 (est. 2010, circ. 220,000 for Caixin Century)Beijing-based media group, Caixin Media publishes four magazines, Century Weekly, China Reform, Comparative Studies and Caixin - China Economics & Finance.


CHINA’S MAIN BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS 21st Century Business Herald 21 世纪经济报道 (est.

2001, circ. 632,000)Member of the Nanfang Daily Group, five days a week, known for its aggressive reporting and critical commentary, the first Mainland financial paper in Hong Kong. Bureaus in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Moscow.

Economic Observer 经济观察报 (est. 2001, circ. 380,000)A weekly published on Mondays, in-depth analysis, attractive layout. focuses on economics, politics, and culture, appeals to intellectuals.

INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA618 million

Internet users end-2013 (45.8% penetration rate)

500 million users of weibo; vibrant social media ecosystem

Increasingly heavy censorship over the Internet ( 大 V, 实名制 )Alex Pevzner, Director, Chinese Media Center, למנהל המכללה

GROWTH IN NUMBER OF CHINESE INTERNET USERS


CHINA ADVERTISING SPENDING


INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA-cont.

River Crab, Grass Mud Horse, Harmonized, 五毛党

目田 ( 自由 freedom) ，景德镇 , The Great Chinese Firewall

囧Alex Pevzner, Director, Chinese Media Center, למנהל המכללה

– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 1 – Southern Weekly editorial incident

May ‘12 deputy director of Xinhua Tuo Zhen ( 庹震 ) named Guangdong propaganda chief

Original Southern Weekly 2013 New Year’s greeting, “China’s Dream, the Dream of Constitutionalism,” entirely rubbed awayAlex Pevzner, Director, Chinese Media Center, למנהל המכללה

– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 1 – Southern Weekly editorial incident

The word “constitutionalism” had appeared 18 times in the original version of the greeting

Rare public protest over censorship (1,034 stories censored one way or the other in 2012)


– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 2 – Wenzhou train crash

July 23, 2011 high-speed train crash outside Wenzhou kills 40, injures 192

Unusual outpour of comments on weibo causes authorities to investigate



– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 2 – Wenzhou train crash

Authorities issue news blackout order after a week of online rage

People’s Daily editorial “China does not need blood-stained GDP”

“My story will not go to print today and looks like I will have to write something else. I’d rather leave the page blank with one word — ‘speechless.’ ”

– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 3 – Nobel Prize for Liu Xiaobo


– CONTROL VS RESISTANCE 3 – Nobel Prize for Liu Xiaobo



CHINA’S JOURNALISTS – PARTY HACK VS. THE FREEDOM CRUSADER

车马费／软文体制内／外The case of Chen Yongzhou 陈永洲

NETANYAHU’S CHINA VISIT COVERAGE

Netanyahu and Abbas visit China

PhotosXinhua vs CRICentral Party

School


Thank you 谢谢Alex Pevzner

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Presentations & Public Speaking

The Chinese Media – Party Rules and Market Logic