Communism and communication: News media and political communication in China

摘要

This dissertation examines the relationship between communism and Chinese news media. The research focuses on the five critical yet largely ignored facets of the Chinese communist news media established since 1921, i.e. its relation with the former Soviet press, its news selection process, its professional journalists, its system of worker-peasant correspondents, as well as its publicly financed economic base.;After the detailed discussions in these areas, the author argues that the political communication in China has followed a unique and basically non-Western model, i.e. the participative communication model. During the Chinese revolutions in the 20th century, this political communication model has played a crucial role in the country's political campaigns and social life. In addition, the dissertation also provides critique on the weaknesses of the model.;The crisis faced by the Chinese news media is also discussed in the dissertation. The author believes that Deng's free market reform and political relaxation in the 1980s have fundamentally restructured the classical relation between the Chinese Communist Party and its press. A wide-ranged co-operation with the Western news suppliers, the decline of the worker-peasant correspondent system and the commercialization of the media have been challenging the traditional operation of this communication system. Meanwhile, the participative communication model has realized its limitation in solving recent political and social crises.;The research of this dissertation is mainly based on the literature, archive and primary materials from all kinds of journalistic publications available in the library. These materials are either in English or Chinese. The author's previous experience as a reporter of the People's Daily has provided the dissertation with important information and insights. The research also benefits by the view of the author's former Chinese press colleagues. The correspondence with them has undoubtedly enriched the content of this dissertation.