Journalism and Communication in China and the West: A Study of History, Education and Regulation [1st ed.] 9789811578724, 9789811578731

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SOCIOLOGY, MEDIA AND JOURNALISM IN CHINA

Bing Tong

Journalism and Communication in China and the West A Study of History, Education and Regulation

Sociology, Media and Journalism in China

This series provides an interdisciplinary and cutting edge approach to the key areas of media, journalism and communication in China. Offering titles cutting across these areas, Sociology, Journalism and Communication in China addresses the rapid changes affecting how news is disseminated in China, how people communicate in daily life, and how mobile technologies are affecting contemporary human interaction in sociological and commercial settings. This series also examines major sociological trends in China and how these are developing, as well as rapid changes in how communication is affecting and being affected by China’s growing population and internal migration. Providing a vital comparative approach, notably with western nations, this series considers the development of Chinese media, journalistic cultures and histories and sociological development on a global scale. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16016

Bing Tong

Journalism and Communication in China and the West A Study of History, Education and Regulation

Bing Tong Fudan University Shanghai, China

ISSN 2662-7981 ISSN 2662-799X  (electronic) Sociology, Media and Journalism in China ISBN 978-981-15-7872-4 ISBN 978-981-15-7873-1  (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1 Jointly published with China Renmin University Press The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please order the print book from: China Renmin University Press. ISBN of the China Mainland edition: 9787300040394 Translation from the Chinese language edition: 比较新闻传播学 (新闻传播学文库) by Bing Tong, © China Renmin University Press 2002. Published by China Renmin University Press. All Rights Reserved. © China Renmin University Press 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: eStudio Calamar This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword: Deepening Journalism and Communication Studies Through Comparative Analysis

Being a branch of journalism and communication discipline, the comparative journalism and communication is regarded as subordinate to journalism and communication. Journalism and communication is a science studying on the phenomena, undertakings, and laws of journalism and communication. The comparative journalism and communication, as a subdiscipline of journalism and communication, studies on the journalism and communication phenomena and undertakings and their laws in all different places by comparison. Compared to journalism and communication, the significance of methodology of the comparative journalism and communication is emphasized. In this respect, the comparative journalism and communication can be defined as follows: a branch discipline of journalism and communication that reveals the laws of journalism and communication in a comprehensive and in-depth manner through the systematic comparative research on the phenomena and undertakings of journalism and communication in different countries and regions. The State Bureau of Technology Supervision had published the Table of Code of Disciplines (National Standard) on November 1, 1992, which listed the Comparative Journalism (code 860.1050) as a third-level discipline under the second-level discipline journalism and communication (code 860).1 This was the first time to establish the discipline status of comparative journalism in legal instruments during the construction of humanities and social sciences disciplines in China.

1The Manual of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Management System in Universities and Colleges in China, Edition 1, Page 116, Shenyang, Shenyang Publishing House, 1997.

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In 1997, journalism and communication was listed as the first-level discipline by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, which symbolized the status elevation of journalism and communication (previously known separately as journalism science and communication science) in humanities and social sciences in China and proposed more stringent requirements on education and scientific research of journalism and communication. Since the Academic Degrees Committee renamed the previous journalism science and communication science to be journalism and communication, the author here uses the comparative journalism and communication instead of the comparative journalism. In another book, An Introduction to Theoretical Journalism and Communication, the author explained the change of the name in this way: journalism and communication, not simply the journalism science and the communication science, is a discipline exploring the communication process and law of news, which, on the basis of traditional journalism, incorporates some academic achievements of communication, applies some academic terms of communication, examines the phenomenon of news communication and reviews the process of news communication from a new perspective and with a new method, and discusses the special laws and principles of journalism and communication that are distinguished from the ordinary public communication.2 Compared to other subdisciplines of journalism and communication, such as journalism and communication theory, history of journalism and communication, journalism and communication practices, journalism and communication law, journalism and communication ethics, and journalism and communication sociology, the comparative journalism and communication shows its own characteristics. Firstly, while the subdisciplines mentioned above have their own special objects of research, comparative journalism and communication mainly studies on the phenomena and undertakings of journalism and communication, sharing a similar object of study with the discipline of journalism and communication. However, what varies between the two lies in that comparative journalism and communication incorporates the phenomena and undertakings of journalism and communication in two or more countries or regions in the object of study, covers extensive research objects and proposes the special regional requirements. Secondly, though the method of comparative study is adopted in these subdisciplines mentioned above, it is used in an extensive and frequent way for comparative journalism and communication. In a manner of speaking, the comparative study method constitutes the foundation and vitality of comparative journalism and communication; or, in other words, comparative journalism and communication will cease to exist without the comparative study.

2Tong

Bing, Preface of An Introduction to Theoretical Journalism and Communication, 1st edition, Page 1, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 2001.

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Only by extensively and carefully comparing and analyzing a great mass of data can the common law of journalism and communication as well as the special law of journalism and communication in different countries and regions be discovered and understood. A detailed explanation is given to the latter characteristic. The word “method” in the western language is derived from Greek “μéταōδōs.” In this word, “μéτα” suggests “along” and “ōδōs” means “road.” Therefore, the “method” refers to moving along a certain road. As pointed out by a scholar Wu Daiming, in the modern scientific sense, the “method” is the collective name of the approach, means, tool, and mode that people use for a certain purpose when attempting to keep a grip on reality theoretically or practically in all areas. Many great scientists emphasized on the extreme significance of the method. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov said that “Science is advancing based on the achievements made in the study method. A progress of the study method will make us move a little further and bring us a broader view filled with the new. Therefore, our primary task is to draw up the study method.”3 As an important methodology, comparative study plays a more important role in humanities and social sciences. Japanese scholar OkiHara Yutaka compared the role of comparison in social sciences to the role of experiment in physics and biology. Comparison is a way of thinking to compare the properties and characteristics of a thing to that of another thing and determine the common grounds and differences, thus to fulfill people’s goal of understanding and practice. The method of comparative study refers to researching on humanities and social sciences by means of this thinking pattern and reaching certain conclusions or laws based on a great many phenomena. There are sufficient theoretical bases for the application of the comparative study method and the introduction of the method to the journalism and communication studies to all countries and regions. Firstly, the dialectical combination of unity and diversity constitutes the common law of the development and changes of objective things, which is embodied in the unity of the laws of journalism and communication and diversity of the activities of journalism and communication in different countries and regions. These common grounds and differences are considered as the objective basis for comparative study. The things coexisting simultaneously in a space and the things existing in succession all share some common grounds and show certain differences. Therefore, the comparison can be conducted spatially and temporally. In the former case, we can compare the established forms of things and then discover the external characteristics of different things; and in the latter case, we can compare the historical forms of things and understand the different conditions of the same thing in different tenses. 3A

Collection of Pavlov’s Works, 1st edition, Page 49, Science Press, 1955.

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Secondly, objective things complement and depend on each other, are dialectically interconnected to each other and exist separately from each other for their different characteristics. The activities and undertakings of journalism and communication in different countries and regions are independent but interconnected to each other. These common connections and differences have made up the second scientific basis for the application of the comparative study method. Thirdly, due to the imbalance of the development of objective things, the imbalance is seen in the development of journalism and communication undertakings and activities in different countries and regions and the development of journalism and communication undertakings in the same country or region but in different historical periods. A difference results in a characteristic, while a characteristic constitutes an object of scientific research. This is another theoretical basis for the application of comparative study method in the research of journalism and communication. The application of the comparative study method has two important premises: firstly, the two or more parties for comparison are comparable, and secondly, the researchers must own a great mass of data. The corresponding property relation among different things is called the identical relation. Only the different things showing the identical relation are comparable. Therefore, the journalism and communication undertakings under different social systems in China and foreign countries can be compared in terms of the nature and functions of journalism and communication undertakings as well as the internal management and external supervision, since the journalism undertakings under different backgrounds show the identical relation in regard to the nature, functions, internal management, and external supervision. Also, the past and the present of the Chinese audience can be compared as the identical relation can be found. However, the nature of journalism and communication undertakings in China cannot be compared to the readers of foreign newspapers, while the layout of Chinese newspapers cannot be compared to the TV audience in the west, as no identical relation can be seen. Facts and data are indispensable to all scientific studies. Once mentioned by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, “Birds can never fly without the support of air no matter how strong their wings are. To scientists, the fact is the air. Without the fact, they can never fly; and without the fact, the ‘theory’ makes no sense.”4 In the Critique of Political Economics of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels not only emphasized the significance of facts and data to studies, but also proposed explicit requirements on facts and data. He pointed out “It takes years of hard work and intensive study even only to develop a materialistic view based on a single history instance, because apparently empty talk makes

4The

Collected Works of Pavlov, 1st edition, Vol. 1, Page 16, Beijing, People’s Medical Publishing House, 1959.

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no sense and this mission can only be completed when a great mass of historical data has been critically examined and fully mastered.”5 While facts and materials are indispensable to general scientific research and must meet strict requirements, the requirements on materials and facts are even higher in comparative study so as to achieve a more focused and convincing analysis and comparison. When doing research on the science of history, Hu Shi emphasized that scholars put the most diligent efforts on collecting materials, studied on the materials in an elaborate way and examined the materials with the most rigorous method.6 Fu Sinian specifically pointed out it was necessary to make every attempt to seek for and study first-hand materials in order to do research. He stated in The Objective of the Work in the Research Institute of History and Language that progress could only be made when the materials could be directly studied; and it would lead to regress if only studying materials indirectly, or studying the materials that predecessors had studied, or studying the material system built by predecessors. The comparative study of journalism and communication is a part of cultural comparison. According to some scholars’ research, the comparative method was firstly applied in social sciences instead of natural science. As early as in the fourth century B.C., Aristotle had conducted a comparative analysis of the political systems in 158 city-states and, on this basis, written the famous The Athenian Constitution. It was until the eighteenth century when the systematic comparative study was conducted for a certain discipline in a conscious and comprehensive way. In the eighteenth century, the French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu, who was honored as the forerunner of comparative methodology, had compared some countries in the west and the east in The Spirit of Laws. By the nineteenth century, comparative literature had emerged in France and the United States in succession. As to China, Sima Qian had conducted a comparative study of history in the Records of the Historian; and On the Urgency of Changing the World by Yan Fu in the late Qing Dynasty was considered as the start of the comparative study between Chinese and western culture. Following Yan Fu, Wang Guowei, and Liang Qichao had also researched on comparative literature. Wang Guowei had made a comparative analysis of A Dream in Red Mansions and Faust. Liang Qichao had compared and analyzed the systems in China and some other countries in On Similarities and Differences of the Constitution in China and in Europe. As pointed out by some scholars, China’s connection to foreign culture can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, when the Buddhist culture was introduced to China from India. In the long history from Han, Wei, Jin, the Northern and Southern Dynasties to Sui and Tang, after countless conflicts, 5Karl Marx, Critique of Political Economy, 1st edition, Page 165, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1959. 6Ge Maochun, Selected Works of Philosophic Thinking of Hu Shi, Vol. 1, 1st edition, Page 536, Shanghai, East China Normal University Press, 1981.

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fights, exchanges, and integrations between Confucian culture and Taoist culture in local China and foreign Buddhist culture, they were finally assimilated by traditional Chinese culture, leading to the rise of a new Confucianism, the neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasty. Later, Marco Polo traveled around China and Matteo Ricci introduced the Christian culture to China, but on profound effect of western culture had been generated since China still considered itself as the “Celestial Empire,” the center of the world at that time. Therefore, the collision between the two cultures had not produced an ideological trend. In the modern times, western countries had won the worldwide dominance relying on their great economic and technical advantages. “Europocentrism” and ethnocentrism had been widely spread in the western world. Meanwhile, westerners started to reflect on themselves as inspired by the people under colonial control fighting against aggression and safeguarding local culture: whether there was another culture outside the west that could not be conquered or assimilated by western culture; if yes, how was the culture formed and what characters did it have; and what were the differences between this culture and western culture. Westerners launched an upsurge of comparative study of culture for the sake of conquering other culture. Some scholars with curiosity and preoccupation with cultural exploration also joined the trend. This constituted the foundation for the objective comparison study of western culture in early times. Comparative study in China was earlier applied to literature and culture. In the 1980s, the monograph Five-Hundred Year Comparison Between China and the West that comprehensively compared the politics, economy, ideology, culture, science, technology, and education between China and the west was published. Famous scholar Tang Yijie pointed out that “This is a monograph of the comprehensive comparison between China and the west that stands on the reality, looks back into history, faces the world and looks forward to the future. Being a monograph applying this style of writing for the first time, it is of great academic and practical values.”7 This 700,000-word monograph is the most representative work of comparative study known to the author. The comparative study of journalism and communication in mainland began in the 1990s. Four representative works are recommended here. The first is the Comparative Journalism, which was written by Mr. Tao Han from the Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and published in April 1994. This book was actually completed by 1992 and prefaced by Tan Wenrui who served as the chief editor of People’s Daily at that time. This book comprehensively conducted the comparative study of journalism and communication and combined both historical facts and theories. With merely 160,000 words, it had paved the way for the comparative study of journalism and communication in mainland.

7Hao

Xiajun, Mao Lei and Shi Guangrong, Five-Hundred Year Comparison Between China and the West, 1st edition, Page 4, Beijing, China Worker Publishing House, 1989.

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According to the publishing notes of the book, this book “fills a gap in journalism studies in mainland.” The second is the Comparison Between Chinese and Western Journalism, which was jointly completed by Professor Fan Fan from the School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, and five postgraduates under his guidance and was published in September 1994. This book had observed and analyzed the similarities and differences in news thoughts, cultural constraints, journalism ethics, and journalist writings between China and the west from the perspective of culture and philosophy, and put forward many enlightening academic views of great values and insights. The third is the Comparative Journalism jointly written by Professor Liu Xiatang from the Department of Economics and Culture, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics and some other scholars from the School of Journalism, Nanchang University and Jiangxi Daily. This book consists of 18 chapters, including 7 about the comparison of journalism theories, 5 about the comparison of journalist writing, and 6 about the comparison of journalism businesses. This book is more comprehensive in terms of the layout. The fourth is the book Outline of the Comparison of Journalism in China and the West written by the author here as supported by other members of the research group, and it is a final result of the state “eighth five-year plan” program of philosophy and social sciences. This book, with over 300,000 words, is divided into seven chapters, respectively including historical review, editorial policies, media organization, social regulation, ethics of law, journalism education, and journalism concept. Among the above four books, this is the book of the most comprehensive content, the longest length, and deeper comparative research. In addition to the four books mentioned here, there are approximately more than 100 papers about the comparative study of journalism and communication published in journalistic journals in all places. Generally, since the comparative study of journalism and communication just started in China, it reached only a few achievements, had no systematic research group, lacked necessary organization or investment, and exerted insignificant influence on journalism and communication practices. Therefore, at present, it is vital to conduct comparative study of journalism and communication in a more extensive and profound way and construct the theoretical framework of comparative journalism and communication. For this purpose, this book is written and published. Shanghai, China

Bing Tong

Preface

Since 1997 when journalism and communication had been upgraded to be a first-level discipline by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, the discipline building of journalism and communication in China has advanced swiftly and vigorously and achieved significant development. Meanwhile, the new higher requirements have been raised on teaching, scientific research, and academic writings. After China Renmin University Press published the The 21st Century Journalism and Communication Teaching Materials in 1999, over ten publishing houses including Beijing Broadcasting Institute Press, Huaxia Publishing House, Nanjing University Press, China Social Sciences Press and Xinhua Publishing House successively released teaching materials with different characteristics and the Chinese version of the classics written by foreign journalism and communication masters. However, among them, there are only a few monographs that represent the highest academic level and show the latest scientific research achievements of this discipline in China. Meanwhile, significant progress has been made in journalism and communication education in China. The colleges and universities providing the education of journalism and communication had increased sharply from 66 in 1994 to 232 in 2001. According to incomplete statistics, more than 50,000 students are now studying in the 6 major of journalism and communication in junior colleges and universities nationwide. The degree education of the communication and journalism has also developed, and 8 doctoral programs and 40 master programs have been established in China by now. A number of research institutes are rising, including the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China and Fudan Journalism School. Characterized by the high starting point and diversified professions, the journalism and communication education of Peking University and Tsinghua University has boosted the new vigorous development of these two century-old prestigious schools. Communication University of China now xiii

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embraces an impressive level of journalism and communication education and ranks among the most well-known schools in this discipline in China. The School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, has launched a series of education and scientific research programs based on the new doctoral program, to display its unique charm. The academia and society are expecting that the “first echelon” of journalism and communication education in China will publish new works and acquire new achievements that contribute to the discipline building. Since the beginning of the new century, the journalism and communication in China has developed by leaps and bounds in a comprehensive way, along with the rapid popularization of the new media represented by the Internet, the cooperation between the new media and the traditional media and the rising initiative of hundreds of millions of people to participate in public communication. The people are using the mass media in an unprecedentedly extensive and timely manner. The mass media has become an indispensable part in people’s daily life and exerts a profound influence on people any time and any place. It is of great urgency for the whole society, particularly the journalism and communication educators, to popularize the social education of journalism and communication among all the people. Currently, an urgent task of the academic circle of journalism and communication is to provide high-quality journalism and communication works to the public. It can be clearly seen that it is an important job of great academic values and practical meaning to publish high-level academic works of journalism and communication that satisfy the demands of discipline building and professional and social education of journalism and communication. In view of this fact, upon the joint efforts of all scholars, the “Journalism and Communication Library” has emerged. This Library aims to assist in achieving some new breakthroughs in the discipline building of journalism and communication, discuss on the new system of the discipline, demonstrate new academic ideas, seek new research methods, apply the new way of discourse and explore the new writing style of papers. In a word, compared to the previous achievements in journalism or communication, the works of the Library shall tell some new things and present some innovative ideas. To achieve innovation, the first task is to discard the old system, old ideas, and old things. Based on the Marxist theoretical character of advancing with the times, it is the only road of the discipline development to discard the old and grow the new, and therefore the humanities and social sciences workers enjoy the right of theoretical innovation. As pointed out by Friedrich Engels, their theories are developing instead of being the doctrine that must be memorized and parroted. According to a Russian writer’s memory of the talk between Friedrich Engels and him, Friedrich Engels hoped that the Russians, or people from other countries, would not mechanically apply what Karl Marx and he said, but should think as Karl Marx did based

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on their own conditions. Only in this way they could be called the “Marxist.” China is different from foreign countries, the old China is different from the new China, and the new China in the first three decades is different from that in the latest two decades. Correspondingly, the journalism and communication study under the current historical conditions in China shall have the methods and conclusions different from foreign countries, the old China, and the first three decades of new China. In this case, the “Journalism and Communication Library” proposes the following requirements on the authors and their works: understanding the characteristics of the times, meeting the requirements of the times, advancing with the times, adhering to the theoretical courage to profoundly discuss the social transformation from the planned economy to the market economy and the complicated communication relationship among the Party, government, media and audience, studying on new issues, seeking for new methods, acquiring new knowledge, discovering new ideas and demonstrating new conclusions. This is the aim and expectation of the Library. We expect that each work and each author of the Library will lead the readers to the academia of journalism and communication and reveal a new academic world. Innovation is accompanied by risks. The sense of innovation coexists with the risk awareness. Innovation means to do things that have never been done before and say things that have never been said, or overthrow what has been done or correct what has been said. When denying the old things, systems or ideas, challenging the traditional customs and obsolete theories and criticizing the old ideas that had been memorized for years, it would necessarily result in the suppression and strike by the old forces. Therefore, scholars who stick to theoretical innovation must bear the risk awareness. Compared to the rapid progress of society and high-speed development of journalism and media undertakings, the discipline building of journalism and communication is relatively slow and backward. Under the circumstances, it may be difficult to prove some new ideas and opinions of the Journalism and Communication Library to be correct and scientific, and meanwhile takes time and practices for the correct ideas and opinions to become a common view of the society and among scholars. Correspondingly, while promoting the sense of innovation, the author must bear a strong risk awareness. We appeal to the society and scholars to give the tolerance and love to the authors and workers of the Library. We also sincerely welcome any strict criticism over the works, since criticisms also suggest the readers’ deep love. The “Journalism and Communication Library” bears the responsibility to require the authors concentrating on research, writing books elaborately and providing some penetrating academic findings. These works have explored the new academic areas in journalism and communication, or cleared some old systems or old ideas, or demonstrated the advices proposed to the journalism and media authority, or applied Chinese language and Chinese traditional culture to understand foreign works about journalism

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and communication in a new way. In a word, the Library must provide people with the classical works of academic study of journalism and communication. Adhering to the principle of a smaller quantity with better quality, the Library selects three to five research findings among numerous scholars inside and outside Renmin University of China each year. In three to four years, an extensive range of academic achievements will be covered by the Library, winning a place in the forest of academic research achievements of the journalism and communication and even the humanities and social sciences. Right at the beginning of the new century, China Renmin University Press has released the Library based on an elaborate plan and a comprehensive structure. I would like to express deep appreciation and gratitude toward the strategic insight of the Press and the teamwork of authors. I hope that we can make a concerted effort to do a better job. Shanghai, China January 2002

Bing Tong

Contents

1 Significance and Method of Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication 1 1 The Purpose of Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication 1 2 The Object of the Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication 5 3 Research Methodology of Comparative Journalism and Communication 8 2 Review of the Journalism and Communication History of the Six Countries: Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Russia 15 1 Historical Process of Journalism and Communication Activities 16 2 Review of the Journalism and Communication History of the Six Countries Including Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Russia 24 3 Journalism and Communication Undertakings in China 46 4 The Law of Formation and Development of Journalism and Communication and the Imbalanced Development of the Press in China and the West 52 3 Analysis of Journalism and Communication Ideas in China and the West 65 1 The Idea on the Nature of Media 67 2 The Idea on the Functions of Media 73 3 The Idea on the Authenticity of News 83 4 The Idea on the Communication of News 91

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5 6 7 8 9 10

The Idea on the News Values The Idea on the Propaganda of News The Idea on Public Opinion of News The Idea on the Rights of News The Idea on the Audience of News Several Concluding Remarks About the Analysis of Journalism and Communication Ideas

103 109 116 123 131 139

4 Differences and Similarities Between the Journalism and Communication Systems in China and the West 143 1 Analysis of the Ownership of Chinese and Western News Media 144 2 Comparison of the Editorial Policies of Chinese and Western News Media 154 3 Different Organizational Structures of News Media in China and the West 182 5 Regulation and Supervision on Journalism and Communication in China and the West 207 1 Analysis of Journalism and Communication Regulation in China and the West 208 2 Comparison Between the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in China and the West 242 3 Comparison Between Journalism and Communication Ethics in China and the West 273 6 Practice Views of Chinese and Western Journalism and Communication 291 1 Similarities and Differences Between Chinese and Western News Sources and Processing 292 2 Different Statuses of News Commentary in China and West 304 3 Layout Features of Chinese and Western News Media 310 4 Analysis of Advertising Dissemination Between Chinese and Western News Media 316 5 Some Conclusions on the Practice Views of Chinese and Western Journalism and Communication 324 7 Comparison of Chinese and Western News Education 329 1 News Education in Western Countries 330 2 Journalism Education in China 346 3 Comparison of Chinese and Western Journalism Education 358 Afterword 365

List of Figures

Chapter 4 Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Fig. 13 Fig. 14 Fig. 15 Fig. 16

The chart of the organizational structure of The Times 184 Chart of the organizational structure of shareholding newspapers in the west 185 Chart of the organizational structure of British and American newspapers with the separation between news and speech 186 Chart of the organizational structure of commercial radio in the United States 187 Chart of the organizational structure of commercial television in the United States 188 Chart of the organizational structure of French Broadcasting Corporation 189 Chart of the organizational structure of BBC 189 Chart of the organizational structure of private or semi-official news agencies in the west 190 Chart of the organizational structure of small-sized newspapers in the United States 191 Chart of the organizational structure of medium-sized newspapers in the United States 192 Chart of the organizational structure of large-sized newspapers in the United States 193 Chart of the organizational structure of the news Department of American Radio Stations 194 Chart of the organizational structure of a major community TV station 195 Chart of the representative operation agencies of medium-sized newspapers in the United States 196 Chart of the organizational structure of Ta Kung Pao in 1942 198 Chart of organizational structure of Shanghai Central Daily News in 1947 199

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 17 Chart of the Organizational Structure after Adjustment in December 1954 Fig. 18 The basic pattern of organizational structure of Chinese media before the cultural revolution Fig. 19 Chart of the traditional organizational structure of Chinese media

200 202 204

List of Tables

Chapter 2 Table 1

The Verified Magazine Circulation in 1992

27

Chapter 4 Table 1

Daily newspapers that support presidential candidates with leading articles

156

Chapter 6 Table 1

Statistical table of the winning works of the first to the Ninth China News Awards

315

Chapter 7 Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

Journalism program setting and credit distribution plan (158 credits) Teaching schedule for journalism major Graduates’ evaluation on journalism teaching

354 356 361

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CHAPTER 1

Significance and Method of Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication

Have two blades cut each other to tell sharp from blunt; and compare two theories to tell right from wrong. —Wang Chong Our development owes to the inextricable influences of the world, among which we can absorb the available and useful parts to us. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An independent discipline holding a place in the academia must have its special object and unique values. The significance, object and method of the discipline shall be firstly clarified at the beginning of study. This chapter mainly aims to explain the significance, object and method of studies of comparative journalism and communication.

1  The Purpose of Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication Instead of being the purpose, comparison is a means of study. An inscription of “Know Yourself” hangs in the Delphi Temple in ancient Greece. To know yourself is one of the eternal subjects of men from of old. Cornelius Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, once stated that you should compare yourself to others, in order to know yourself. Also, according to the poetic drama Tasso written by Goethe, when you thought you had lost your values, compare yourself with others. Thus, it can be seen that comparison is a method of thinking and cognition of people. Marxism points out that all things in the world are interrelated, interdependent, mutually transforming and struggling, so scientific understandings can never be obtained through any static, isolated and one-sided way to know © The Author(s) 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1_1

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2  B. TONG

the world. As a saying goes, “nothing can be identified without comparison”, which proves that comparison is not only a cognition method, but also a kind of scientific working method. Once indicated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the disciplines such as anatomy, botany and linguistics had made great achievements by comparing and finally identifying the differences among the objects of comparison, while comparison had shown universal significance in these disciplines. The major three purposes of studies of comparative journalism and communication are as follows: Firstly, explore the basic laws of journalism and communication. Albert Einstein believes that science is “a coherent idea for finding the regular relationship between our sensory experiences”.1 When engaged in journalism and communication, the first thing is to know, understand and master its laws. By comparing the journalism and communication activities and undertakings in different countries and regions, finding their similarities and differences, further comparing their social, political, economic and cultural backgrounds and seeking for the reasons for the similarities and differences, you can explore the basic laws of journalism and communication activities and summarize universal experiences, in order to adjust and improve these activities, promote the effect of journalism and communication and fulfill the social mission of journalism and communication in a better way. All phenomena reflect certain laws from different levels and perspectives. Being universal and repeated, the law is the essential connection and inexorable trend of the development of things. It is objective and inherently existing in things, which cannot be created, altered or eliminated by men, but can be identified and utilized. Science bears the task to upgrade perceptual knowledge to conceptual knowledge, unveils objective laws and guides people’s practices. As early as in 1843, Karl Marx pointed out it must be admitted that the newspaper and the magazine “features something universally recognized by people that can even be seen in plants, i.e. the inherent laws, which shall not and can never be avoided.”2 The final purpose of journalism and communication is to find and identify the law, thus to guide journalism and communication practices and promote the communication effect. The same with general laws, the journalism and communication laws are widely seen in different countries and regions, different historical periods and different media, and repeatedly emerge in communication of different social incidents and other facts. Therefore, when comparing and studying the journalism and communication activities in different countries and regions, 1 The Collected Works of Albert Einstein, 1st edition, Page 253, Vol. 3, Beijing, The Commercial Press, 1979. 2 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 397, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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comparing and analyzing the journalism and communication phenomena in different historical periods, and particularly comparing and researching the activities in different countries, regions and historical periods that show vastly varied media and communication environment, you can find, identify and master, more profoundly and keenly, the basic laws of journalism and communication as well as the universal experiences that are playing a part in all different conditions. As to this purpose, the comparative journalism and communication mainly focuses on studying the journalism phenomena and activities that are playing a decisive and guiding role in journalism and communication activities, such as the media ecology, the communication environment and the communication system; and tends to apply the macro comparison as the research method, such as investigating the changes of journalism and communication phenomena and the evolution of media in a certain historical period or conducting comparative studies on different countries and regions. The Four Theories of the Press written by American scholar Wilbur Schramm et al. and the report Many Voices, One World prepared by the International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems have set a model for the macroscopical comparative study. Secondly, understand the features of journalism and communication in different media ecologies. The theory of media ecology regards the society as an organic structure, where the media system, the political system and other systems constitute stable relationships of interdependence and mutual influence. As discovered in the observation and study with the media as a subject, the media depends on the political, economic and cultural systems. Hence, the media ecology practically consists of two parts, the media environment and the communication environment. The study of the medial environment refers to a static observation and investigation on the environment for the media, mainly about the social and economic system as well as the communication system where the media exists; while the study of the communication environment conducts a dynamic observation and investigation on the whole condition for media operation, which means the multiple conditions and factors that affect the communication effect. The medial ecology, i.e. the media environment and the communication environment, determines the nature, functions and features of journalism and communication. In other words, in order to understand the features of news media and media communication in different social systems, you must have an extensive and profound understanding of the social system and the economic system, the final strength that determines their features and characteristics. For example, when defining the nature of two kinds of newspapers and magazines in two social systems, Mao Zedong emphasized on their different economic foundations. He pointed out that the newspaper in a socialist country was a manifestation of the planned economy established based on

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the socialist economy, i.e. the public ownership, through the means of press; while the newspaper in a capitalist country was a reflection of the anarchic economy of group competition in the press sector. On the basis of this fundamental difference, you can clearly define the nature, the functions, the editorial policies, the operating characteristics, the personnel management and the reporting style, etc., of the two different kinds of news media in two different social systems. The studies of comparative journalism and communication exactly aim to understand and master the different characteristics of journalism and communication in different media ecologies. Only by identifying the different natures, functions and features of the journalism and communication in different media ecologies, can you correctly understand the complicated journalism and communication phenomena under current circumstances, have the initiative in news exchange and international cooperation, know others and know yourself in a realistic way and develop the strengths, avoid the weaknesses and learn from others. The Internal and External Journalism History by Japanese journalism master Ono Hideo and The Comparison of Television Systems by Chinese Taiwan journalism scholar Li Zhan are considered as successful instances of studies in this respect. Thirdly, learn from foreign experiences in a critical manner and promote the development of journalism and communication in China. To learn from others is an important goal of comparative studies, while learning in a critical manner will be more effective. In foreign countries, particularly Western developed countries, based on the 400-year experiences of the journalism and communication development, the mature and efficient mechanisms and means of communication reports, news operation, industry management and team construction have been established, and rich experiences have been accumulated in dealing with the interactive relations between journalism and communication and the economic, political and cultural systems as well as the relations between the press and the government, parties, social groups and the public. Though these experiences, mechanisms and means are subject to the influence of bourgeois values, the bourgeois journalism and communication, essentially one of the social tools of the bourgeoisie, still reflects the understandings of the basic laws of journalism and communication, which can be learned and used by China. China can find its shortages and weaknesses by comparing to foreign activities and undertakings of journalism and communication and thus can improve, transform and perfect the journalism and communication operation in China correspondingly. Since the Reform and Opening Up, the press in China has been engaged in increasingly active exchanges and cooperation with foreign presses and has constantly found its own shortages and weaknesses while identifying and sticking to its own advantages and strengths. According to Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles written by Deng Xiaoping, “We have already admitted our backwardness of natural science and now we shall also admit our backwardness of studies of social science (the

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comparable aspects) compared to foreign countries.”3 The author strongly agrees with it and hopes to learn more experiences from foreign presses through the profound comparative studies, overcome the shortages and weaknesses of the press in China, promote the development of Chinese journalism and communication and contribute to the development and prosperity of journalism and communication worldwide. Bearing the same goal, many scholars have conducted all-around comparative studies on the journalism and communication systems and internal management mechanisms, the operation modes and works of journalism and communication, the operation and development of news media and the principles and methods of news operation and management between China and foreign countries, which have constituted the theoretical support and resource support to journalism reform that is carried out currently. The press is now actively performing theoretical innovation and institutional innovation. Innovation never excludes studying beneficial experiences from the outside. The new cultural factors of a society may also derive from those of another society. Some scholars believe that the process of communication indicates a group studies from cultural factors in another society and integrates them into their own culture. A group can avoid certain mistakes and save much time in the development course by studying and learning from others. All these demonstrate that it is of great significance to learn from foreign experiences in a critical way for promoting the development of journalism and communication in China and achieving more scientific studies of journalism and communication. The academic values of comparative journalism and communication can be summarized with a saying of Friedrich Engels, the pioneer of Marxism, “only a nation always equipped with theoretical thinking can reach the highest peak of science.”4 As the theoretical sub-discipline of the discipline of journalism and communication, the comparative journalism and communication applies theoretical thinking the most among all research sectors of journalism and communication.

2  The Object of the Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication Generally, the comparative study refers to comparing the issues that need to be studied and explored within a certain spatial–temporal scale, identifying their similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses and advantages and disadvantages, and analyzing and demonstrating the factors that 3 The Collected Works of Deng Xiaoping, 2nd edition, Page 181, Vol. 2, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. 4 Friedrich Engels, Dialectics of Nature, 1st edition, Page 47, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1984.

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lead to the homogeneity and heterogeneity. The explicit time range shall be firstly determined for the study. All things develop along with the time axis and exist and change as time goes by. Only within a certain time range can the comparison and targeted analysis be done for the comparative study. Comparison may be vertically comparing the past and the present of the same object or horizontally comparing the objects of the same kind within the same time range. Secondly, the relatively stable and clear spatial domain shall be determined. The comparative study is generally conducted between one country and another, or one region and another, since this is more specific and direct. However, the comparison can also be made between one country or one region and some other countries or regions together. For example, the comparison between China and the West consists of several countries. Furthermore, the provinces or municipalities within a country, the different areas within a province and different media can also be compared, such as the comparison of media at the two sides of the Taiwan Straits, the comparison of the newspapers of Beijing School and the newspapers of Shanghai and Guangdong School, the comparison between the press media including newspapers and magazines and the electronic media including radio and television and the comparison between the traditional media including newspapers, magazines, radio and TV and the new media including online media, etc. It is believed that the comparative study shall be extensive and all-round spatially and temporally. We advocate that diversified objects shall be incorporated in the comparative study. However, like the comparative literature and comparative law, the comparative journalism and communication shall have the object placed in the same time range, and shall conduct comparison mainly between one country and another one or several countries and one region and another one or several regions in terms of the spatial domain. The given time and space guarantee the quantity and quality of the comparative study and helps clarify and regulate on the study object. Under the certain spatial–temporal conditions, comparative journalism and communication covers extremely extensive objects of study. Everything, macro or micro, media or works, virtual or actual, internal or external, people or things, can be compared, analyzed and studied only if they are comparable, and can be considered as the object of study of comparative journalism and communication. It is a kind of macro comparative study to compare the properties, characteristics, functions and missions, etc., of journalism and communication undertakings in different countries and regions under different social systems and historical conditions as well as their economic, political and cultural backgrounds. As introduced above, Mao Zedong had once pointed out the different properties of the two kinds of journalism and communication undertakings in the world in an article he wrote in 1957, which was essentially a comparative analysis of the property of newspapers based on the Marxist principle of the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. Relative to the macro issues such as the properties,

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characteristics, functions and missions of journalism and communication undertakings, the studies on the business characteristics, working methods and norms of works, etc., such as the study on the different roles of journalists in China and Japan, the comparison of the media in China and the United States and the comparison of the news works and styles in China and foreign countries shall be deemed as the comparative studies on micro issues. The comparative studies can also be conducted at the virtual and the actual level, respectively about the journalism and communication ideas and ideological trends and about the actual operating issues such as the newspaper layout, manner of writing and title production, etc., in different countries and regions. The investigation and analysis at both levels are necessary and meanwhile comparable. The former kind of study lays stress on theoretical perspectives and shows strong academic rationality; while the latter emphasizes the practices and presents strong operability. As to the journalism and communication ideas, foreign countries and China share quite a few common views but also see many differences. For example, both China and foreign countries consider that being interesting and personal is an important factor of news values; but some Western scholars see it as the “foundation of news values,” and the mainstream news values in China regard the significance and timeliness of news higher. The comparison between ideas at the virtual level will become a substantial subject with rich content if combining the journalism and communication practices, though it is a kind of analysis and study of concepts after all. Meanwhile, the comparison of tangible news products such as the layout, programs, titles, writing and pictures and their operation methods is essentially the analysis at the operational level based on practical examples, which is significantly different from the relatively abstract comparison of ideas. The comparative studies of journalism and communication mainly focus on but are not limited to the journalism and communication system. Any issue directly or indirectly related to journalism and communication activities and undertakings can be the object of comparative studies, including “the internal and external” issues of comparative studies. As the study object of comparative journalism and communication, the internal issues of the journalism and communication system cover the ownership and management right of journalism and communication undertakings and the editorial policies, principles of editing and speech, advertising aims, personnel management systems and salary and labor management of media agencies. In addition, the issues outside the system that need to be compared include the direct supervision over journalism and communication activities by the government, ruling party and legislative and judicial agencies and the indirect influence of the social pressure groups, advertisers and social public opinions on journalism and communication activities. The journalism and communication activity constitutes an important way for people to influence the social process through reports and reviews on social incidents. The judgment of the working method and social influence of journalism and communication activities shall focus on the performance

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of different media in different social incidents. Therefore, the attitudes and behaviors of news media in social incidents in different countries and regions are deemed as an important object of comparative studies. In this book, the readers will find that the author has combined the analysis of the performance of media in social incidents in the studies on news media. The social incident itself also embodies people’s behaviors and performances, particularly the words and deeds of journalists and communication-related workers. Therefore, the communicators also make up an integral part of the objects of comparative studies. A colleague of the author once had an argument with a German academic authority on the history of printing for the unfair judgments of some Western scholars on Bi Dan from China and Johannes Gutenberg from Germany, who were both the inventors of printing. This debate was essentially a comparative study on the two great people engaged in communication practices. In conclusion, the comparative journalism and communication studies on extensive objects under certain spatial–temporal conditions, since it covers the whole area of journalism and communication instead of a particular scope. This book embraces all levels and aspects of the study objects of comparative journalism and communication from ideas to practices (the virtual and the actual), from systems to methods (the macro and the micro), from regulations to policies (the external and the internal) and from major news to representative journalists and communication-related workers (things and people) and discusses them from five perspectives, the journalism and communication history, the journalism and communication ideas, the journalism and communication system, the journalism and communication operation and the scientific research and education of journalism and communication. It is important to note that the comparative studies of Chinese and foreign journalism and communication generally regard Chinese mainland and Western developed countries as the two parties for comparison for historical reasons. This is necessary and favorable for the progress of journalism and communication practices and learnings. In order to serve the present and serve China, the practices of studies of comparative journalism and communication lay special emphasis on the current journalism and communication activities, mainly regard the comparison between China and foreign countries as the object of study and adhere to the academic pursuit of seeking the basic laws of journalism and communication and carrying forward the Chinese characteristics in journalism and communication activities and studies.

3  Research Methodology of Comparative Journalism and Communication The comparative study is the most widely applied and the most important method in the comparative journalism and communication. As mentioned above, the method of comparative study is a thinking process and scientific

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method to compare and analyze two or more things that have certain internal connections based on certain rules, confirm on their similarities and differences, and grasp the essence, characteristics and laws of the things. Three prerequisites must be satisfied to apply this method. Firstly, adhere to the principle of comparability. Comparison can only be conducted between the things that see different essences but show certain similarities. Things without any similarity have no universal foundation or standard, so they cannot be compared. Therefore, before applying the comparative study in journalism and communication, the comparative bases for the comparison must be identified and demonstrated, to prove the similarities or common grounds of the things. It is of particular significance to adhere to the principle of comparability in the comparative study of the things of different kinds. According to the practices of the comparative study and life experiences, things of different kinds can be compared. Charles Darwin had compared the human kind with mammal. However, a certain condition must be satisfied for the comparison, which lies in that the attribute of the two objects for comparison shares a universal unit or standard. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had given an example of this in the book The German Ideology, “Berciani is considered as an incomparable singer when people compare her to other singers, appreciate her with their ears and musical accomplishments and finally realize her incomparability. The singing of Berciani cannot be compared to the croaking of frogs, though general comparison can be conducted between the human kind and the frog……The first case constitutes the comparison between individuals, while the second case is merely the comparison of the features of different species or types.”5 Secondly, adhere to the principle of universality. The similarities and differences between two or more things are essentially the universality and individuality of different things. It is necessary to study on both the “similarities” and “differences” among different things, as they show certain universality and individuality as well as generality and particularity. Only by fully understanding the similarities and differences and the universality and individuality of the things can the essence be mastered. The stable standard for comparison shall be clarified when seeking commonness among differences or seeking differences among commonness. This standard provides the foundation and basis for quantification and qualification. Quantitative comparison is relatively easy in the comparative studies of journalism and communication, as the comparison of the media, audience, circulation and audience rating is explicit and convincing. Meanwhile, it is difficult but possible to find the applicable standards for qualitative comparison.

5 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 517~518, Vol. 3, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1960.

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The in-depth comparison shall be conducted when seeking commonness among differences or seeking differences among commonness. Discoveries can only be made by seeking similarities or common grounds among largely different objects of comparison or by seeking differences among similar objects of comparison. Instead of merely listing the universality and individuality and the generality and particularity, the scientific research shall see through the appearance to perceive the essence, find the essential common grounds among the things showing great differences on the surface and see the essential differences among the things that seem extremely similar. G. W. F. Hegel once analyzed the follows in his book Science of Logic: “People who can see some evident difference such as between a pen and a camel will not be considered as very intelligent; and people who can compare similar things such as oak and locust or a temple and a church and find their similarities will not be considered enjoying great comparing ability. What we require is to find the commonness among differences and see the differences among commonness.”6 Thirdly, adhere to the principle of diversity. Diversified comparative approaches are applied due to different perspectives and scales of people. In terms of the comparative methods in comparative journalism and communication, the comparison can be conducted partially or wholly, vertically or horizontally, internally or externally, quantitatively or qualitatively, statically or dynamically. Therefore, we shall choose multiple perspectives when using the comparative methods and meanwhile respect the multiple perspectives of others. It shall be noted that the comparative studies shall be guided by correct theories when adhering to diversity. Generally, it is impossible for the comparative studies of journalism and communication to formulate the accurate and stable comparative standards like the studies of natural science do, or rely on the specimen as the basis like species comparisons do. Correct theories shall guide not only the qualitative comparison but also the quantitative comparison in the comparative studies of journalism and communication. Only the theories tested by practices can be regarded as correct theories. Moreover, the application of these theories shall avoid making mistakes of dogmatism, formalism or pragmatism. As proved by the development of proletarian and socialist journalism and communication undertakings in China and some other countries, Marxist view of journalism is the theoretical guidance we must follow in the comparative studies of journalism and communication. The journalism ideas of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin as well as the three generations of leaders of the Communist Party of China including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin have provided the correct guiding ideology and methodological principle for the work and academic research of journalism and communication. 6 G.

W. F. Hegel, Science of Logic, 1st edition, Page 253, Beijing, The Commercial Press, 1980.

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However, what shall be paid attention to is that the method of comparative study, the most widely applied method in comparative journalism and communication, is not universal but has its own limitations. According to Vladimir Lenin, it is known to all that no comparison is perfect, since comparison only compares one or several aspects of a thing or a concept by ignoring other aspects conditionally. We would like to draw readers’ attention to this truth that is often forgotten. Therefore, instead of being used independently, the comparison method shall be combined with some other methods. Different methods shall be applied comprehensively. Some research methods used in comparative journalism and communication in addition to the comparison method are listed as follows. The method of comparative study in the comparative journalism and communication can be specifically applied in following ways: Firstly, the same-class comparison method and different-class comparison method can be applied based on the identity and otherness of comparison objects of the comparative journalism and communication. The same-class comparison method is used to understand the differences among two or more objects of the same class. It can be seen from the comparison that the things similar on the surface may show certain differences. This kind of comparison is carried out based on the researchers’ consensus on the laws and principles. This comparison method which is widely used in comparative studies can be applied in a macro or micro way against either large or small objects, as long as the comparison is conducted among the things or phenomena of the same class. As to newspapers, the comparison can be made between American newspapers and Chinese newspapers or between Chinese newspapers before and after the Reform and Opening up in the comparative journalism and communication. In regard to the study of audience, Shanghai readers can be compared to Beijing readers, and aged readers can be compared to young readers. The same-class comparison method can be applied in these cases. The different-class comparison method is utilized to understand the similarities among two or more objects of different classes. It can be seen from the comparison that the things or phenomena seeming to be different on the surface share some same characteristics. In the research of comparative journalism and communication, the different-class comparison method is applied to the comparison between the functions of the print media including newspapers and magazines and that of electronic media such as radio and television, between the timeliness of paper newspapers and electronic newspapers (the electronic edition of newspapers) and between the properties of American newspapers and Chinese newspapers. This comparison method aims to discover the similarities of two different classes of objects that show great differences on the surface, so as to find the common law and common characteristic. Secondly, the vertical comparison and horizontal comparison method can be applied based on the continuity and interrelation of the research objects of comparative journalism and communication.

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The vertical comparison method is applied to compare the development and changes of the same research object in different periods. It can trace back to the historical origin of the development of things and confirm on the historical sequence based on this method, which is therefore also known as the historical comparison method. This method is widely used in comparative journalism and communication, such as the comparison of the three historical development stages of newspapers in the United States including the early newspapers, party newspapers and popular newspapers and the comparison among the three times of journalism reforms, respectively, in the period of Jiefang Daily in Yan’an China, during the substantial revision of People’s Daily in 1956 and since the Reform and Opening up. The horizontal comparison method compares different objects of the same class in the same historical period. This method can only be applied when the different research objects fall into the same class, show interconnection and mutual influence and are in the same historical period. The study of comparative journalism and communication also frequently adopts this method, such as the comparison of the mutual influence of Chinese and foreign exchanges of journalism culture in the new period and the comparison of the trend of news media in China and in Japan after the World War II, etc. Thirdly, the static and dynamic comparison method can be applied based on the static and dynamic nature of the research objects of comparative journalism and communication. The static comparison method refers to comparing some relatively static and stable things in a long and relatively stable historical period within the development course of two or more research objects. For example, with this static comparison method, the influence of Chinese traditional culture on the content and form of journalism and communication in China can be compared to the influence of American political culture on the content and form of journalism and communication in the United States, and the historical background for the rise of popular newspapers in the United States can be compared to the conditions for the rise of popular newspapers in China. It shall be noted that, in this method, the content of research is formed during quite a long time, and is stable and changes slowly and constantly after its generation. The dynamic comparison method conducts a dynamic observation over two or more research objects and compares their overall trends of development and changes. This method is frequently used in the studies of comparative journalism and communication, such as the comparison of the relativity between economic development and the growth of newspaper groups in China and the United States, the comparison of the development of media education and changes of the audience values in China and Japan, the comparison of the openness of news media in the east and west China and the comparison of television development strategies in China and foreign countries in the new century. According to some scholars, the static comparison method and the dynamic comparison method shall be combined for comprehensive use. The

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study may be exposed to sophistry and relativism without static comparison and be exposed to mechanism and metaphysics without dynamic comparison. Only by combining the two can the study conform to dialectics and the law of cognition. Several forms of comparison methods used in the studies of comparative journalism and communication have been introduced above. Here several steps for the application of the comparison method are briefly explained below. When applying the method of comparative study, the first step is recording, i.e. keeping a detailed record on relevant contents of the research objects of the comparative study. In this case, it is necessary to collect the most representative and convincing literature and objectively observe and describe the actual situation at present, and prudently classify the literature into primary, secondary and auxiliary data. The second step is reading, i.e. reading and analyzing the collected literature based on the views and knowledge of social sciences and humanities including journalism and communication, political economics, sociology and culturology and correctly judging the significance and background of the data. The third step is juxtaposing the data. According to Japanese scholar OkiHara Yutaka, the first two steps are merely the preparation for the comparative study, while the comparative study in a strict sense begins from juxtaposition. Classify relevant journalism and communication data of the research objects in the previous stages of recording and reading into several types, juxtapose the data in a comparable form and propose the researcher’s hypothesis. The fourth step is comparing, i.e. conducting the comparative study based on the methods and perspectives introduced above, proving the correctness of the hypothesis raised in the juxtaposition step and reaching a conclusion of the scientific study, which is to demonstrate the similarity or difference of the two or more research objects within a certain scope. Then the comparative study of the topic is completed. In addition to the comparative study that is introduced in details above, comparative journalism and communication often applies the literature analysis. The literature analysis is a method to research on different social phenomena and social development trends and laws through the interpretation of literature. Frequently applied by comparative journalism and communication, this method plays an irreplaceable role in the studies of historical figures, historical incidents and social and historical phenomena. The literature used in comparative journalism and communication generally includes the follows: 1. Written literature: the social data recorded in a form of text, such as the foreword to newspapers, the editing principles approved by or registered at the government and legal instruments on news supervision in different countries, etc.

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2. Statistical information: the social data recorded in a digital form, such as the quantity of newspapers and periodicals published every year in a country, the number of periods, the total number of printing paper, advertising statistics, the statistical number of readers of representative media and ratings survey, etc. 3. Audio-visual materials: the social data recorded in a form of sound and image, including the disc, tape, photo, picture, video and film, etc. The literature analysis generally observes the following procedure. Firstly, confirm the goal and mission of the study. Secondly, collect, evaluate and select relevant literature. These two steps are similar to the comparative study. The third step is to analyze the literature, and the fourth step is to reach a conclusion based on the analysis. Distinguished from the juxtaposition and comparison in the comparative method, literature analysis requires conducting the traditional qualitative analysis and formalized quantitative analysis over the literature. The method of qualitative analysis aims to describe the fact with accurate words and expressions instead of numbers and measurements. It is difficult to perform the quantitative analysis since most literature used in the studies of comparative journalism and communication is written literature; so, the traditional literature analysis adopts the qualitative analysis. Attention shall be paid to the following when this method is used: 1. Distinguish the primary data from the secondary data, as the former is more reliable. When the secondary data needs to be quoted from other works, the information shall be verified. 2. Analyze the connection between the author of the literature and the facts recorded in the literature, so as to discover whether the author intentionally distorts or omits any truth. 3. Confirm on nothing inappropriate in the preparation of the literature. 4. Compare the different informative materials. The same record on the same fact in different materials is more reliable; otherwise, the information shall be treated cautiously and be abandoned if necessary. 5. Conduct in-depth analysis over the content of literature and meanwhile perform necessary investigations on relevant economic, political, cultural and social backgrounds. In the literature analysis, the formalized quantitative analysis is applied to convert the non-quantitative literature into quantitative materials and describe them in an objective, systematic and quantitative manner. The study results of this method are often displayed in a table of frequency distribution and percentage, making it clear and convincing. In the study of comparative journalism and communication, this formalized quantitative analysis is used to analyze the media development, employees of the industry and advertising volume, etc., in addition to necessary description in words.

CHAPTER 2

Review of the Journalism and Communication History of the Six Countries: Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Russia The economic production in each historical age and the social structure built on this basis constitute the historical foundation for the politics and spirit of the age. —Karl Marx Anyone pursuing the true knowledge and the correct principles need to understand the origin and evolution of the principles. —Wang Guowei

Generally, a subject often develops from a skill to a kind of knowledge before its ultimate formation. The measurement is the forerunner of mathematics, while the alchemy is the mother of chemistry. Therefore, it may be necessary to briefly trace back to the skills of journalism and communication, i.e. the historical process of journalism and communication activities of the whole world, before the discussion of comparative journalism and communication. It is also a common method of learning to discuss the history before the theory. This chapter will conduct a macro comparative study on the development of journalism and communication undertakings in China and Western countries from a historical point of view. Each content covered by the journalism and communication history of different countries such as the system evolution or conception renewal will be discussed one by one in following chapters, but this chapter only provides the comprehensive comparison and focuses on the basic law of the emergence, development and evolution of journalism and communication undertakings and the different situations of journalism and communication undertakings in different countries.

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1_2

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1  Historical Process of Journalism and Communication Activities 1.1   Early Communication Activities and Media The journalism and communication behavior is a kind of social activity among people, groups, and organizations where humans receive and spread news in order to know the external situation and deliver the information already known. Once the human society came into being, humans started the early journalism and communication activities that were different from the activities of animals, thus to satisfy the needs of existence and development. According to anthropologists, ape-men, one of the ancestors of mankind, had appeared approximately more than 2 million years ago. The essential difference between this new creature and other species lay in that this new creature was able to make tools. In a million years since their emergence, they had mastered the technology of fire. These early inventions, the crude stone implements and fire, constituted the first step of human culture. Humans started to preliminarily grasp the communication activities during the joint work and activities. Initially, humans communicated in a way similar to that used by complex animals nowadays, i.e. giving symbols and signals with voices and body movements understandable to each other. In other words, the genetic and instinctive reactions played an important role in initial communication activities of mankind, with seldom acquired communication behaviors. Later, along with the slow growth of brain volume, humans had learned the basic communication required in social life based on the gesture, voice and other forms of signals commonly acknowledged by people. As humans have been exposed to constant evolution, the communication system based on the symbols and signals have become increasingly refined, routinized and efficient. Scholars believe that people started to talk and master the language approximately 35,000–40,000 years ago. At that time, people’s communication had seen a great improvement, and they could think and communicate with language and work, hunt and safeguard their living place in a more coordinated manner. Under these circumstances, people could memorize, deliver, receive and understand different language information, raising the span, complexity and fineness of the communication activity to a new level. The communication means started using the language, unveiling the transition process from the life mode of hunting and collection to the great classical civilization. Humans entered the age of written language approximately five thousand years ago. As pointed out by scholars, Chinese and Maya people were the two earliest races that invented written language. Research shows that the written language evolves from hieroglyphs to the phonetic system, i.e. from expressing the complicated concept with pictures or text graphics to using simple letters to represent specific sounds. At the earliest time, humans recorded information by portraying animals and hunting scenes on rocks for review

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or making it known to others. In this way, the rock had become the earliest communication media. Compared to oral account or description, this method of describing the world and communicating news with pictures had made great progress. It required that the communicator (painter) and the audience (viewer) both understood the meaning of the picture, i.e. both parties had the agreed coding interpretation or consensus; otherwise, the picture would have no value as a communication means. In this sense, the standard meaning of pictures constituted a key step for the development of written language. According to research findings, it was the demand of production and development that boosted the progress of standardization of the picture meaning. At that time, people needed to record the land boundary, land ownership, buying and selling, rise and fall of the water level of rivers, celestial bodies motion, and seasons for sowing and harvesting. Therefore, the “quasi-written language” in a form of engraved pattern showed up in the areas exposed to the earliest agricultural development such as Mesopotamia, which evolved to be the official cuneiform script later on. Emerging about four thousand years ago, the former hieroglyphs expressed the meaning understandable to all people with merely several strokes. For example, a bow and an arrow symbolize hunting, a wave means the lake or river, the sunrise suggests the daytime, etc. By combining these patterns, a relatively complicated event could be communicated. The latter represents specific pronunciations with certain small symbols and is regarded as the early achievement of the phonetic script and the major breakthrough of human communication activities. Through over a thousand years of development, the alphabetic script appeared and was soon popularized; and contributed to the generation of the famous Greek script after being spread to Greece several centuries later. Like the tool, fire and language, the alphabetic script is one of the greatest accomplishments of humans. Special attention shall also be paid to the development of Chinese characters. According to the archaeological discovery, the ancient painted pottery dated back to more than six thousand years ago had some symbols on it, which should be the sprout of Chinse characters. By the Shang Dynasty, after three thousand years of development, the characters were inscribed on animal bones and tortoise shells, called the “oracle bone script.” By now, approximately four thousand and five-hundred characters of this script have been discovered. Meanwhile, characters were also inscribed on ancient bronze objects, and were named as the “bronze script” by historians. A relatively complete system of Chinese characters had been formed by then. Until the Warring States Period, the character systems varied in each country; but later Qin unified the language with Xiaozhuan (small seal) script. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen compiled the first Chinese dictionary, Origin of Chinese Characters, in 22 years, which included 9353 characters of Xiaozhuan script. The Li (official) script showed up in the late Han Dynasty and the Xing (running) script appeared in the Wei and Jin Dynasty whose style was between the Kai (regular) script and Cao (cursive) script. Not only the major characters

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of China, Chinese characters had been used by bordering countries to China for more than a thousand years. After the World War II, Chinese characters became one of the five working languages of the United Nations. Since the emergence of written language, people found that though the news communication based on characters could be understood by all, it was inconvenient to carry the information. For example, it was so difficult to carry and spread the characters inscribed on the stone, bamboo, wood or clay plate. After the symbols (codes) known to all are generated, the urgent demand of news communication was to invent the new tools for writing and objects carrying characters, i.e. the media for communication of characters. Approximately in 2500 BC, Egyptians found the way to make papyrus paper, which was much lighter and more portable than stones and easier to write on than stone inscriptions. Meanwhile, Egyptians also made the writing brush with another kind of plant and made the ink with some dyestuff. The “silk paper” from China and “Amat paper” from Mexico enjoy the same fame with papyrus paper. The silk paper was made by drying the silk left on the bamboo mat during silkworm raising and silk reeling. Historically known as the “small thin paper,” it firstly showed up in the Shang Dynasty. Amat paper was produced with the bark fiber of a kind of broadleaf tree named Amat, which was invented by Maya people among Indians. The evolution from the heavy stone, bamboo slip, wood block and clay plate to the portable media had significantly improved the scope and depth of journalism and communication, enabled the wide spreading of news and largely increased the news audience; and in other words, it had expanded the coverage of news and accelerated the speed of journalism and communication. However, the speed of handwriting as well as the number of news audience is limited. Therefore, the task of top priority for the further development of journalism and communication activities was to improve the way of handwriting. Then, the media for mass writing, the ordinary cheap paper, emerged. As universally acknowledged by the whole world, China was the hometown of papermaking. The earliest paper of mass production and low cost was known as “Cai Hou (Marquis Cai) paper” to the Chinese. It is said that when seeing people inconveniently use the heavy bamboo slip and expensive silk for writing, Cai Lun made use of the royal workshop and employed skilled craftsmen to produce a batch of good paper of high quality with raw materials of bark, broken linen, broken cloth, fishing net, etc. In 105 AD, Cai Lun dedicated the paper to the central government and won the praise and reward by the Emperor He of Han, who ordered the nationwide popularization of this kind of paper. As a matter of fact, Western Han paper (Lop Nur paper, Baqiao Paper, Jinguan Paper, Fufeng Paper, etc.) had been discovered for several times since the twentieth century, so the origin of papermaking in China is believed to be two or three hundred years before Cai Lun. Therefore, the Western Han was the earliest historical period when papermaking was

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invented as well as the age of the birth of ancient physical paper in human culture and communication history. The application of paper and ink laid the material basis for the invention of printing; while the seal and stone tablet rubbings provided the technology foundation. The invention of printing had led to the major revolution of journalism and communication and realized the qualitative improvement of “writing method.” Since then, the news could be printed in a large number, considerably expanding the scope of news dissemination. Karl Marx regarded the printing as “the lever of human civilization.” In the late Sui and early Tang Dynasty, the start of printing, wood-block printing was invented. Until the Song Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Renzong (AD 1041–1048), a talented printer Bi Dan had invented movable type, but it was a regret that the technology had not been popularized at that time. It was until the late thirteenth century in the Yuan Dynasty when agriculturalist Wang Zhen invented the movable wooden type and the runner composing frame that the movable type was applied to practices. The invention of movable type by Chinese was 400 years earlier than the invention of lead alloy movable type by Johannes Gutenburg from Germany. Printing was firstly used to print books. In the west, printing was utilized to print the brochures for religious propaganda in early days. Since the seventeenth century, journalism and communication activities had gained rapid development depending on printing. The rise of printing news had changed the world enormously and conduced to substantial changes of people’s journalism and communication concepts. The technology of rapid printing and the basic concept of newspaper had been combined in the 1830s, when the modern newspapers, the first real mass media, was born. 1.2   Journalism and Communication Activities in the Era of Capitalism Karl Marx once pointed out in his Capital that “The initial sprout of capitalistic production had sparsely emerged in some cities on the Mediterranean coast in the 14th and 15th century.”1 The news media for public communication has developed for over 500 years since the first “newsletter” was printed. The historical data shows that along with the approach of the era of capitalism, the handwritten and printed newssheet successively emerged in Europe from the fourteenth century to the sixteenth century. World navigation was rapidly developing in this period, when the shipping line from Europe to the east was opened (1498), the New World was discovered (1492) and the trade on the Mediterranean coast and near Netherland in Europe became unprecedentedly prosperous. At latest in the fourteenth century, some people started to get paid to provide 1 Karl

Marx, Capital, 1st edition, Page 784, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1975.

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irregular leaflets (newsletters) on the business conditions, sailing dates, foreign political and economic conditions and foreign customs and practices to wealthy merchants and noblemen in some commercial cities. These handwritten leaflets could be considered as the forerunner of modern newspapers. Only a few of these newsletters have been preserved by now, such as the News on Turkey Invading Europe in Augsburg of Germany in 1482 and the Record on Charles V Invading Rouen issued in Paris in 1485. Since the latter half of the fifteenth century, metal movable type, the great achievement made by Johann Gutenberg from Germany (1395–1468), had been widely spread in Europe. In the last few decades of this century, printers in different countries of Europe started to publish the movable-type prints and report on major incidents at home and abroad. During this period, the journalist, a new professional in collecting, writing and selling news, emerged. Some major trade cities had the centers for news collection and exchange. Though the feudal rulers in some countries adopted strict policies to suppress the publishing activities, the journalism and communication sector of great vitality inevitably ushered in its prosperity. The representative prints in this period included the follows: 1566: Notizie Scritte was released in Venice in Italy, with the sheet-fed print of Venice Gazzetta. 1568: The single-page irregular newspapers Extraordinari-Zeitungen was released in Germany. 1583: The irregular newsbook was released in Frankfurt in Germany, which was changed to two issues a year since 1588 and became the earliest regular publication in the world. 1590: The weekly Avisa was released in Germany and continued to run until 1609. 1594: The Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus was released in Germany, one issue half a year, running until 1635.

In the early seventeenth century, capitalism had been expanding in Europe. In Netherland (current Holland and Belgium), one of the most productive areas of capitalism, the first bourgeois revolution in history against the rule by Spain was completed between 1568 and 1648. Subsequently, bourgeois revolutions had taken place in many countries and all of them won. During these bourgeois revolutions, the capitalist production had achieved further development. Many countries in Europe had established the new postal system, and the traffic, transport and press industry were constantly advancing. The population in Amsterdam, Paris and London had exceeded 250,000. The struggle between the emerging bourgeois and the feudal influence represented by kings and nobles was becoming increasingly fiercer and the burghers class showed a greater interest in foreign and domestic affairs. Some cities including Vienna, Augsburg, Cologne, Hamburg and Danzig had become the information communication centers known far and wide. Under

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these circumstances, the conditions for the publishing of regular publications had been satisfied. In this period, the real representative modern newspapers had come out, including the follows: 1605: The Nieuwe Tijdinghen in Holland was released. 1606: The Die Frankfurter Oberpos-tamzeitung in Germany was opened, which was the first weekly published continuously in the world and was only closed by 1902. 1622: The Weekly Newes was released in United Kingdom. 1626: The Magdeburgische Zeitung was established in Germany. 1631: The French weekly La Gazette was opened and was renamed to be Gazette de France in 1762, which is the regular publication of the longest operation time in France. 1650: Einkommenda Zeitung was opened in Germany, commonly recognized as the first daily of the world.

Around this period, many high-frequency regular news publications had been released in Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark Belgium, etc. In the seventeenth century, capitalism had got a firm foothold in some European countries and were maturing. Based on the developed manufacturing, the number of big cities is increasing in Europe and the urban population rapidly expanded. Quite a few countries had lifted the property restriction for the right to vote and established new education systems, leading to the significant increase of the educated people. With the educational improvement and increasing interest in politics of citizens, they had a stronger demand on newspapers. In this period, the content of newspapers was expanding, the frequency was higher and many daily publications took the lead. The representative publications included the follows: 1702: Daily Courant was released as the earliest daily paper of United Kingdom. 1749: Berlingske Tidende was released as the earliest daily paper of Denmark. 1777: Le Journal de Paris was released as the earliest daily paper of France. 1785: Daily Universal Register started publication in London, and was renamed as The Times in 1788.

Meanwhile, modern newspapers also emerged in the United States. In 1690, the Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick was released but was closed down only after one issue. In 1704, Boston News-Letter had become the first newspapers exposed to continuous publishing in the United States. In 1719, the second and the third newspapers of continuous publishing (respectively Boston Gazette and American Weekly Mercury) were opened. In 1783, the Wednesday weekly Pennsylvania Evening Post was changed to be the first daily paper in the United States.

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In Russia which was still subject to feudal rule at that time, the Beдoмocти (News Press) personally edited by Peter I was created in 1703 as the first modern newspapers in Russia. However, due to the suppression by the feudal rule, Prussia Germany, where quite a few newspapers had been released in early days, had only one official newspaper Berlinische Privilegierte Zeitung left by 1721 and had all other newspapers banned. The breakout of the French Revolution in 1789 had led to newspaper industry flourishing as never before. From 1789 to the end of 1800, 1350 newspapers had been newly created in France, twice the total number of newspapers and magazines opened in the 150 years before the Revolution. In the nineteenth century, the capitalist system had been finally established in Europe after the bourgeois revolution in Germany and the unification of Germany. In this context, productivity had ushered in unprecedented development and financial capital had been gradually formed, providing huge input to the further prosperity of the newspaper industry. The extensive construction of railways increased the speed of transport and mail delivery; the papermaking, print and telecommunication industry had seen sharp growth; and the rapid development of commodity economy enabled the newspapers to gain great profits through advertising. People’s demand on information and news were considerably increasing due to the completion of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom and the spreading of the revolution in other countries. All these factors above had contributed to the unprecedented development of modern newspapers. The most important material resources had been provided to the development of modern newspapers in the nineteenth century: 1820: The new papermaking technology was invented, lowering the paper price by one fourth. Based on the invention of chlorine bleaching and papermaking technology, the wood pulp could be used as the raw materials for papermaking, resulting in the mass production of cheap paper. 1831: The double cylinder press was invented. 1846: The high-speed cylinder press was invented. 1863: The technology of auto continuous feed was invented. 1835: The first news agency Havas was established, while Wolffs was born in 1849 and Reuters was founded in 1851. 1845: Telegraph was established. 1850: The submarine cable between the United Kingdom and Europe was laid. 1866: The submarine cable between Europe and the American continent was laid. 1872: The hot-metal composing machine was invented.

With the successive victories of bourgeois revolutions in Europe and the North America, the dominant position of bourgeois had been increasingly consolidated and the restrictions on journalism undertakings imposed by the feudal rulers had been lifted in succession. The newspapers had transformed

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from the initial “newsletter” to weekly or quarto or folio daily and presented the content and form of contemporary newspapers. The printing industry had been finally separated from the press, while the newspapers had been divided from magazines. The small private workshops or small enterprises had developed to be big profitable enterprises that are indispensable to the party, government and industrial financial capital. The Industrial Revolution had brought two outcomes to the world newspapering. Firstly, the proletarian newspaper that bore the opposite social mission against the bourgeois had emerged in the 1820s; and secondly, the cheap newspapers featuring the qualities of mass media appeared in the 1830s. As another result of the further development of capitalist newspapering, many newspaper groups emerged in the late nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the newspaper industry ushered in the new historical period of multimedia coexistence. 1920: The KDKA, a commercial radio of Westinghouse Electric Corporation from the US established in Pittsburgh, started news broadcast. 1936: The first television station of the world was established in the United Kingdom and started TV program broadcast. 1957: The Soviet Union launched the first artificial earth satellite of the world, and the futurist John Naisbitt pointed out that this satellite opened the new era of global satellite communication. 1962: France and the United States had respectively launched their communication satellite successfully. 1946: The first electronic computer ENIAC according to historical records was invented in the United States, which blazed a trail in the road of the new information technology revolution centering on the computer technology, multimedia technology, satellite communication technology and fiber technology. Since the 1990s, the large computer database has been applied, turning a new page of human journalism and communication depending on network communication.

American scholars have proposed a standard that media will become mass media when the users account for one-fifth of the total population of the country. With the United States as an example, based on the standard of 50 million users, it took 38 years for the radio to become mass media, compared to 13 years of TV, 10 years of cable TV and only 5 years of the Internet. By June 30, 2001, the number of computers connected to the Internet reached 10.02 million, having grown by 54% compared to the same time in 2000; and the total number of netizens reached 26.5 million, with a growth rate of approximately 57% compared to the same time of the last year. The Internet is also rapidly developing in Japan, Hong Kong China and some other countries or regions. All these situations suggest that the human journalism and communication activities are stepping into a brand new age.

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2  Review of the Journalism and Communication History of the Six Countries Including Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Russia When discussing the histories of different countries, Karl Marx once said that the extremely similar events could lead to completely different results in different historical contexts. China has led a totally different path of journalism and communication undertakings compared to foreign countries. The journalism and communication histories of Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Russia are briefly introduced here as the background for the comparative study of Chinese and Western journalism and communication history. 2.1  Germany Germany had been the home to modern printing from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, when the irregular handwritten and printed journalism and communication media had been popular. However, the feudal rulers hated people enjoying the freedom of the press and adopted all different measures to suppress the printed publications. Though as the home to modern newspapers, Germany failed to do more for the freedom of the press. In the book The Mass Media of Communication in Federal Germany, Hermann Meyn, the current chairman of the German Journalists Association, stated: “The struggle for the freedom of the press has been essentially the struggle to get rid of books and newspapers examination. Soon after Johannes Gutenburg invented printing (around 1450), the church and the government had issued many regulations and stipulated that any book or newspapers could not be printed or communicated without the prior approval (examination).” “The strict regulations on the examination of books and newspapers in Carlsbad decrees (1819) had completely silenced the ‘political voice’ in German newspapers and magazines. The freedom of press was only temporarily restored by 1848 revolution.” By reviewing the history of Germany, the home to modern newspapers, we can find some useful points. 2.1.1 Development of German Journalism Undertakings Before the World War II Johannes Gutenburg had invented the lead movable type in Mainz of Germany around 1450, improving the scale of literal communication that handwritten materials could never compare. The Avisa born in Wolfenbuettel and the Relation born in Strasbourg turned Germany into the birthplace of modern newspapers. Subsequently, Holland had its first newspaper in

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1618 and the area of Belgium using Spanish had its first newspaper in 1620, the United Kingdom in 1621, Switzerland in 1622, France in 1631, Italy in 1643, Swedish-speaking area in Europe in 1645, Spain and Poland in 1661 and Russia in 1703. The earliest Avisa and Relation were quarto newspapers with eight pages, while the earliest newspapers in Holland and the UK adopted the single-page newspaper of two columns. In the early stage, these regular publications were mostly weekly publication published through the weekly mail pickup. Along with the expansion of the postal network, the Frankfurter Postzeitung (opened in 1606) published in Frankfurt was changed to a Tuesday weekly in 1620; and the first daily newspaper of the world, Einkommenda Zeitung, emerged in Leipzig in 1650. The regular newspapers had been developing rapidly in German-speaking areas, and the number had reached approximately 60 by the end of the seventeenth century. The circulation of German daily newspapers in early period was between 300 and 400, but some newspapers had achieved a higher circulation. For example, Frankfurter Postzeitung had reached a circulation of 1500 in 1680. With the increasing development of the capitalist system and constant improvement of the printing technology, the newspapering in Europe had risen up luxuriantly in the eighteenth century. Following the example of Neue Zuricher Zeitung (formerly known as Zuricher Zeitung) established in 1780 and The Times opened in 1785, the Allgemeine Zeitung was created in Germany in 1798. Later, the Frankfurter Zeitung which had a huge influence on the press circle was established in 1856. In 1871, the cheap newspaper Berliner Tageblatt was created. Meanwhile, the party newspapers or magazines were founded in a large number in the 1840s to spread the opinions and ideas of the party. It shall be noted that Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and German Social Democratic Party had released many newspapers and periodicals that held an important position in the history of workers’ newspapers and periodicals in this period, such as Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848–1849), Der Sozialdemokrat (1879–1890) and magazine Der Neue Zeit (1883–1890). Their experiences had laid the foundation for and enriched the Marxist journalism. By the late nineteenth century, the print run of newspapers and the number of readers had further advanced. In addition to the party newspapers, a great number of major newspapers which claimed to have no political orientation, showed huge political influence and opened the advertising column had emerged, giving rise to the first batch of newspaper groups, including Schell Group, Ullstein Group, Mosse Group, etc. Before the Nazis came to power in 1932, a total of 4703 kinds of newspapers were released in Germany, with a total circulation of 26 million, including 94 newspapers issued by the Nazis with a circulation of 1 million. By 1944, among the survived 977 newspapers in Germany, 352 were released by the Nazis; and the circulation of the Nazis newspapers reached 20.7 million out of the total circulation of 27.1 million.

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2.1.2 Development of Journalism After the End of World War II After 12 years of centralized political control by the Nazis, German journalism started reformation and recovery since 1945. At that time, due to the loss of reputation of journalism, readers held a skeptical attitude toward news despite their hunger for news. According to the plan for the British and American journalism policies within western occupied territory drafted by the Allied Command Europe in October 1944, the newspapering reconstruction in Western Germany was divided into three stages. Firstly, the journalism and entertainment activities were completely banned and all newspaper agencies were closed down. Secondly, the military newspapers were edited and released. Thirdly, German newspapers were edited and published under the supervision of the allies. All allies supervised the reconstruction of newspapering by issuing the permit. Any publisher or journalist who had worked under the rule of the Nazis had no right to acquire the permit to run a newspaper even if they were not a member of the Nazi. Only those who had no political guilt and knew the business could get the permit. By the end of 1949, 149 newspapers in the western occupied territory got the permit. Pursuant to the ideas of the allies, these newspapers approved bore the mission to enable German people to discard Nazism and militarism and lead the road the democracy. However, the permit system and examination system applied by the allies evidently restricted the freedom of the press, inhibited the establishment and release of newspapers and journals that had inconsistent political leanings with the occupying power and impeded the newspapers and journals from freely passing opinions on the occupying power. On September 21, 1949, the Supreme Council of the Allies announced the “No. 5 decree,” which repealed the permit system and provided that all German people except senior war criminals and ex-Nazis could run a newspaper freely. From then on, the German press circle regained its freedom and started the rapid development after the war. Newspapers and Magazines In contemporary newspapering in Germany is more advanced than that in other countries of the world. At present, Germany has 386 daily newspapers (according to the data in 1993), and the total number of newspapers including the local editions released by different newspapers and local newspapers has reached 1600, achieving a total circulation of 33.2 million, 328 copies of daily newspapers owned by each thousand of people on average, which takes the fourth place in the world following Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The press and publishing industry of Germany shows the following characteristics in terms of the overall structure: 1. Private ownership (the publishing houses of most newspapers and magazines are private enterprises); 2. A large quantity of newspapers;

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Table 1  The Verified Magazine Circulation in 1992 Magazine type

Quantity

Circulation (10,000)

Popular magazine Professional magazine Customer magazine Church magazine

619 951 36 38

12,100 1670 2130 240

Data Source From German Advertising, Page 196 and the following pages, Bonn, 1993

3. Many daily newspapers create their own local edition; 4. Local newspapers of great strength; 5. Only a few nationwide cross-regional major newspapers; 6. A great variety of magazines; 7. Poor strength of party newspapers; 8. Newspapers live on advertisements; 9. Severe centralization of the newspaper industry. The press industry in Germany has a complex structure. An outstanding feature lies in the large number of regional newspapers and regional daily newspapers, except for several nationwide major newspapers such as the informal newspaper Bild-Zeitung (daily sale of 5.567 million in 1997), the quality newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (daily sale of 472 thousand in 1997), Die Welt (daily sale of 304 thousand in 1997), Frankfurter Nachrichten, etc. Germany has a large magazine market, with a total number of 20,000 magazines and a circulation around 200 million. Table 1 only lists the magazines whose circulation has been verified by IVW (Advertisement Carrier Issue Information Center). Radio and Television The radio and TV industry in Germany is characterized by its double-track system where the public radio and TV system and the private radio and TV system complement each other and run parallel without conflict. Around 1945, a great debate was launched in the occupied area of Federal Germany on what form of broadcasting industry should be established. The majority believed that great efforts should be put to prevent the broadcasting industry from becoming the political tool of the governing party again, and the radio and TV stations should not become a part of the government; and also, the broadcasting industry should not become the commercial agency that catered to the public like that in the United States and should not completely rely on the advertising avenue. At that time, the allies and German authority thought that the radio and TV industry of public utility should be established to prevent the risks mentioned above. The industry should be constructed in accordance with the laws of the federal state or

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national agreements under the government control. Therefore, all states successively established their own public radio and TV stations according to law since 1948. By 1955, Germany had 11 state public radio and TV stations, 1 national broadcasting station, Germany TV 1 produced by German Public Radio and TV Alliance, Germany 2nd TV, the “European Culture” channel and “European News” channel. Federal Germany Ludwigshafen Cable TV Experimental Project was completed on January 1, 1984, since when the private radio and TV industry has risen. At present, there are approximately 170 private radio and TV stations in Germany. The private TV stations include Mainz Satellite TV 1, Radio— Tele—Luxembourg, PRO7, Deutschen Sportfernsehen (Germany Sports TV), N-TV, VOX, Luxemburg 2nd TV, Cable TV 1, etc. 2.1.3 Journalism in East Germany Before and After Unification Before the German reunification, the Democratic Germany had 39 daily newspapers, the circulation of which was 1 million. Among the 39 daily newspapers, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of the Democratic Germany, controlled 17. Except the central government newspaper Neue Deutschland, the other 14 were district newspapers, which had their own local editions in 218 counties of the Democratic Germany. The Democratic Germany also had 31 weekly newspapers and pictorials with a total circulation of 9 million, more than 500 professional magazines and over 600 church newspapers and enterprise newspapers. When the border of the Democratic Germany was just opened in 1989, some publishing houses of the Federal Germany attempted to stand firm in the journalism of the Democratic Germany by establishing partnership with papers in the Democratic Germany. In 1991, the trusted management sent over 10 district newspapers originally controlled by the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany to large-sized publishing houses or the medium-sized publishing houses that had a close relation to the large publishers in terms of capital in the Federal Germany. These large and medium publishing houses of abundant financial resources launched the fierce competition in the area of the Democratic Germany and lowered the price of the newspapers and magazines and the advertising cost in order to gain more readers and advertisers, thus having lifted the development climax of newspapering that had been unprecedented in German history. After the German reunification, the popular magazines of the Federal Germany successively swarmed into the area of the Democratic Germany. According to the statistics in 1990, 233 magazines in the Federal Germany released about 4 million copies for each issue in the area of the Democratic Germany, far fewer than the circulation in the Federal Germany. In particular, the famous magazines in the Federal Germany such as Der Spiegel weekly, Der Stern pictorial and Die Zeit weekly encountered poor sales in the five federal states newly founded in the area of the former Democratic Germany. In this case, the magazine publishers in the Federal Germany realized the necessity

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to adjust the editing policies in alignment with the preference of people in the Democratic Germany. The magazines such as Super TV and Super Pictorial that were sold well in the area of the Democratic Germany had made use of the “principle of frustration” and “principle of happiness” according to the critics. The “principle of frustration” meant to express the discontentment of the Democratic Germany people against the failure of the west to honor the promise made; and the “principle of happiness” referred to publishing pornography that was banned by the former Democratic Germany. The former Democratic Germany had only six radio programs and two TV programs and the whole broadcasting industry was under the absolute control of Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The journalism activities were subject to serious restrictions. Upon the dramatic changes of the Democratic Germany, the formerly highly centralized broadcasting system had been transformed to be independent radio stations and TV stations that were not affiliated to the government. Private radio and TV stations started to show up in eastern Germany since 1993. On Jan. 1, 1992, the new national radio and TV agreement came into force. According to this agreement, the broadcasting system of the former Democratic Germany was transformed to the double-track system where the public radio and TV stations and the private radio and TV stations co-existed. 2.2   The United States The journalism undertakings in the United States has developed for over 300 years. Under the joint influence of social transformation, the Industrial Revolution, scientific and technical progress and culture and education development, etc., the journalism undertakings in the United States which is the social information exchange system of the United States has gone through a development process from the simple to the complex, from the single to the diversified and from the lower level to the higher level. The United States had adopted the western system of press freedom in early time. The journalism and communication concepts and practices formed in this political system are still representative in Western countries nowadays (including the United Kingdom, France and other European and American countries) and exert certain influence on the eastern world. Therefore, the development trajectory of journalism and media in the United States is considered as the second object of study here. 2.2.1 Press in the Colonial Period of North America (from 1690 to 1775) Before the dependence of the United States in 1776, the British Colonial Authority and immigrants in the North America had run newspapers. The newspapers created in this period were called the press in the colonial period of North America. On September 25, 1690, Benjamin Harris, a London printer who was in exile in the North America to avoid the persecution by the British authority, had released the first newspaper Publick Occurrences Both

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Forreign and Domestick. This newspaper had been closed down by the British Colonial Authority after only one issue. In 1704, John Campbell, the Boston postmaster, had published the first newspaper exposed to continuous publishing, Boston News-Letter. After 1775, newspapers began to show up in all places of the United States, represented by the famous Pennsylvania Gazette edited by Benjamin Franklin. With the “Zenger Incident” in 1733 as a start, the bourgeois in the US launched the political struggle for the freedom of the press. The newspapers in the colonial era not only provided information and news to the settlers exploring this place, but also made the public opinion preparation for the bourgeois in the colony to fight against British rule and fight for political independence. 2.2.2 Period of Party Press (from the 1780s to the 1830s) After the victory of the War of Independence, bourgeois politicians in the US organized different parties based on their different views about the direction of national political and economic development. The debates between the parties led the newspapers and magazines in the United States to the period of party press. As a major characteristic of the newspapers and magazines in this period, they were openly used to serve the politics and considered as a tool for the struggle among political parties. The First Amendment to the Constitution was approved in 1791, which stipulated that the congress should not approve any law that deprived people of the freedom of speech and publication. It hereby confirmed on the basic principle for the journalism undertakings in the United States of the next two centuries. 2.2.3 Period of Penny Papers (from the 1820s to the 1870s) The Penny Paper campaign in the 1830s symbolized the start of the modern press in the United States. The penny newspapers generally projected themselves applying the “non-partisan” edition policy in politics. They were mainly sold on the street at a low cost. Compared to the earlier newspapers in terms of the content, they seldom or never published political reviews, but carried commercial news, local news, social news and advertisements. The circulation of newspapers had been improved. The most famous penny newspapers at that time included the New York Sun (1833), New York Herald (1835), New York Tribune (1841) and New York Times (1851). 2.2.4 Period of “Yellow Journalism” (from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century) From the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, the New York World run by the press baron Joseph Pulitzer and the New York Journal owned by William Randolph Hearst lowered the quality of newspapers to scramble for readers and competed to publish news about violence, crime

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and sex and hold varieties of novel social activities to improve the circulation. The two newspapers had opened the special column for vulgar comics, with a child wearing a yellow robe as the key figure. Therefore, the reports in these newspapers were known as “Yellow Journalism.” The unchecked spreading of “Yellow Journalism” symbolized that a part of bourgeois newspapers in the US tended to decline and decay and directly served the internal and external policies of the monopolized bourgeois of the United States. 2.2.5 Period of Modern Journalism Undertakings (from the 1920s to the World War II) American society had experienced the new science and technology revolution and industrial revolution and been exposed to a series of major economic and political incidents, boosting the prosperous development of journalism and communication undertakings. With the constantly increasing quantity and circulation of newspapers and magazines and the emergence of new electronic journalism and communication media, the multi-channel, multi-level and diversified journalism and communication system had been formed, which not only satisfied the universal demands of the masses but also met the specific demands of different groups in different regions. The generation of the news group marked that the press was developing toward monopoly. Following Scripps News Group, the first bourgeois news group emerging in the 1880s in the United States, merger had become increasingly popular in the press circle in the early twentieth century. By 1900, the United States had 8 news groups in total, controlling 27 newspapers and accounting for 10% of the total circulation of newspapers; but in the 1920s, the number was increased to approximately 60 news groups, controlling more than 300 newspapers and accounting for one third of the total circulation. In 1930, there were 8 cities where the population was above 100,000 but only one newspaper was running, while there were 20 cities like this by 1940. In the 1920s, the modern tabloids represented by New York Daily News had set off a wave of yellow journalism. In the early 1930s, “interpretative reporting” rose in response to the economic crisis and political upheavals at home and abroad. 2.2.6 Contemporary Journalism Undertakings in the United States (from the 1940s to the Present) The monopoly of the press circle in the United States has been intensified after the World War II. The number of news groups and the newspapers controlled by these news groups continued to grow in the few decades after WWII. By 1990, the United States had a total of 155 news groups, controlling 1228 daily newspapers and accounting for 75.5% of the average daily sales of daily newspapers in the United States. As to another clear sign of the

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monopoly of the press circle in the United States, more than 90% of cities with daily newspapers have been exposed to the phenomenon of “one news group in one city” due to the wave of merger in the press circle. It is reported that the total number of newspapers in the United States reached 1500 in 1998. Attention shall also be paid to some other features of the press circle in the United States after the World War II: the increase of the sales volume of newspapers has failed to catch up the growth ratio of population, meaning the relative decrease of newspaper readers; in regard to the distribution of newspapers, the newspapers in big cities have reduced, while the newspapers in suburbs have grown; newspapers present increasing magazine characteristics; the living cost has risen, causing difficulties in the press circle; and the free advertising newspapers have been widely spread. The outstanding characteristic of the press circle lies in the universal application of new technologies for information communication. The new technologies in the information age represented by the electronic computer, video display terminal and shortwave, satellite communication, etc., have been increasingly applied to electronic communication media and press media. Bidding farewell to the “age of fire and lead,” the press media now apply the fully electronic system for news gathering, editing, formatting and printing. 2.2.7 Electronic Media In the news power, the United States, the radio and TV media are representative in the world, which are characterized by a long history, rapid development and advanced technology and cover 100% of the area in the United States. Since the 1920s when the commercial radio was established, there are more than 12,000 radio stations of all types in the United States at present, consisting of more than 1200 public and education radio station and other commercial radio stations. The holding quantity of radios reach 560 million in the whole society. In addition, a government radio station VOA (Voice of America) has been set up for the special purpose of international publicity. The United States has four major radio networks including the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) and 115 regional broadcasting networks. Since 1941 when the broadcasting of commercial TV started, the number of commercial TV stations has grown to above 1000, the number of public TV stations has developed to more than 300, and the holding quantity of televisions has reached 220 million. In addition to the CBS, NBC, ABC and FBC mentioned above, the nationwide major TV networks also include Cable News Network (CNN), Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS), Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) and Home Box Office (HBO). Among them, CNN established in 1980 enjoyed a high audience rating in the world and a high reputation.

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2.3   The United Kingdom The United Kingdom is a country that led all others to initiate the bourgeois revolution and complete the Industrial Revolution, embraced highly advanced productive forces and plundered resources from the vast area of colonies, but it failed to become the birthplace of the modern press. This fact demonstrates the basic law that the journalism and communication undertakings are only generated based on certain social demands and material conditions. Distinguished from other countries, the journalism and communication history of the UK covers the suppression of the press freedom by the feudal influence and the bourgeois government in the United Kingdom and the fight against the suppression as well as the active activities of proletarian press and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s newspapers and magazines in the United Kingdom. These are the great contributions of the United Kingdom to the world journalism and communication history. 2.3.1 Early Press Under the Feudal Oppression The English Bourgeois Revolution ended with the compromise between the bourgeois and the feudal influence. The halfway revolution left an endless curse on the development of the bourgeois press. Therefore, though the United Kingdom led others to launch and win the bourgeois revolution and complete the Industrial Revolution, leading to the rapid development of productivity, the growth of the bourgeois press had been oppressed by the feudal influence. It was until 1693 when the Parliament of the UK repealed the publication act that the press industry started to stir. The first daily newspaper of the United Kingdom, Daily Courant, was created in 1702, followed by the rise of a batch of modern newspapers and magazines. However, good times did not last long, as the British government issued the tax on knowledge, the defamation law, etc., to inhibit the development of the press industry. Until the tax on knowledge was repealed in the middle nineteenth century, the press industry of the UK ushered in the period of cheap newspapers. There were 107 newspapers like these by 1857. Established in London in 1851, Reuters has developed to be one of the most energetic news agencies worldwide currently. 2.3.2 Rise of Modern Press In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, with the progress of the industry and intensified capital monopoly, capitalism and the modern press industry had achieved further development in United Kingdom. At that time, Northcliffe, Beaverbrook and Rothermere news groups were born. Along with the monopoly and intensified merger activities of the press industry, the total circulation of newspapers had grown sharply but the number of newspapers and magazines were declining. The circulation of newspapers and magazines in London had increased from 5.04 million in 1920 to 11.5 million in 1937. The total sales of daily newspapers had grown by three times

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between 1921 and 1937, but the number of daily newspapers had constantly decreased, from 158 in 1921, to 132 in 1928 and 123 in 1942. The phenomenon of “one newspaper group in one city” became more widely seen, while only 32 cities exposed to this situation in 1921, compared to 37 in 1927 and 49 in 1937. It suggested the increasingly intensified merger in the press industry. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company was founded in 1897 and established the private British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) with other five wireless companies in 1922, which started broadcasting in November of the same year. In 1936, BBC opened its television station to broadcast TV programs, laying the foundation for the development of radio and TV undertakings in the United Kingdom. 2.3.3 Active Activities of Proletarian Press Based on the active workers’ movement in the United Kingdom, the first batch of workers’ groups and their newspapers and magazines had emerged by the end of the eighteenth century. The bourgeois were cultivating agents in the workers’ team with a part of the excess profits, and the newspapers of trade unions exerted a huge influence on workers. After the failure of the European Revolution in 1848–1849, the political refugees from Germany and some other countries fled to the United Kingdom. The German workers’ movement activists including Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had regarded the United Kingdom as their second home. After the founding of the First International, London of the United Kingdom had become the first center of international workers movement. The First International had published some influential newspapers and magazines including The Communist Magazine. In 1920, the Communist Party of Britain was founded, and the official publication of the Party was the Communist, which was renamed as the Workers Weekly in 1923. 2.3.4 Press of the United Kingdom Before and After the World War II Before the World War II, the merger and monopoly of the press in the United Kingdom had been further intensified. The Rothermere news group had become the largest news group in the United Kingdom after the WWI. During the World War II, the British government had organized the publicity department to control official news and implement press censorship. The development of the UK press had not been impeded by the WWII. The total circulation of daily newspapers in the United Kingdom was 17.8 million in 1937, but increased to 28.6 million in 1947. In 1962, the total quantity of daily newspapers in the UK reached 130, with a daily circulation of 30.5 million and the holding quantity per thousand people of 575, which had once leaped into the front ranks of the world. However, since the middle 1960s, the sales of newspapers started to decline due to economic depression, frequent industrial conflicts and the impact of TV, and a batch of newspapers

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closed down. By the 1980s, the old brand The Times had been merged by the Murdoch, an international news corporation. Stepping into the 1990s, the UK press encountered the severe shock by network media. The Television Act was approved by British Parliament in 1954. Based on this Act, Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was incorporated as a commercial broadcasting agency and started to broadcast TV programs. In 1973, the first private radio station, London Broadcasting Company, was founded, breaking the dominance of the BBC in British broadcasting market. 2.4  France The development of French journalism and communication undertakings is closely related to the economic development in France, making it a meaningful case in the history of comparative journalism and communication studies. Tempered by several times of the restoration of old power and fight against the restoration, the journalism and communication undertakings in France had become a highlight of the world journalism and communication history in the theories and practices for striving for the complete press freedom. Some measures adopted by France to regulate the relation among the government, parliament and media, particularly the allocation of media resources, after the World War II can be used for reference by others. Meanwhile, the long-existing bribery by the capitalist and French and foreign government in French journalism and communication circle shall be taken as a warning for all other countries. 2.4.1 Official and Civilian Newspapers Under the Feudal Rule Before the bourgeois revolution, France was ruled by severe centralization, which imposed the censorship and examination system on the press, impeded the founding of new newspapers and prohibited the free operation of newspapers. The official newspapers and magazines represented by La Gazette were absolutely obedient to the King and the government and had no distinctive feature. The small number of civilian newspapers approved by the government had to act cautiously and dutifully, otherwise they would be warned by the government. Even so, a few newspapers among them had become the guide of enlightenment thoughts. On January 1, 1777, the Paris News, the first daily newspaper in France, was founded. However, as a civilian newspaper, it had to accept the press censorship and stay far away from politics as suppressed by the official newspapers and had no first-hand news. This situation had only been improved after the rise of bourgeois revolutionary storm. 2.4.2 Great Development of the Press in the Revolution French enlightenment thoughts were mainly communicated through books. In the wave of revolution, the newspapers and magazines, being the voice of the revolutionary movement, had achieved great development. The number

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of newspapers and magazines in France was 60 in 1788, grew to be 250 in 1789 and reached 1350 during the whole revolutionary period. The newspapers and magazines during the wave of revolution, such as the Provence Post of Mirabeau, People’s Freedom of Jean-Paul Marat and Le Père Duchesne of Abel, were all famous for their distinctive political complexion. 2.4.3 Party Newspapers Exposed to Several Ups and Downs After Revolution From the revolution to the end of the nineteenth century, the party newspapers had always been the main part of the press in France for mainly two reasons according to the scholar analysis. Firstly, France had seen changeable political situation after revolution due to the long-term struggle between the democrats and loyalists; and secondly, despite the great number of parties in France, each party was disseminating their political opinions through its official newspaper. Along with the three times of ups and downs of the restoration and anti-restoration struggle, these party newspapers were exposed to ups and downs. Napoleon Bonaparte staged the Coup of Brumaire in 1799 and founded the First French Empire in 1804. Considering that “a newspaper is equal to three thousand mauser rifles,” Napoleon Bonaparte exerted a strict control of the press. The 72 newspapers and magazines in Paris had been reduced to 13 by 1800 and further to 4 by 1804. The Bourbon Dynasty was restored in 1814, when Napoleon Bonaparte encountered a defeat in Waterloo and the First French Empire collapsed. Awed by the power of the masses, Louis XVIII adopted the constitutional monarchy and issued the first press law in French history. However, Charles X launched a counterattack after he assumed power, imposed the stricter examination on books and newspapers, levied a heavy duty on publications and closed down all newspapers standing against the government. Then, the people’s uprising broke out again, and the new government of “July Monarchy” came into power. The new government relieved the restrictions on the press and relaxed the supervision over press and publication. In the European Revolution in 1848, the July Monarchy was overthrown by the people again, and the bourgeois carried on the traditions of the French First Republic of 1792 and founded the French Second Republic, which abolished the restrictions on the press freedom and enabled the great progress of the press. The number of newspapers in Paris and other provinces had once reached 450. Soon Louis Bonaparte proclaimed himself emperor and founded the Second French Empire, which took back the press freedom from the people, re-applied the pre-examination system for the press and increased the guarantee sum. France suffered a bad defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and the French Third Republic emerged. The Paris Commune was established in March 1871. In this period, approximately 40 newspapers were supporting

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the Commune, which were considered as the first batch of revolutionary newspapers under the dictatorship of proletariat. After the failure of the Commune, through years of struggle between the republicans and royalists, the French national assembly approved the constitution and confirmed on the republic system in 1875. Later in 1881, the parliament approved the Law on the Freedom of Press and Publication and finally repealed the censorship and deposit system. The speech and publication freedom advocated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen that was passed about a century ago had finally been realized. During the three restoration and anti-restoration struggles, the party newspaper in France had always taken the main part, until the end of the nineteenth century when it was replaced by the cheap newspaper. However, it still co-existed with the cheap newspaper until the end of the World War II. 2.4.4 Rise of Cheap Newspapers The relaxation of the restrictions on the press by the July Monarchy and the rapid economic development based on the Industrial Revolution in France had made good preparations for the rise of the cheap newspapers. As the party newspapers were still co-existing, the cheap newspapers had little room for development. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the cheap newspapers in France had ushered in great development. Among them, there were four influential daily newspapers in Paris, Le Petit Journal, Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin and La Presse. However, as a result of the competition between cheap newspapers and party newspapers in French press, the competition between Paris and regional newspapers, insufficient advertising resources, poor management and small scale of international communication, the press economy of France had never achieved encouraging development. In addition, the French press, including some cheap newspapers, had the bad habit of taking the bribes from the capitalists and French and foreign government. In 1946 after the World War II, the French press had seen a rapid growth, with 203 newspapers and a sales volume of 15.1 million. Though the news groups had shown up in France after the World War I, the monopoly and merger of French newspapers only took place since 1946. By the end of the 1960s, 20 news groups had controlled 73% of newspapers nationwide. At present, France has six major news groups including Herasant, Hachette, Amaury, Edition Mondiales, Bayard Presse and Filipacchi Medias as well as the French Group Communiste. 2.4.5 News Agencies and Radio and TV Undertakings Agence France Presse (AFP) is the largest news agency in France as well as one of the worldwide news agencies. It was founded in 1944 as an official news agency and later reorganized as “an independent public enterprise” in 1957 which was also a semi-official agency. Its predecessor Havas news agency was founded in 1835, making it the earliest news agency of the world.

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The radio and TV undertakings in France have been relatively developed in Europe. The radio programs started to broadcast in 1922. Quite a few private radio stations emerged in addition to the national radio station Paris Post Telecommunications since 1925. The trial broadcasting of TV programs was performed in 1935 but was suspended due to the war. After the World War II, French government established the Radiodiffusion-télévision française (RTF) in 1945 to lead the radio and TV stations nationwide. RTF was reorganized to be the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) in 1964, becoming an administration with the nature of business guided by the government. In 1974, this system had been replaced by seven state-owned enterprises that were independent and autonomous, improving the vitality of radio and TV in France. The parliament approved the new radio law in 1982 which allowed the establishment of private radio stations and opened the commercial TV sector in 1985. According to the new radio and TV law approved in 1989, France had founded the completely independent Canseil Superieur de I’Audiovisuel (CSA) and confirmed on the mature radio and TV management system, which vigorously promoted the competition between the private and the public radio and TV. 2.5  Japan Japan is also a news power of the current world. The journalism undertakings of Japan have led a winding road in over two centuries. The Meiji Restoration had boosted the rapid development of journalism undertakings and promoted the conversion from party newspapers to commercial newspapers in a short period, widening the gap between Japan and other eastern countries including China. However, the civilian and commercial press of Japan had gone through hardships and frustrations due to the halfway bourgeois revolution, and the press freedom had been suppressed by the feudal officials and later by militarists. It was only after the World War II that the press industry in China gained the opportunity for independent development. This unique road of the press in Japan that struggled to grow and develop by fighting against the feudal influence and militarism also provides rich experiences to the world journalism history. 2.5.1 Conversion from Party Newspapers to Commercial Newspapers Under the rule by Tokugawa Shogunate in the early seventeenth century, Osaka had once inscribed the characters and pictures on the clay and fired it to be the “tile” print, which only disappeared after three centuries. The earliest publication openly issued in Japan was the Official Edition · Batavia News published by Foreign Studies Bureau of Shogunate in January 1862. Meanwhile, foreigners in Japan had run some newspapers. Meiji Restoration had created the extremely favorable conditions for the rise of modern newspapers in Japan. In 1869, Meji government had

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formulated the first written law on press in Japanese history, Newspaper Press Regulations, to encourage the operation of newspapers. The earliest daily newspaper in Japan was Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun (Yokohama Daily News) created on January 28, 1871. Since then, daily newspapers including News Magazines (founded in Tokyo in May 1871), Tokyo Daily News (founded in March 1872) and Post News (founded in Tokyo in July 1872) had successively emerged, which presented the basic characteristics of modern newspapers. These newspapers had to acquire the support by the government before the foundation, i.e. private-run and government-support. Soon after the collapse of Shogunate regime, its supporters had established over a dozen of newspapers. Japanese government had closed down these newspapers and released the Newspaper Decree which provided that the content of the newspapers must be propitious to government interests. The government had sealed up some anti-government newspapers in 1876 and arrested the workers of these newspapers, and the remaining newspapers started to gear themselves to the government. Therefore, newspapers in Japan entered the period of party newspapers. In the 1870s, the three major modern newspapers of Japan had been successively founded in the business center Osaka and the capital Tokyo. Mainichi Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun were published in Osaka respectively 1872 and 1879, both of which laid particular stress on general news and economic information and claimed to be impartial. Yomiuri Shimbun was published in Tokyo in 1874. These newspapers emphasized the objectivity, timeliness, popularity and interest of news reports, reinforced the advertising space, lowered the cost and attracted the wide range of readers at the middle and lower level, thus having constantly improved the circulation and finally established the business foundation for commercial newspapers. Since the 1890s, Japanese press stepped into the “period of independent newspapers.” 2.5.2 Conversion from Modern Press to Contemporary Press In the early twentieth century, Japan had become the most powerful capitalist country in Asia, and its press had basically completed the conversion from modern press to contemporary press. The contemporary press in Japan had realized rapid development after the World War I. With a solid financial strength and a high sales volume, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun acquired the monopoly in the press. Japan had finally confirmed the militarist system in the late 1920s, when the news agencies gradually became the instrument of propaganda of the fascist. During the World War II, as Japanese people were deeply concerned with the internal and external situations admist wars and turbulence, the circulation of newspapers had increased. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Japan was seized by the US army. The news agencies of Japan had been controlled by the US army and served for the monopoly capital. After the US army was withdrawn, the way of the

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United States to run a newspaper still exerted an influence over the journalism in Japan, mainly manifested by the strong free competition and open speech. 2.5.3 Contemporary Journalism in Japan Since the 1950s, the circulation of newspapers has been rising constantly along with the rapid economic growth, increasingly fierce competition of the press and expanding scale. According to the statistics in 1992, Japan has more than 1000 newspapers, with 571 copies for each thousand people, which outnumbers the 540 copies for each thousand people of Sweden and ranks No. 1 worldwide. In Japanese press industry, newspapers are divided into the general newspapers, sports newspapers, professional newspapers, English newspapers and official newspapers. The general newspapers are mostly daily newspapers, while the large and medium-sized cities issue the morning paper and remote towns only issue the morning paper. The general newspapers can be further divided into the national newspapers, regional newspapers, county newspapers and rural newspapers. The five major national newspapers all see a circulation above 1 million on average, respectively including Asahi Shimbun (daily sales of 8.418 million in 1997), Yomiuri Shimbun (10.185 million), Mainichi Shimbun (3.962 million), Nihon Keizai Shimbun (2.983 million) and Sankei Shimbun (1.92 million). The publication industry in Japan is highly developed. In addition to newspapers, the annual publication of books and magazines of all kinds ranks No. 5 worldwide. The weekly magazines have been increasing since the 1960s, particularly the magazines about women, children and family life and entertainment magazines. The comprehensive magazines involving current affairs mainly comprise Bungei Shunju, Chuo Koron, Fujin Koron, Sekai, Sekai Shubo, the weekly magazines published by major newspapers, etc. The Tokyo Urgent Press founded by Rokkaku Masataro in 1888 was the earliest news agency in Japan. Since then a great many of small news agencies successively appeared but most of them died without outside interference. Only the Empire News Agency established in 1892 was powerful. In 1901, Japan Telegraph News Agency was established, unveiling the age of coexistence of two major news agencies jointly with the Empire News Agency. In 1926, eight newspapers including Osaka Asahi Shimbun jointly founded Japanese Associated Press. Japanese militarist government forced civilian news agencies to merge in 1936, when the Alliance News Agency was established. It played a role of the propaganda machine for the war of aggression launched by Japan and was dissolved in 1945. The largest news agency of Japan, Kyodo News Agency, was founded on November 1, 1945. Jiji News Agency was the second largest in Japan and was created at the same time with Kyodo. Japanese news agencies not only report news, but also write reviews, editorials, feature stories and entertainment

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articles. The news of Japanese newspapers especially local newspapers largely depends on the news agencies. The trial radio broadcasting was successfully completed in Japan on March 22, 1925. Then, the government approved to establish one radio station respectively in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. In 1926, the three radio stations were integrated, and, based on Tokyo radio station, the aggregate corporation Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) was founded and monopolized Japan broadcasting industry until 1953. On February 1, 1953, NHK Tokyo TV station started TV broadcasting officially. Soon after that, civilian TV networks successively emerged with the private “Nippon TV” as the pioneer. The TV industry in Japan has developed rapidly since the 1950s, and nearly all TV programs had been colorized by 1971. In the middle and late 1980s, the TV market in Japan was saturated, and the TV industry began to develop new technologies, including the text multicast and cable TV, etc. Currently, the popularity rate of radio and TV in Japan is only second to the United States in the world. Since the 1970s, the press industry in Japan has put great efforts to apply new technologies to promote the timeliness of news spreading and expand the scope of communication, and meanwhile constantly improved operation and enhance the competitive vitality. The five major national newspapers, three major regional newspapers and part of county newspapers have constituted several types of news groups centering on newspapers, publication, radio and TV. These news groups not only influence public opinions in Japan, but also affect the political, economic and cultural development of Japan through various information communication activities. 2.6  Russia The conditions in Russia vary from European countries but see quite a lot of similarities with China. Mao Zedong pointed out that “The oppression of feudalism is the same and the economic and cultural backwardness is similar”.2 Therefore, the experiences of proletarian revolution and dictatorship of proletariat in Russia exerted a particularly wide and profound influence on China as well as the journalism work in China. In those days, China sided with the Soviet Union without reservation, had blind faith in Pravda and Tass news agency and studied many news modes of the Soviet Union from Pravda and Tass news agency. Some of these modes had once played a positive role in China, but some should be removed in the journalism reform nowadays. Therefore, among the comparative studies of journalism between China and the west, Russia is listed as a part of the west but shows a great influence on China, the other party of comparison. China can draw lessons

2 Mao

Zedong’s Selected Works, 2nd edition, Page 1469, Vol. 4, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1991.

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from the setbacks and frustrations suffered by Russia and their positive and negative experiences. Great efforts shall be put to study this case. 2.6.1 Russian Journalism Before the Founding of the Soviet Union The handwriting communication started in the eleventh century in Russia, while the print communication appeared in the middle sixteenth century and the first modern newspaper was born in the early eighteenth century. Russia is a country with the longest history of the feudal autocratic system in Europe. In over a century from the reign of Peter the Great (1682– 1725) to the early nineteenth century, the Czar governments all exerted a strict control over the press, resulting in its very slow development. In 1825, the Decembrists launched the uprising against Czar autocracy and started the new era of liberation movements in Russia. Aristocratic revolutionist and civilian intellectuals had taken the initiative to create newspapers and magazines for the propaganda of the revolution, having vigorously promoted the development of liberation movements in Russia. The Czar government was forced to abolish serfdom from the top in 1861, when capitalism developed in both urban and rural areas in Russia and modern press made great progress. From the 1860s to the 1880s, three private news agencies were established successively in Russia, Russian News Agency (1866), International News Agency (1872) and North News Agency (1882). The first all-Russia news agency, Russia News Agency, was founded in 1894; and the Government News Agency was created in 1904 and reorganized and renamed for several times. From the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, Russian proletariat entered the historical arena as an independent political force and became the main force of liberation movements in Russia. Along with the deepening and development of revolutionary struggles, Russian workers’, Marxist and Bolshevik newspapers and magazines successively emerged. As a product of Russian workers’ movements, Russian workers’ press had fought resolutely for the founding of Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin had created the Spark in 1900 and Dawn magazine in 1901 overseas, declaring the birth of Marxist newspapers and magazines. In 1903, Lenin had built the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party through the Spark newspaper in 1903. On the second congress of the Party, it was divided into two schools, the Bolshevik and the Menshevik. The Menshevik seized the leadership of the Spark, and Lenin had resolutely fought against them. Later on, under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolshevik press had achieved great development in Russia. Following the Spark, Russian Bolshevik party had mainly operated the following newspapers and magazines: Struggle created in Baku in 1901, Progress and Proletariy founded in Geneva in 1905, New Life established in Petersburg, etc. The Pravda created in Petersburg in 1912 had inherited and

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carried forward the revolutionary traditions of the Spark and been considered as a model of Bolshevik newspapers. 2.6.2 Journalism in the Soviet Union After winning the October Revolution in 1917, Russia had established the first socialist country in the world. On October 28 (November 10 in the Gregorian calendar), Petersburg Military Commission ordered to close down 10 major reactionary newspapers that imperiled the cause of revolution and guaranteed the publication of the first batch of Soviet newspapers including the Pravda, Soldatskaya Pravda and Poor Peasants. Meanwhile, Bolsheviks had reorganized the Izvestia created in March 1917 as the official newspaper of the Soviet regime. Since then, all types of central or local newspapers and magazines had successively started publication, and the press network of the Soviet countries had been rapidly formed. By 1925, there were 539 newspapers in the Soviet Union, including 141 peasants’ newspapers, 76 workers’ newspapers, 72 Communist Youth League newspapers and 17 military newspapers. Periodicals also attained considerable development in this period. On December 1, 1917, Lenin signed a decree and announced that Petergrad News Agency would function as the central news agency of the People’s Committee of Russia Soviet Socialist Republic. Later, the News Agency of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Tass) had become the national news agency of the Soviet Union. Before the appearance of the social news agency News Press in 1961, Tass was the only news agency in the Soviet Union. The radio undertakings of the Soviet Union started based on the trial radio broadcasting on September 17, 1922. On November 7 in the same year, Moscow Central Radio Station was named as the Communist International Radio Station. By 1928, 65 radio stations had appeared and covered an area of 2.94 million square kilometers. The Soviet Union began trial TV broadcasting in 1931 and started the regular broadcasting of TV programs in 1939, which was suspended during the World War II and was restored and developed after the war. The Great Patriotic War broke out on June 22, 1941, since when the press started to serve the war and bore the main mission to mobilize and unite all strengths to fight against the enemy and safeguard the homeland. For this purpose, quite a few local or professional newspapers and magazines stopped publication or reduced the length, but the number of military correspondents significantly grew. Military newspapers and magazines had achieved rapid development during the war. In the latter half of 1941, the central military newspapers including the Red Navy and the Eagle of Stalin, 15 front newspapers, dozens of regiment and corps newspapers and hundreds of brigade and division newspapers had published, with a total circulation exceeding 2 million. Moreover, newspapers of the guerrilla and united forces had been released in enemy’s rear area. By the end of the Great Patriotic War, a total of

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821 kinds of military newspapers had been published, reaching a circulation over 3 million. After the Great Patriotic War, the number of newspapers and magazines in the Soviet Union rose again, and the publication technology had been significantly improved, leading to the sharp growth of the circulation. The holding quantity of daily newspapers per thousand people was 172 in 1960, which increased to 366 in 1970. By the 1970s, a stable socialist press system had been formed in the Soviet Union, including 31 central newspapers, 159 Grade 1 newspapers of the aligned republics, 422 newspapers of border regions and prefectures and autonomous republics and prefectures, 3687 newspapers at the city and district level and 3789 newspapers of grass-root units such as mines, enterprises, schools, collective farms, etc. Among the major newspapers and magazines of the Soviet Union, those with a circulation above or approximate to 10 million included Pravda, Trud, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Pionerskaya Pravda, Izvestia and Argumenty i Fakty, while the last one had once reached a daily sale of 33.5 million in 1990 which was recorded in the Guinness World Records. After the 1970s, as the Soviet Union was subject to economic stagnation and difficulties in domestic and foreign affairs, the press was inevitably affected by the situation and was exposed to a series of problems, such as the similar content among newspapers and magazines, rigid form and lack of characteristics. The expenses on the operation of news media were mainly covered by national finance, the paper was allocated in a fixed amount, and the operation performance did not observe economic principles. The broadcasting industry of the Soviet Union that had been severely damaged by the war was restored and developed after the war. By the start of the fourth five-year plan in 1946, the quantity of radio stations and the transmitting power of the whole Soviet Union had surpassed that before the war. In 1947, the central radio station of the Soviet Union started broadcasting nationwide. Until the middle 1980s, the whole country had 300 radio stations that could transmit two sets of programs. The stereophonic broadcasting had been set up in Moscow, aligned republics and major cities in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had the wired radio network of the world, reaching a total length of wire of 2 million kilometers. The radio wave transmitted by the radio stations of the Soviet Union had covered the whole country, and its total power ranked No. 1 in Europe. After the end of the war, Moscow TV station restored the TV broadcasting that had been suspended for a while. Central TV, the national TV station of the Soviet Union, was established in 1951 to broadcast programs nationwide. Central TV launched the trial broadcasting of color TV programs since 1954 and officially broadcasted these programs in 1967. Until the middle 1980s, a total of 120 TV stations that could produce their own programs had emerged in all places of the Soviet Union, in addition to the Central TV. The TV stations of the central government, aligned republics, different prefectures,

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border regions and cities made up a unified TV network of the Soviet Union. There were approximately 90 fixed TV programs in the Soviet Union, which were broadcasted in 45 ethnic languages. After assuming the office of the General Secretary of Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) Central Committee in March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev had put forward the reform assumption and regarded the principle of “openness” as the guiding ideology and core content of the reform. The implementation of this principle had led to unprecedented changes of the press industry in the Soviet Union, mainly manifested by the follows: Firstly, the government relieved the control over the press, promoted the autonomy of these news agencies and meanwhile reduced the scope of review on the content of news publication. Secondly, the long-awaited Press and Publication Law of the press industry had been officially approved in June 1990. This law had incorporated the relations between the press and all other circles and assured the openness and legalization of private newspapers. Thirdly, the situation of “diversified public opinions” had emerged. Due to the fierce competition, news media had made great breakthroughs in the content, form and subject of the report. The news, magazines, radio and TV had expanded their coverage of reports, broken the restrictions of the “forbidden area,” disclosed a large number of social issues and published sensational or even fake news widely. The circulation of the newspapers and magazines had seen a significant rise. According to statistics, in the first half of 1987, the circulation of Pravda, the central official newspaper of CPSU, had exceeded 11 million, compared to 8 million of Izvestia and 17 million of Komsomolskaya Pravda. The journalism reform based on “openness” had given rise two consequences in the Soviet Union press: firstly, the decline of the status of the communist newspapers and magazines of the Soviet Union; and secondly, the emergence of a large number of non-communist or even anti-communist newspapers and magazines. 2.6.3 Journalism in Russia After the Disintegration of the Soviet Union The “August 19 Incident” in 1991 had accelerated the changes of the political situation in the Soviet Union, and the opposing forces seized this opportunity to take the political power of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was disintegrated in an all-round way, while the union of the republics had collapsed. On December 21, 1991, the leaders of the 11 aligned republics of the Soviet Union gathered in Alma-Ata, signed the Alma-Ata Protocol about the Commonwealth of Independent States and announced the disintegration of the Soviet Union. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the press presents several characteristics below:

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Firstly, the former Soviet Union communist press has been fundamentally changed. After the collapse of CPSU, some properties of the former CPSU were transferred to Russia, so the ownership of some newspapers changed. The Pravda that was forced to stop publication after the “August 19 Incident” had resumed publication and declared “to be the newspapers for civic harmony, adhere to neutral position and support the democratic reform of society.” It suggested that the Pravda had transformed from the central official newspaper of CPSU to the general political newspaper. Soviet Russia Gazette, the former central official newspaper of Russian communists, was reorganized as the Independent People’s Daily after the publication was assumed, while its sponsor has changed to be “the employees of the trade union of editorial department and ‘Zavigia’ Trading.” The Communists, the former political theory publication of CPSU, was renamed as Free Thoughts and became “an open forum of left democratic forces.” Secondly, the influence of the news media at the union level reduces, while the news media at the republic level start to play an important part. After the fundamental changes of the former central-level newspapers such as Pravda and Izvestia, they are operating in reduced circumstances, suffer from a violent decline of the circulation and are elbowed by Russian government. Meanwhile, the newspapers, radio stations and TV stations being loyal to Russian government have a rising stats and are playing an increasingly important role in the political life in Russia, such as Radio Russia and Interfax. Thirdly, all news agencies have to be disconnected from the national finance and making a living by themselves. Fourthly, there is no law to abide by temporarily. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, all laws of the union including the Press and Publication Law have lost its effect. The Law of the Mass Media of Communication approved by the Russian Federation in 1991 has been amended for several times but shows no practical restrictive function. It is still a question that how other countries of the CIS manage the mass media.

3   Journalism and Communication Undertakings in China In the world journalism and communication history, China had once made great contributions and attained glorious achievements on the creation and invention of communication media, but has been left far behind by Western countries in terms of modern and contemporary media. Despite the papermaking and printing invented by our ancestors, we are not the home to the newspapers, one of the main characters in public communication. Therefore, we shall study, summarize and bear in mind all these experiences and lessons and conduct profound rational thinking for the sake of constructing modern information power. According to Marxist philosophy, as to the development

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and changes of things, the internal cause is the basis and the external cause is the condition. The backward journalism and communication in China in recent centuries not only resulted from the invasion by imperialist powers but also embodied profound economic, political, cultural and social factors, which need diligent exploration and study. 3.1   The Origin and Slow Evolution of Ancient Newspapers China was the first country in the world where newspapers showed up. The primitive handwritten newspapers and printed newspapers (the embryo of modern newspapers in some people’s opinion) both firstly emerged in China, demonstrating the approximately 1300-year history of journalism and communication in China. In this long historical course, the journalism in China has seen 60,000 types of newspapers and magazines, thousands of news agencies, more than 5000 radio stations and TV stations and hundreds of thousands of journalists, which is rarely seen in the journalism and communication history of other countries. Newspapers in ancient China are collectively referred to as Di Bao (namely officials’ papers) and were the official papers released and circulated by feudal governments. They also had many other names in ancient literature and works. The ancient newspapers in China can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. The two Dunhuang newspapers now collected by the National Library of France in Paris and the British Library in London of the United Kingdom were released respectively in the year of 878 and 887. These two newspapers were found in primitive state. The main content of Di Bao included the imperial edict, dynamics of the royal family, appointment, dismissal, rewards and punishments of officials and officials’ memorial to the throne, etc. The content of Di Bao was subject to the strict control, as all contributions could only be published upon the review and approval by the authority in charge and the minister in power. Moreover, the important contribution was often decided by the emperor personally. The “contribution determination” system adopted since 999 was the earliest news censorship. Di Bao in early stage was written on papers by hand, with one page for each paper in a long scroll. After the Song Dynasty, wood-block printing was applied to part of Di Bao, making each copy a small thread-bound brochure. The movable type had been widely spread since 1638 in the Ming Dynasty. Di Bao was only internally released within the feudal ruling group, circulated to the royal family and government officials and later gradually spread to feudal literati and intellectuals as well as local rich businessmen. It was since the late Northern Song Dynasty when the civilian tabloids emerged in addition to the official newspapers, which were the earliest civilian newspapers in ancient China. These popular tabloids provided some references to public figures who were concerned with the political situation and satisfied certain social demands. They had already got their hidden name “Xin Wen (news)” at that time. The rulers of the Song Dynasty prohibited

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the publication of tabloids and attempted to maintain the situation where the official newspapers monopolized the industry to achieve “the respect to the government and the unity of people’s thoughts.” However, until the end of the Song Dynasty, tabloids had not been banned completely. The publications similar to tabloids had also shown up in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasty, also known as “Xiao Ben,” “Xiao Chao,” or “Bao Tiao,” and could not be stopped despite repeated bans. After the middle sixteenth century, along with the sprouting of capitalist economy in China, the civilian newspaper copying industry appeared in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Since the late period in the ruling period of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, the private newspaper workshop was allowed and mainly copied some contributions of Di Bao acquired from relevant departments of the cabinet under the supervision by the government for publication and sale. The open sale and subscription was approved. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were more than ten famous newspaper workshops in Beijing, with over 300 employees in their heyday. After the Opium War, modern newspapers gradually rose. Though having co-existed with the modern newspapers and magazines for a while, the old-style Di Bao gradually sank due to its backward and rigid form and content and completely disappeared in 1913 soon after the complete collapse of the Qing Dynasty. 3.2   Introduction of the Modern Press and Rise of the National Press in Modern Times In the early nineteenth century, with the invasion by foreign colonialists, some Western missionaries and businessmen started running the new papers distinguished from Di Bao and opened a new chapter of the modern press development in China. The Chinese Monthly Magazine published in Malacca in 1815 was the first Chinese modern newspaper/magazine. After the Opium War in 1840, an increasing number of foreigners were running newspapers in China from big coastal cities and treaty ports to capital Beijing in the hinterland. By the end of the nineteenth century, foreigners had created approximately 210 types of newspapers and magazines in China (including about 80 in Chinese and 130 in foreign language). Among them, North China Daily News, Globe Magazine, Shun Pao, etc., had a long history of publication and showed great influence. Despite different conditions, the newspapers run by foreigners in China in the nineteenth century mostly served the purpose of assisting Western colonial nations in gaining the market share, dumping commodities, spreading the Western religion, disseminating the Western learnings and intensifying semi-colonization of China. They created public opinions, provided information, displayed Western learnings and conveyed economic information, which constituted a means of news culture conquest that supported the military and political invasion by the colonialists. However, from an

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objective perspective, the introduction of foreign newspapers facilitated the cultural exchange and blending between China and the west. As affected and stimulated by foreign newspapers, the national modern press established by the Chinese started to rise since the 1870s. The New Paper of Literary Grace founded by Ai Xiaomei in Hankou in 1873 was the earliest Chinese daily newspaper created by the Chinese. In 1874, Wang Tao created the Universal Circulating Herald in Hong Kong and assumed the office of the chief editor, and this was the first modern newspaper famous for its political comments in China. During the Chinese bourgeois reform movement in the 1890s, the development of national modern press in China had reached its first climax. Among the 120 Chinese newspapers and magazines released in China between 1895 and 1898, approximately 80% were run by Chinese people. They had broken the monopoly by foreign newspapers in China and functioned as the important public opinion center for the reform movement. The most influential newspapers and magazines of the reformers included Current Affairs Newspaper with Liang Qichao as the chief editor, New Knowledge Newspaper in Macau, Hunan Journal and Hunan Newspapers in Hunan and National News Paper in Tianjin, etc. The bourgeois revolutionaries in China had led the second wave of Chinese running newspapers in the period of the Revolution of 1911, when more than 200 newspapers and magazines had been founded at home and abroad, raising the national modern press in China to a new level. The famous revolutionary newspapers and magazines included the Chinese Daily (Hong Kong) and Min Bao (Tokyo) created under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen and the People’s Voice Daily, People’s Appeal Daily and People’s Independence Journal founded under the guidance of Yu Youren. With the distinct partisan tendency, these newspapers and magazines had become the sharp weapons for democratic revolutionaries and political struggles. 3.3   Formation and Development of the Modern Press in China The modern journalism had developed from 1915 when the Youth Magazine was founded to 1949 before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Along with the progress of new democratic revolution and development of modern science and technology, the press in China had been exposed to major changes. The birth and growth of proletarian journalism in China made up one of the important characteristics of modern press. Within the three decades from 1920 to 1949, the Communist Party of China had successively established a series of central news and magazines including the monthly The Communist Party, the weekly Guide, the quarterly The Youth, the magazine Bolshevik, Red Flag Daily, Red China, New China, Jiefang Daily in Yan’an, Xinhua Daily in Chongqing and People’s Daily in North China and led the publication of thousands of local newspapers or magazines or those for workers, peasants, soldiers, students and women. Meanwhile, the

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two news media including Xinhua News Agency and Yan’an Xinhua Radio Station had been founded. The proletarian journalism in China had transcended the fundamental restrictions of the bourgeois journalism of seeking personal gains of a party or a school and had become the powerful public opinion tool representing the fundamental interest of Chinese people. In this period, the private press of the national bourgeoisie in China developed slowly, while some major newspapers gradually adopted the modern enterprise management, showed their own characteristics and exerted certain influence. The proletarian journalism and all democratic progressive journalism undertakings had contributed to the development of the united front of journalism and constituted the mainstream of the modern press. They had fully played their role in guiding public opinions in each important historical stage including the May Fourth Movement in the period of new democratic revolution, the Great Revolution, the Agrarian Revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japan and People’s Liberation War. According to statistics, China had a total of 1137 newspapers and magazines including 550 daily newspapers in 1921, while the number of daily newspapers increased to 628 in 1926. In 1934, there were 1186 newspapers and magazines in the area under Kuomintang rule, with the private newspapers and magazines accounting for one-third. In 1946, a total of 984 newspapers had been registered in the area under Kuomintang rule, which grew to 1781 by August 1947, including more than 60% of official newspapers and also a large number of private newspapers. The long-standing commercial newspapers Shun Pao and Xinwen Bao had exceeded a circulation of 100,000 by 1926, later growing to be 150,000 in the early 1930s and showing a good momentum of development. After the September 18th Incident in 1931, Shun Pao carried out reform, advocated democracy and the war of resistance against Japan and realized the all-around development. Unfortunately, Shanghai had been occupied by Japan during the war, and both newspapers had been controlled by the Japanese army. After the victory of the war of resistance, Kuomintang had acquired some shares and made these two newspapers the semi-official newspapers. The new Ta Kung Pao in Tianjin founded in 1926 adhered to the guiding principle of “impartialness, integrity, fairness and rationality” and had developed to be a private news group publishing four local editions in Tianjin, Chongqing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and enjoying a circulation over 100,000 by 1949. Nanjing Xinmin Bao created in 1929 had become a famous news group establishing five local branches, publishing eight morning or evening papers and reaching a circulation over 100,000 after the victory of the War of Resistance in 1945. Wen Hui Bao set up in 1938 also showed increasing influence. However, the development of above newspapers and magazines had been subject to the suppression and obstruction due to the dictatorship and policies on the civil war of the Kuomintang authority. The proletarian press in China had accumulated rich experiences and cultivated the team through long-term practices, and, through Yan’an rectification

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movement and reform in 1942, had laid the theoretical foundation for the Marxist journalism with unique characteristics and formed the special fine tradition. 3.4   Development of the Contemporary Press in China The founding of the People’s Republic of China had marked a new era of the development of the contemporary press in China. With the support by the Party and government, the press of the Party and people had realized unprecedented development. According to the statistics at the beginning of 1950, China had 253 private and public newspapers, with a circulation of 2.5 million for each issue. By May 1955, the quantity of newspapers above the district level reached 265 nationwide, with a circulation of 9.36 million for each issue; and the number of magazines was 305, with a circulation of 12.46 million for each issue on average. In 1965, the whole country released 413 newspapers, with a circulation of 27.85 million for each issue, and 767 magazines. The journalism undertakings had been severely damaged during the “Cultural Revolution,” and the number of newspapers and magazines had been respectively lowered to 390 and 248 in 1966 and further to 42 and 20–22 between 1968 and 1970. In 1978, the number of newspapers and magazines had climbed back to respectively 186 and 930. As the focus of the whole Party transferred from class struggle to economy and the Reform and Opening up was constantly deepening after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the press in China has gained rapid development and seen two waves of starting newspapers. The first wave was around 1985. The total number of newspapers nationwide was 242 in 1981, which rose to 1049 in 1984 and 1445 in 1985, having altered the structure of the press. The nearly homogeneous system mainly made up by the official newspapers of the Party has been transformed to a multi-type and multi-level structure consisting of the main part of the official newspapers of the Party and also some other newspapers about social politics, economy, culture and life that satisfies readers’ different demands. The second wave lasted from 1992 to 1993. Along with the reform from the planned economy to the socialist market economy, the number of newspapers and magazines respectively reached 2042 and 7596 by the end of 1993. This scale has basically met the demands of economic construction and people’s life. After the national conference on propaganda and ideological work in January 1994, the national press has improved in terms of the quality and efficiency in addition to the quantity growth. By the end of 1998, there were 2053 newspapers and 7999 magazines in China, totaling 10,052. TV undertakings that were initiated in 1958 had made great progress in the 4 decades, with the number of TV stations growing from nothing in 1958 to 880 comprehensive TV stations, over a thousand education TV stations and more than 700 cable TV stations nationwide in 1998.

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4  The Law of Formation and Development of Journalism and Communication and the Imbalanced Development of the Press in China and the West 4.1   Basic Law of Formation and Development of Journalism and Communication As demonstrated by the process of evolution and development of newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and news agencies in China and the west, two conditions must be equipped for the formation of journalism and communication undertakings: firstly, the social production mode must be developed to a certain level where society can provide all necessary material conditions for the production of news media including newspapers and magazines; and, secondly, society expressly raises the extensive, common, rational and indispensable requirement on certain news media. According to Marxism classical writers, the development of information dissemination activities depends on certain conditions of material production and material life. The communication in the primitive period mainly relied on language. For instance, in the interpersonal conversation, the meeting of March Community of the Germanic Tribes (“Mass Assembly”), the “Wellhead Meeting” of Japan and the “Market Meeting” of India, people released or collected interesting information and then spread the information from one farmer to another and from one village to another. Subsequently, the written language emerged. “Humans ushered in the age of civilization based on the invention of written language and its application to documentation.”3 Depending on the progress of written language and the smelting technology, the development of the times was much faster than all other previous stages. According to the written history of communication, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels pointed out that distinguished from the general information dissemination particularly oral communication, the considerable quantity of “reports” left by predecessors featured certain qualities of “news.” Later, “the greatest invention” printing was born, turning a new chapter of information dissemination and “report.” Printing is considered as “a means of scientific revival” and “the greatest lever creating necessary conditions for spiritual development.” Printing had realized the transformation from interpersonal communication to mass communication, and therefore enabled the newspapers and magazines published to communicate information in a more extensive and more rapid way, which met the social demand at that time. According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “only by the universal

3 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 37, Vol. 21, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1965.

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development of productivity can the general communication among people be established.”4 If studying early journalism and communication of mankind from the perspective of historical materialism, following conclusions can be reached: Firstly, people’s journalism and communication behaviors and communication media applied generally adapt to the productivity development of society. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels once stated that “In regard to all accidental things in the later age (compared to the earlier age) or factors passed on from the past, there must be a form of communication that adapts to the level of productivity.”5 Secondly, the journalism and communication media, the new form of communication, are invented and evolve in line with the new demands of human communication. Karl Marx had once quoted a famous saying from a British economist, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Karl Marx further stated that “The producers are also changing, achieving the new quality, improving along with the development of production and creating new strengths and new ideas, new ways of communication, new demands and new language.”6 Either body language or civilized language, either written language or printing, was produced upon the social demands. Thirdly, Francis Bacon once said that any tool was an extension of human organs. The new media and communication forms invented by people are actually nothing more than the relative extension of human organs such as the audition, vision and brain, i.e. the expansion of the functions of these organs. This is the essence of all tools, as well as the essence of all communication media of humans. It can be concluded from the above analysis that two factors had contributed to the emergence of the modern press, the new means and new approach of human journalism and communication media: the social demands and the new possibility resulting from the achievements of productivity. Therefore, the aspirants bear the mission to satisfy the demands, make the best use of the new achievements in the age and make every attempt to seek for the new communication media. When writing the Dialectics of Nature, Friedrich Engels had listed the following inventions that were related to the communication development.

4 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 39, Vol. 3, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1960. 5 Same as above, Page 80. 6 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 494, Vol. 46(1), Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1979.

54  B. TONG B.C.: ………… Parchment, around B.C. 160. A.D.: ………… Feather pen tip, 6th century. Cotton paper, introduced from China to Arab in the 7th century and to Italy in the 9th century. ………… ……French cotton paper. Rag papermaking, the early 14th century. ………… First paper mill in Germany (Nuremberg), 1390. Streetlights in London, the early 15th century. The post office in Venice – at the same time. Wood carving and printing – at the same time. Copperplate engraving – the middle of the same century. Post mail in France, 1464.7

Demonstrated by Friedrich Engels’s extracts, he not only attached importance to the huge role of material productivity and scientific and technical inventions in the progress of communication media and believed that the former factor made up the material foundation for the latter factor, but also correctly pointed out that the paper, written language, traffic, post and telecommunications had significantly accelerated “the communication of information, letters and telegraphs”.8 Here we will carefully analyze the great role of the productivity including science and technology in the five-hundred history of journalism and communication. Paper: In 1798, Nicolas Robert from France had invented the long-paper making technology. In the following year, he produced the long-paper making machine with this patent. This technology and this machine had laid the foundation for continuous printing of paper. Printing: Around 1450, German Johannes Gutenburg had invented the lead movable type and metal movable type technology. The first press appeared in Rome of Italy in 1466. The first printing shop emerged in London of the United Kingdom in 1476. By the end of the fifteenth century, the metal movable type had been widely used in Europe. In 1811, Friedrich Koenig from Germany created the first steam engine-driven press. At that time, a press in the United Kingdom could print 4000 copies of newspapers in a night. In 1845, French Vorm and Philip had made the rotary press; and 7 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 531–532, Vol. 20, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1971. 8 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 65, Vol. 24, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1972.

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in the next year, American Richard Hoe invented the high-speed cylinder press. In 1855, Swiss Dalaganna brothers invented the paper-mold machine. In 1861, some newspapers in Europe and the US started to replace the movable type with the cast lead plate for printing of newspapers, unveiling the curtain of “the age of fire and lead” of newspapers. As mentioned above, Chinese modern newspapers began with the newspapers in foreign language and in Chinese created by foreigners coming to China. Though China had invented printing and papermaking technology early, the two inventions directly applied to the press were from foreigners. In 1891, Li Hongzhang had founded the Lunzhang Paper Mill in Shanghai as a project under the Westernization Movement, which was the first mill that produced newsprint with machine in China. As early as in 1834, an American missionary introduced the Chinese wood movable type to Boston and later delivered the lead movable type back to China. Another American missionary successfully produced the electroplating Chinese character module in Ningbo in 1859, when the lead movable type gradually replaced the wood movable type. Gradually, Chinese newspapers had also stepped into “the age of fire and lead.” As a regular publication, the newspaper needs massive resources of news information and a large number of readers. Under these circumstances, another necessary condition for running a newspaper lies in population concentration and a considerable number of educated people. Plato once said that “When people can no longer satisfy themselves but need help from many other people, a city-state comes into being.”9 There were only a small number of cities before the Middle Ages, such as Athens and Rome. Later, industry and commerce gradually expanded from the Mediterranean coast to the inland and Atlantic coast and cities was increasing including inland cities such as Vienna and Mainz and coastal cities such as Genoa, Hamburg and Antwerp. In 1500, Paris had a population of 80,000; London had 35,000 residents; but Germany had only 15 cities and towns with a population of merely 10,000. In 1700, the population of London increased to 700,000, compared to 500,000 in Paris. By 1800, Europe and its dependencies might have accommodated the majority of literacy population of the world. In this period, the press in Europe had acquired a monopoly. After the Renaissance in the Middle Ages in Europe, all kinds of schools rose in swarm, cultivating numerous intellectuals. They were the writers of the modern press as well as competent readers of these newspapers. In the meantime, the urban traffic and the urban–rural traffic had become quite smooth. Moreover, the cable wire telegraph had evaded the inconvenience brought by the obstacles of space and time.

9 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 322, Vol. 47, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1979.

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As demonstrated by the above anatomy of the cases in different countries, the modern newspapers only successively emerged in Europe, the United States, Japan and China after the conditions mentioned above had been met. Another condition for the rise of the modern newspapers lies in the social demand. In other words, society needed the new media of newspapers to perform the function that the existing media could not perform. With the advent of capitalism in Europe, the social scale had been greatly expanded. At that time, an oceanic fleet in a Mediterranean coastal city owned 3000 merchant ships and employed 30,000 workers. A large number of European cities had a population over 250,000. The farmland had been replaced by capitalist workshops and factories, while producers purchased raw materials from one city or region and sold products to another city or region after processing. “The world was getting smaller.” The rapid development of productivity had accelerated the social changes. In the agricultural age, the production cycles were mostly calculated by years, like ploughing in spring, field management in summer, harvest in autumn and preservation in winter. By comparison, the production cycle of industrial products might be several days or dozens of days. The intensified socialization of production significantly promoted the mutual connection and mutual dependence among people in production and social relations. In this case, production managers and capital operators needed a great deal of information to seek the raw material market, capital market, labor market and sales market, and meanwhile the labor suppliers had to inquire about where to sell the labor for more remunerations. Distinguished from the master-servant relationship in the feudal land relations, both parties of the new employment were in urgent demands on the timely provision of news and information. Based on the new relation of production, the social demand on news had greatly increased. The previous journalism and communication in a narrow range could no longer adapt to the above changes due to its small scale and slow transmission. Under these circumstances, the modern newspapers emerged as a new media at the historic moment. The modern press had shown up to satisfy the social demands, including economic, political, cultural, scientific, ethnic and religious demands. In the initial period, the modern press mainly aimed to satisfy social demands on the information about economic activities particularly business activities, so the early newspapers mainly covered the market conditions, sailing schedule, weather, etc. Therefore, the early newspapers can be considered as business newspapers or economic newspapers. Later on, when the social focus was placed on the anti-royalty struggle by the burgher’s class, the newspapers in this period mainly exposed and criticized the royalty and were known as “party newspapers” historically. The priority had been given to political works and party propaganda, while news report only took the second place. In 1788, Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the democracy-republic party (anti-federalist) of the United States, created the National Gazette

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in Philadelphia; and in the following year, Gazette of the United States, the official newspaper of the federal party, was founded in New York, symbolizing the advent of the party newspaper period in American press. The Herald established by James Gordon Bennet in New York in 1835 adhered to the aim of “independent operation of newspapers,” suggesting the end of the party newspaper period in the United States. Either Western countries like the United Kingdom, France and Japan or China had experienced the period of party newspapers, when the function of party propaganda prevailed over the news report. This special demand had once vigorously promoted the development of modern press. From the above analysis, a brief conclusion can be drawn that the sprouting and development of the capitalist commodity economy had boosted the rise of the modern newspaper. This economic form not only proposed new demands on news, but also provided all material conditions necessary for the blossom of newspapers. This has been the same case with the emergence and evolution of the modern press in the seven countries including China and other Western countries, so this can be deemed as the common law for the rise and development of journalism and communication in China and the west. Moreover, some other ways of modern journalism and communication such as radio, TV, news agency, etc., also observe the same law, the analysis of which are omitted in this book. 4.2   Imbalanced Development of the Press in China and the West British Robert Morrison (1782—1834) created the first Chinese modern newspaper of the world, Chinese Monthly Magazine, in Malacca in 1815, respectively 232 and 227 years later than the irregular newsbook released in Frankfurt in 1583 and the world earliest regular publication developing from the newsbook released in 1588. Ai Xiaomei started the New Paper of Literary Grace, the earliest Chinese daily newspaper run by Chinese people, in Hankou in 1873, which was respectively 290 and 285 years later than the publication in Frankfurt. From 1815 to the late nineteenth century, foreigners had run approximately 210 newspapers and magazines in China (including about 80 in Chinee and about 130 in foreign language). The first wave of Chinese people running newspapers only appeared during the Reform Movement. Among the 120 Chinese newspapers and magazines released in China between 1895 and 1898, approximately 80% were run by Chinese people. By comparison, the number of newspapers in the United Kingdom was 565 in 1851, which grew to 1294 in 1867 and 2300 in 1900. In Paris, the capital of France, there were 17 newspapers and 32 local newspapers in 1832, increasing to respectively 60 and 190 in 1880 and 80 and 242 in 1914. Therefore, the newspapers in Paris, which was merely a city, had outnumbered the newspapers in China, which was a country.

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This kind of imbalance of the press development in China and the west had also been expounded in Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. He stated: “Though printing had existed since ancient times in China, the printed literature, i.e. the literature that was especially designed for printing and could only be acquired through printing, was only seen in the west, particularly newspapers and periodicals.”10 Here we only mention the quantity and the starting time of newspapers above. The imbalance between China and the west was more evident if the content and quality of newspapers were considered. For instance, the early newspapers and magazines in China presented two distinct features: firstly, run by foreigners; and secondly, tending to satisfy the demands of missionary work. In other words, during the two waves of the press development in China at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century (the Reform Movement and the Revolution of 1911), the newspapers and magazines still fell into the category of party newspapers. At the same time, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, etc., had got rid of the shackle of party newspapers and entered the new period of popular newspapers. The United Kingdom had been exposed to the period of party newspapers for nearly two centuries since the bourgeois revolution in the seventeenth century. The party newspaper period lasted from 1783 to 1860 in the United States and from 1794 to 1870 in France (popular newspapers and party newspapers co-exist from 1870 to 1900). These capitalist forerunners had ushered in the period of commercial newspapers and popular newspapers in quick succession from the 1860s, while the period of party newspapers in China had lasted for quite a long time. We are not saying that the party newspapers are definitely inferior to popular newspapers. However, according to the Marxist principle that journalism reflects the economic base of society, the popular newspaper is a product of the Industrial Revolution and great development of productivity. Therefore, the fact demonstrates that Western countries were superior to China in terms of the level of both productivity and journalism in the same historical period. Following the birth of Shun Pao in China in 1872, Chinese people had run quite a few commercial newspapers, which, however, failed to lead the press industry or replace the party newspapers due to their slow development and poor operation. It also indicated that the bourgeois commodity economy in China, despite its development, still could not be compared to the highly developed capitalist economy in the west. By discussing the severe imbalance of journalism development between China and the west, we can see the profound economic, political and cultural factors, etc., contributing to this imbalance.

10 [GER]

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1st edition, Page 14, Chengdu, Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 1986.

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In the long years before the sixteenth century, China had been the leading ship of the world civilization. But since the sixteenth century, Europe rose abruptly, and many Western countries gradually surpassed China. As an ancient civilization, China fell behind the ranks. The imperial power had dominated China for 2100 years from Ying Zheng (the First Emperor of Qin) ruling the Qin to the collapse of Qing government. By comparison, the king’s power lasted for a much shorter period in Europe, such as from 1485 when the Tudor dynasty was founded to 1640 when the bourgeois revolution broke out in the United Kingdom, from the birth of the Bourbon Dynasty in 1589 to the bourgeois revolution in 1789 in France and only two or three hundred years in Germany and Spain. In regard to the imperial power in China, all power of the state belonged to one person, the emperor, who owned unlimited power to control all lives. However, it was a different case with the king’s power in Europe, where most countries preserved the traditions of previous “aristocratic democratic system” and set up a “representatives’ meeting” to finally decide the affairs of the state. This meeting had long co-existed with the king’s power. This difference in political rule had determined the different destinies of speech and press freedom and journalism in China and the west. It can be easily imagined that journalism could hardly appear or develop in a country subject to the prohibition of civilian newspapers, ubiquitous literary inquisition and no right to know of the people. It was on the basis of the bourgeois revolution and the equal rights under the law established subsequently that the modern press realized development in the west. The feudal autocratic monarchy in Europe was built during the sprouting and development of capitalist commodity economy. Hence the capitalist industry and commerce constituted the economic foundation for the monarchy in Europe. Western countries including the United Kingdom and France adhered to laying emphasis on industry and commerce as the foundation of a country and listing the ban on maritime trade and exploring overseas markets as their basic national policy. Based on this national policy, it was a common practice of the west to encourage civilians to engage in business overseas and widely collect and communicate foreign information. The early newsletters and written newssheets were mostly run by the trading companies busy with foreign trade. The most of earliest modern newspapers and magazines in China were also created by foreign businessmen and missionaries. China was quite different from Europe, as all feudal governments adhered to stressing agriculture and restraining commerce as the foundation and the traditional national policy of China. In the official and civilian’s idea of “scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant,” the “scholar” was placed in the first place, while the “merchant” was in the last place. Due to this policy, the government avoided having contacts with other countries and banned the maritime trade. It had been a universal order in all dynasties that if anyone traded with foreign countries, all families and friends to him would be punished. In this case, many

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Chinese people in early time considered that newspapers were disseminating foreign information and it was a disgrace to read them, while the government banned their circulation. The modern newspapers could not find a way to develop due to this economic policy and social attitude. Meanwhile, the culture in China and the west had developed in different directions. The Renaissance originating from Italy had been widely spread among European countries by the sixteenth century. This movement had integrated the excellent traditional culture and the newly created culture as a whole, raised great waves of humanism in Europe and blazed a trail for the communication of the ideal of freedom, equality and fraternity. Along with the increase of citizens, the subject of industry and commerce, a large number of new-type universities had been founded, which unveiled the curtain of modern science, jointly with the earlier excellent universities such as the University of Padua in Italy established in the thirteenth century, the Paris University in France and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As analyzed by John King Fairbank, a contemporary historian from the United States, one of the factors contributing to the decline of China was exactly the achievements attained by Chinese civilization before the modern times. The huge achievements had laid a heavy burden on the social progress of ancient time. According to historical records, among approximately 300 important inventions and major scientific achievements of the world before the Ming Dynasty, China had contributed about 175, accounting for over 57%, while all other countries occupied only 42%. However, since the Ming Dynasty, despite quite a few excellent scientists and great scientific fruits, China had lost its brilliance, made no achievement in modern science and had to know the truth of the world from the west. Someone evaluated the huge contrast between the culture and science in China and the west in this period in this way: the west was ushering in the dawn of modern science, while China was seeing the dusk of traditional science. Though this contrast sounds not that pleasing, it is true. The backward modern press in China was associated with the economic decline, political corruption and the imperial examination system that impeded the development of modern science and cultivation of talents. In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels pointed out in the Manifesto of the Communist Party: “The productive forces created by the bourgeois in shorter than one century under its rule are much greater than all productive forces created in all generations in the past. By virtue of conquering nature, applying machines, applying chemistry in industry and agriculture, traveling by ship, opening railways, using telegram, reclaiming whole pieces of wasteland and enabling navigation of rivers, a large population had shown up like being summoned by a magic. Who can imagine that the social labor hides such great productivity a century ago?”11 This advanced productivity and the new 11 Selections

of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 277, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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and young social system featuring the innovative and progressive productivity were exactly what China lacked then. Encountering different contradictions and conflicts, China and the west had respectively launched a reform after the sixteenth century, i.e. the Reformation under the leadership of Martin Luther (1483–1546) and the reform organized by chief minister of the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng (1525– 1582), in the Ming Dynasty. The Luther’s Reformation aimed to overcome the corruption of the church and adjust any adverse change of the social relations incurred by the corruption. With a core idea of “self-rescue with belief,” he put forward a theory that man was born guilty and could only be rescued from the “original sin” by doing good, accumulating merit, believing in God and praying at the church. In this case, people did not need to observe the unnecessary and overelaborate formalities provided by the church, make economic donation or confess to the priest. Therefore, this reform thought of Martin Luther not only spiritually denied the privilege of the church and the Vatican, but also economically eliminated the exploitation right of the church. This Reformation essentially embodied in the wish of the bourgeois to establish the national church of integrity. The historians analyzed that the Protestantism of Martin Luther had created and regulated the bourgeois civilization. This kind of civilization had become the ideological weapon to blaze a trail for the publication. With an aim of “complying with laws and regulations, evaluating officials, keeping strictly the rules for reward and punishment and being resolutely obedient to the order of the central government,” Zhang Juzheng carried out the reform to solve the issues of the taxes out of control, social upheaval and peasant uprising incurred by the land annexation in the Ming Dynasty, thus to consolidate the feudal autocracy of the Ming government. By comparison, while the Reformation led by Martin Luther was essentially an extensive social reform against feudalism and Catholic Church, the reform of Zhang Juzheng was merely a movement to rescue feudal rulers and adhered to the “heaven ideal” that practically safeguarded the old system. Since Martin Luther’s Reformation, the capitalist civilization had been widely spread, and Netherlands revolution, the first bourgeois revolution in the history, had won the victory. The ideological emancipation promoted the emergence of different publications. However, the reform of Zhang Juzheng finally failed and even intensified the conservative thinking and social upheavals. His policy such as “being resolutely obedient to the order of the central government” had set up more obstacles against the speech and publication freedom. In view of the above analysis, evidently, the two necessary conditions for the publication of the modern press had not been satisfied in China from the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. To be specific, firstly, the social productivity in China was not advanced enough for the release of regular publications; and, secondly, the feudal rulers did not allow the free publication of modern newspapers and magazines. Though Chinese people

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started to run modern newspapers and magazines in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the modern press in China was subject to the extremely slow development, small scale and low level, which showed a great gap to the mass communication media exposed to vigorous development in western countries. It was exactly this imbalance that drove foreign colonial adventurers to find an opportunity to run newspapers in China. As mentioned above, their purposes for running newspapers in China varied greatly. Some aimed to promote Protestantism; some aimed to communicate the western civilization; and some bore the purpose of cultural aggression. Protestant missionaries in China acknowledged in a gathering in 1890 that they established and ran schools, newspapers and magazines mainly because “only by adhering to Christian ideas during the study of philosophy and science can make people cowardly and bow to the creator of the universe.” In other words, they attempted to “conquer China with the cross.” However, it is common that one gets the opposite of what one wants. Despite their goal of cultural aggression or communication between western and Chinese culture by introducing the modern press to China, their newspapers in China objectively helped China to know the world and boosted the emergence of Chinese modern press. This result might be unexpected to westerners. A poem of Heinrich Heine can be altered here to evaluate this interesting fact in the journalism history: I have sown only fleas and reaped Dragon’s teeth!

In addition to the imbalance of journalism development between China and the west, the imbalance also existed in the journalism development among Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Russia briefly introduced above. No detailed analysis of the imbalance of these six countries is made here. To sum up, two conclusions can be drawn from the comparative study of the journalism history between China and the six countries mentioned above. Firstly, regardless of the economic, political and cultural differences of these countries, the form and time of emergence of journalism and communication activities and undertakings and their different characteristics during the process of development, they presented a universal law of the formation and development of journalism and communication. The goal of the comparative study of journalism and communication history is to explore and understand this law, and this goal has been achieved through the above analysis and comparison. Secondly, the formation and development of journalism and communication in China and in six other countries led different paths and presented different characteristics. In other words, these seven different countries, with their own particularities, showed the commonness of the rise and

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development of journalism and communication. It proves that commonness exists in individuality, while the universality is expressed through particularities. It is another goal of the comparative study of journalism and communication history to comprehensively understand and master the different characteristics in journalism and communication undertakings in different countries and therefore profoundly comprehend and know their basic laws; and this goal has also been achieved through the above analysis and comparison. These two instructions above have briefly explained the goals and methods of the comparative study of journalism and communication history.

CHAPTER 3

Analysis of Journalism and Communication Ideas in China and the West

All ideas are derived from experiences and reflect the reality, correctly or wrongly. —Friedrich Engels. The application of thinking, the exploration of ideas and the meditation on the tranquility of science have brought us an indescribable pleasure. —Honore De Balzag.

Being a kind of ideology, an idea is a product of thinking over the reflection of objective existence in people’s consciousness. The idea refers to the position or attitude held by the thinker when observing things, the accumulation or reorganization of a series of thoughts and the general image of objective things left in people’s mind. The journalism idea refers to people’s opinions and thoughts about journalism and communication, the results of people’s thinking over journalism and communication behaviors, phenomena, media and works, and the image left by the materialized journalistic activities and products in people’s mind. Idea is a kind of human cognitive activity, which originates from the objective world and meanwhile guides people’s social practices and impacts on the objective world. Different objective environments and social practices give rise to different ideas, while different ideas lead to different social behaviors and result in different social practices. Under different journalism and communication environments and communication systems, different journalism and communication practices emerge and different journalism and communication systems, mechanisms and methods are generated, which further produce different news media and news woks and form different journalism and communication ideas. As guided by these journalism and communication

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1_3

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ideas, people will conduct corresponding journalism and communication practices, produce corresponding journalistic works and news media and maintain and consolidate corresponding journalism and communication systems, mechanisms and methods. Under the fixed journalism and communication environment and normal media ecology, this kind of inseparable interconnection and endless interaction between journalism ideas and journalism practices will continue. In case of any change to the communication environment or media ecology corresponding to the change of more fundamental factors such as the social, economic and political factors, the journalism and communication systems, mechanism and methods will be necessarily exposed to changes. Meanwhile, corresponding to the changes of journalism practices, the journalism and communication ideas of people will inevitably change, which is the idea renewal, i.e. the conflict between the previous idea and the new idea. Against this new conflict, people may choose either to conform to the historical trend of the time and voluntarily renew the idea or to stiffly stick to the previous idea and go against the new trend. As indicated by the journalism and communication history, the new economic and political transformation will necessarily lead to corresponding changes of the journalism and communication system and mechanism. In the new journalism practices, it is appropriate to welcome the change and renewal of journalism and communication ideas thus to conform to the trend of the times, while people who stuck to old ideas will be left far behind by the times. The scientific journalism and communication idea develops from the correct understanding of journalism and communication activities and their laws that have been repeatedly tested by long-term social transformation and journalism practices. Therefore, people’s journalism ideas may all be true as long as they are derived from and tested by journalism and communication practices, despite the different social systems, historical stages, communication environments and media ecologies. Meanwhile, being inevitably influenced by the political culture and value orientation of the age, these journalism and communication ideas constitute the journalism culture formed within a certain historical period and under a specific social system and communication environment. Therefore, by analyzing and comparing the journalism and communication ideas in China and the West and understanding their universality and differences, it will advance our understanding of Western journalism and communication ideas, help China to bring out its strengths and make up for its weaknesses, and promote the reform and progress of journalism and communication ideas and practices in China. As mentioned above, the journalism and communication idea is formed and develops within a certain historical period and under a specific social system and communication environment. In view of this, the analysis of journalism and communication ideas shall take the social and economic background, political culture and journalism culture in China and Western countries into consideration.

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1  The Idea on the Nature of Media Medium refers to a person or a thing that connects two parties (people or things) in social life. In communication activities, media indicates the communication media, i.e. any static or dynamic thing or an array of things that express a specific meaning. The communication media is divided into the mass media and “niche” media that is also known as non-mass media. The mass media makes a general reference to the technical means used to deliver all kinds of information to the audience. The news media constitute an important part of mass communication, which specifically means the medium between the news communicator and the news audience during news communication, i.e. the material carrier of news information. What social role is the news media playing in modern social life? What is its nature? How do Chinese and Western journalism and communication scholars comprehend it? What are their common views and different opinions? All these questions will be covered by this section. 1.1   Western Understanding of the Nature of Media In Western countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, etc., people believe that party newspapers and commercial newspapers (since the newspaper was the only form of news media in early times) have different natures. The United States, the United Kingdom and France had successively ushered in the period of party newspapers after the completion of the bourgeois revolution. Though the feudal rule had been overthrown by the bourgeois, the necessary material conditions for the “popularization” of newspapers had not been satisfied at the initial stage of capitalist development. For instance, education had not been popularized and there was a large number of illiterates; due to the underdeveloped industry and commerce, the newspapers could not support themselves based on the small number of advertisements; and the printing and papermaking technology was not advanced enough to lower the cost of newspapers and print newspapers rapidly and massively. Under these circumstances, considering the advanced party politics, the main subject of the press in the three countries had to be the party newspaper. The party newspaper economically depended on the subsidies of the party and government and set up a high price, so the readers were mainly politicians and the upper class bourgeois. The newspaper had been used as the tool for parties and politicians to strive for political and economic power. The party newspapers mainly wrote political comments, and among the small number of news (information), political news occupied the largest proportion. This was the common feature of the party newspapers in the three countries and many other countries. To control the newspapers, the party or the government adopted policies to levy stamp duty, control the subsidy (some were even listed in the government budget), convict relevant personnel of the

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crime of treason or seditious libel, etc. Therefore, the party newspaper dominated the industry at that time due to these measures adopted by the party and government and the objective influence of economic law and press law. Under these circumstances, the bourgeois newspaper at that time, presenting the nature of the party newspaper, was apparently the tool of the government and parties. From the late eighteenth century to the middle nineteenth century, the United Kingdom, France and the United States had successively completed the Industrial Revolution. The Revolution had affected the development of the press mainly in two ways: the rise of cheap newspapers and the emergence of the workers’ press. Compared to the party newspaper, the cheap newspaper, i.e. the popular newspaper, showed three characteristics. Firstly, these newspapers declared to be “non-partisan independent newspapers” from the political perspective. Secondly, in terms of business, these newspapers mainly reported news instead of publishing comments. The party newspaper mainly wrote political comments and mostly reported political news; while the popular newspaper not only gave priority to news, particularly local news, but also established the local news department and assigned journalists to specially run local news. Thirdly, the operation and management of these newspapers were strengthened. Only by then, the capitalism had turned the bourgeois newspapers into capitalist enterprises, as Lenin once evaluated. However, at the initial stage of cheap newspapers, their nonpartisan attitude and independence had been stressed, but people rarely talked about the newspaper as an enterprise running for profits. Only when the press came to the monopoly stage at the beginning of the twentieth century, the newspaperman frankly admitted that the newspaper agency was the enterprise and the newspaper was commodity. By then, they finally pointed out the role and nature of the newspaper both as a social media and as an enterprise. The duality of the modern press was emphasized. Many researchers of the press history had repeatedly stated that the modern bourgeois newspapers in the United States were essentially capitalist enterprises in terms of the organization and operation. By the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had stepped into the new stage of capitalist development, the monopoly capitalism. Since then, the press started merger and the monopoly press had been formed during World War I and II. The radio and TV, also as private enterprises, respectively rose and came to a monopoly state in the 1920s and 1940s. As the monopoly was the main characteristic of American journalism, the key to correctly understand the nature of American media was to profoundly understand the nature of monopoly. From the perspective of the social role and social function, American news media played an important role in political culture and meanwhile bore the sacred mission in democracy and management. In a manner of speaking, there would be no modern society without news media. It demonstrates that

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the news media was an indispensable social tool as well as a public tool for the sake of communication, coordination and monitoring in social life. The cases of news media in the United Kingdom and France and later in Germany, Japan and other Western capitalist countries were similar to the United States. American scholar Brena had pointed the duality of newspapers in The Special Status of Newspapers: on one hand, the newspaper was a private enterprise under an economic system established for lucrative purpose; and on the other hand, the newspaper was also a diversified undertaking necessary for democratic society and government. Another American scholar Gantar stated in his book Exploration of Journalism that the newspaper was a kind of social organization as well as a commercial organization. Readers hoped that the newspaper would serve the society, while shareholders depended on the newspaper to earn money. Another two American writers, Berde and Melvyn, wrote in the book Press and Society that newspapers and other mass media bore the duality: being a commercial enterprise and featuring social functions. The newspaper shall operate based on the law of capitalist economy and meanwhile provide accurate and reliable information and fair comments to the public. Western countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, etc., conclude the capitalist news media in this way: a tool for social communication and information dissemination as well as an enterprise gaining profits for shareholders. 1.2   Chinese Understanding of the Nature of the Media As Chinese news media, particularly the newspapers, emerged and developed later than that in Western countries, and capitalism had not widely expanded in China, the modern newspaper in China immediately stepped into the stage of paper newspapers after its emergence. It was until the twentieth century that a part of newspapers became popular newspapers. Even in China now, the journalism in mainland China greatly varies from the journalism in Taiwan, Hongkong and Macao, presenting a complex situation. Therefore, we only analyze the evolution of the nature of news media in mainland China in over a century here. The early newspapers in China, especially those run by foreigners, focused on delivering information and spreading religious doctrine. Later, the reformists and revolutionaries started to create newspapers and magazines, which laid stress on speech and political comments for the sake of propaganda. The newspapers then were similar to the party newspapers in the West in terms of the nature. It can be proved by some views or articles of journalists at that time. When establishing the Universal Circulating Herald, Wang Tao held: “Though I was in the south, I was concerned with the north all the time.

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I was always trying to know the foreign knowledge better and safeguard the national prestige. Therefore, by establishing this daily that honors our emperor and publishing political comments, I want to fulfill will to record the big affairs, share the same bitter hatred of foreign enemies, learn from the west and strengthen the power of China.”1 It can be seen that Wang Tao advocated newspapers publishing political comments, to “present the people’s sufferings unknown to the authorities.” In his opinion, the newspaper was the tool of the government to “collect public opinions” so as to avoid “the authority not knowing people’s conditions.” He also said: “As the current newspaper is discussing current fairs with no constraint, some consider the newspaper as the papers of slander or defame. This is wrong……The newspaper is straightly presenting the current affairs and analyzing their pros and cons, in the hope that the authority will adopt these ideas.”2 Another reformist Zheng Guanying pointed out the advantage of running newspapers that “Same with the parliament, public opinions published on the daily newspapers lead the people like a torch.” He also stated that the newspaper was a tool of “unveil people’s sufferings unknown to the authorities” and held that “it was the best way to widely establish daily newspapers to communicate information rapidly and extensively.”3 Yan Fu, a progressive journalist seeking truth from the West, emphasized that the newspaper was a tool to “communicate between China and foreign countries.” He pointed out that the newspaper could “communicate between the top and the bottom and between China and foreign countries.”4 Liang Qichao, who actually led the Constitutional Reform and Modernization, was the earliest to conclude the nature of the newspaper as the “ears, eyes and mouth” and practically utilize the newspapers and magazines as the weapon of political movements. He had expressly put forward the concept of party newspapers. He stated: “The newspaper may be established for one person, one party, one nation or the world, as it may comply with the interests of one person, one party, one nation or the world.”5 Liang Qichao accurately compared the newspapers to the ears and eyes of the emperor and the mouth of the people. According to him, “It is called disability if without the function of ear, eye or mouth. At present, all countries are standing as neighbors, while the countries in a continent are roommates. If anyone knows nothing about the neighbor or even the roommate, he could 1 Wang

Tao, Tao’s Works, 1st edition, Page 206, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1959. Tao, On Establishing New Newspaper Offices in Provincial Capitals, “Shun Pao”, 1878-02-19. 3 Zheng Guanying, Collections of Zheng Guanying, Vol. 1, 1st edition, Page 345, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1982. 4 Yan Fu, Origin of the Nationl News Paper, “Nationl News Paper”, 1897-10. 5 Liang Qichao, Congratulation to the 100 Publications of the Office and on the Responsibilities of Newspaper Offices and the Experience of Our Office, “China Discussion”, 100th Issue, 1901-12-21. 2 Wang

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be considered blind and deaf; and if the authority implements a policy that is unknown to the people, while the people cannot tell their sufferings to the emperor, they actually had no tongue.” This situation would be quite different with newspapers. As he said, “the newspapers performed the function of ears, eyes and mouth.”6 By quoting Western proverbs, Liang Qichao emphasized that the newspaper was the ears, eyes and mouth of the government, the reflection of people’s mind, the guidance of the literary circle, the light of the future and the food for thought of the present. Therefore, he advocated that the bourgeois party should create a newspaper before the founding of the party “to attract talents as the basis for a party” “and blaze a trail for the party.”7 The theory of party newspaper was applied by Sun Yat-sen as the true guiding principles for running a newspaper. In the foreword to Min Bao, Sun Yat-sen pointed out that to run a newspaper was essentially “to introduce the revolutionary theories and ideals to people and make them the general knowledge to lay the foundation of their implementation.”8 Revolutionary general Yu Youren proposed that the newspaper should strive to be the “correct organ of speech.” With the slogan of the “independence of speech” proposed by Yu, he combined the speech with state interests, national interests and revolutionary interests. Another revolutionary Zhang Taiyan regarded the newspaper and periodical as the office of public opinions. When he founded Su Bao, he stated that “this newspaper would be the office that discusses the current affairs.”9 Based on the practices of party newspapers, early newspaper and periodical activists’ view about the nature of party newspapers was similar to the West. Along with the development of commercial newspapers later on, the discussion on the popular newspaper also emerged in China. As a commercial newspaper, Shun Pao attached more importance to speech and news. It had tried many measures to seek news and made every endeavor to start advertising businesses. Unfortunately, due to the semifeudal and semicolonial society of China, the popular newspapers founded by Chinese national bourgeoisie failed to prosper like the popular newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Therefore, the main part of Chinese newspaper was still the party newspaper until 1949, the founding of new China. In China, the idea on the nature of journalism with the journalism theories of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong as the core had played an important role and, after the founding of China, played a dominant role. 6 Liang Qichao, On the Benefits of Newspapers to National Affairs, “Current Affairs Newspaper”, Vol. 1, 1896-08-09. 7 Zhao Fengtian, First Draft of the Chronicle of Mr. Liang Qichao, Mimeographed edition, Page 388, Vol. 4, Collected in Beijing Library. 8 Sun Yat-sen, Foreword to Min Bao, “Min Bao”, 1st Issue, 1905-11-26. 9 Zhang Taiyan, Selections of This Newspaper, “Su Bao”, 1903-06-03.

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After becoming the founder of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that the workers’ and the party’s newspapers and periodicals should “gather of the people who think independently,” “sedulously unveil the facts” against the authority and provide political trainings for workers. On the New Year’s Day of 1895, Friedrich Engels had written the following passage in the letter of celebration for the Workers’ Newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Austria changing to daily newspaper: “The publishing of the first daily newspaper of each party, particularly the workers’ party, means a great progress. Workers can fight against their enemy with the same weapon of newspapers and magazines.”10 Lenin had a penetrating analysis of the nature of the party newspaper, which is still affecting the descendants today. When building the party, Lenin said “The newspaper is responsible for publicizing, mobilizing and organizing the collective.”11 During the socialist construction, Lenin pointed out that the newspaper and magazine of the party should “become the tool to reeducate the mass economically.”12 Strictly speaking, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin and Joseph Stalin were also Westerners, but Chinese people had learned, inherited and localized their news ideas. In China, Mao Zedong was the typical representative who closely combined Chinese practices with Marxism–Leninism and guided the successful work of the party newspaper. On this basis, Mao Zedong had put forward the Marxist idea about the nature of newspapers with Chinese characteristics. Based on the relation between social being and social consciousness, Mao Zedong pointed out that the newspaper, falling into the category of ideology, was a part of the superstructure and a reflection of the economic foundation of society through a means of news. He also stated that the newspaper in the socialist country reflected the planned economy based on the socialist economy, i.e. the public ownership, through a means of news; and the newspaper in the capitalist country reflected the anarchy and economy of group competition through a means of news.13 According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the press is the reflection of the human, the subject, over the social being, the object. Mao Zedong further proposed that the press was a reflection of society and economy through a means of news. In regard to the social structure and social activities (mainly economic activities), Mao Zedong’s understanding about the nature of the 10 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 1st edition, Page 590, Vol. 22, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1965. 11 Collected Works of Lenin, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 8, Vol. 5, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1986. 12 Collected Works of Lenin, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 137, Vol. 34, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1985. 13 The Editorial Office of the People’s Daily, The Bourgeois Direction of Wen Wei Po Within a Period, “People’s Daily”, 1957-06-14.

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press was deeper and could better explain the nature and characteristics of the press under modern conditions. In the same year when the above statement about the newspaper nature was proposed (1957), Mao Zedong talked about the nature of newspapers again on another occasion. He said that the system, instead of being merely the ownership, also included the superstructure, mainly the organs of political power and ideology. For example, the newspaper fell into the category of ideology. Someone said that the newspaper had no class character and was not a tool for class struggle. This was wrong. At least until the imperialism was eliminated, all the forms of ideology including the newspaper reflected the class relations. The school education, literature and art, as a form of ideology and a part of superstructure, all showed the class character. In addition to the guiding view of Mao Zedong mentioned above, scholars also had some other opinions on the nature of journalism after the founding of new China. Someone put forward that the news media was public opinion tool with news as the major means, and in class society, journalism was actually public opinion tool of the class. Someone believed that journalism embraced dual characters, the nature of class and the nature of commodity. This idea was similar to the Western idea after the West entered the stage of popular newspapers. In the two decades after the Reform and Opening up, new statements about the nature of journalism have been proposed, represented by the “theory of mouthpiece.” In The Nature of Journalism, Hu Yaobang said: “What is the nature of the journalism undertaking of our party? To sum up, its most important role is the mouthpiece of the Party, the mouthpiece of people’s government under the leadership of the Party and the mouthpiece of people.”14 Jiang Zemin also stated in Several Issues about the Journalism of the Party: “The newspaper, radio and TV etc. of China is essentially the mouthpiece of the Party, government and people, which explained the nature of journalism and its extremely important status and role in the Party and country.”15 The above statement of Hu Yaobang and Jiang Zemin is the authoritative idea agreed by most scholars on the nature of news media in China nowadays.

2  The Idea on the Functions of Media From the perspective of system theory, the function refers to the repeated phenomenon produced by the interconnection and interaction between the system and external environment. From the point of view of daily social life, 14 Hu Yaobang, The Nature of Journalism, “Selected Works of Journalism”, 1st edition, Page 288, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990. 15 Jiang Zemin, Several Issues About the Journalism of the Party, “Selected Works of Journalism”, 1st edition, Page 190, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990.

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the function means the ability, i.e. the adverse role of a thing or a method. The function of mass media refers to its role in human social life. As a part of mass media, the news media embraces the most of the functions of mass media. The functions of the news media are mainly realized through the news carried by the media. The news, i.e. the report on the fact taking place recently, mainly bears the information function, which means to deliver information and communicate conditions through news report. Moreover, the news also shows the function of propaganda, education, service, etc. In addition to news, the news media has some other communication means, such as comments, images, other expository texts and various advertisements. Therefore, the news media embraces many other functions in addition to the news communication and participate in many social activities. The units producing news media such as the newspaper office, radio station and TV station are also engaged in many operation activities apart from their main businesses. Hence media units and their news media see extensive functions and great effect. This section will mainly discuss the major functions of news media. 2.1   Western Understanding of the Functions of News Media The Principles of Journalism, a classical work of American journalism theory written by Casper Yost (The Department of Journalism, Renmin University of China, translated in 1960, same below) discussed the social functions of news media. His idea represented the mainstream opinion of the West. He said: The newspaper is one of the most complex human organizations as well as one of the most valuable and significant human organizations. It requires extensive and profound special study and labor from the start. As a noble profession, it gives priority to dedication. The success of the profession is decided by the employee’s accumulation of extensive knowledge covering both the common knowledge and the professional knowledge. Meanwhile, the newspaper is also a producing enterprise that requires many necessary and special techniques, as well as a business engaged in massive and complex purchases and sales. Business is indispensable to journalism; while this kind of business cannot be transacted without journalism. Therefore, only by profoundly understanding the equal significance of both, can the journalism attain the most effective development.

Casper Yost attached special importance to the news on the newspaper. His held the idea of “news first” and made it the title of the third chapter of his book. In this chapter, he stated: The newspaper reflects the universal demands and requirements of human nature on news, which are not created, but exist for ever. Upon the call of the demand, the newspaper necessarily emerged. Therefore, the initial role of the newspaper is to publish news, and the news constitute the major foundation of the newspaper. All other things including the important speech only make the

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complements to the news. Many newspapers specialized in discussing opinions are still covered by the scope of news, since their opinions are given based on news. However, these shall not be called newspapers in the end, as they only bear part of the functions of the newspaper.

Dr. William, another American scholar, shared the similar idea with Casper Yost. He considered that there were three major elements making up modern power, science, business and newspaper. Science can shorten the distance among the people and make the whole world a family. Business regulates between the sufficiency and the deficiency and carries on the exchange of needed goods. Newspapers exchange knowledge, convey opinions and communicate people’s ideas. If without the newspaper, science and business have no way to give full play to their functions and the universal brotherhood cannot be realized. Before and after Casper Yost and Dr. William, Western scholars had many discussions and statements on the functions of news media including newspapers. American journalistic scholar Bergeson had pointed out the seven major functions of the newspaper: 1. Help people know the world events and understand their significance. 2. Play as a tool to support people’s daily life. 3.  Help readers shake off from the original scope, feel relaxed and detached and acquire the spiritual enjoyment. 4. Provide the topic of conversations. 5. The advices and opinions in special columns of newspapers can be used as a standard for the readers to judge their own behaviors. 6. Reading is valuable itself. The time is better spent for reading than being wasted. 7. Knowledge is power. Reading materials provide the latest knowledge and teach people to master their life. Japanese journalistic scholar Sugimura Kotaro said that the newspaper nowadays was not only an office to report information, but also an education organization better than the school and a legislature better than the parliament. It implements management like government, promotes religions as the church or temple, does part of the jobs of lawyers and bears part of the missions of doctors. The most representative American social responsibility theory proposed the five requirements of modern society on the press. Formed in journalistic practices, these requirements constitute the criteria for the work of the press, which include the follows: 1. Provide the authentic, general and advisable record of the events taking place on the current day and explain the significance of these events. The report of the newspaper shall be accurate, never lie and distinguish the facts from the opinions.

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2. The newspaper and magazine shall be the forum for the exchange of comments and criticisms and regard themselves as the communicator of public discussions. 3. The press shall portray the typical life of each social group. 4. The press shall introduce and clarify the goal and virtues of society. 5. The press shall help people to acquire the information of the current day as the public agent to break down the obstacles for the free flow of news.16 Later on, communication scholars started to view the functions of media from a broader vision. Harold Lasswell had specified the three major functions of the public communication tools: 1. Monitor the social environment, performing the guard duty. In ancient society, it was the mission of an individual or a group of people to patrol the forest to monitor any danger or environmental change. In the modern complex society, it was the mission of the public communication tool to tell everybody the current situation and step up people’s vigilance about the environmental change. 2. Coordinate the relations among different social parts to adapt to new environment. It means that the communication tool shall explain the materials acquired (i.e. news information). The communication fulfills this task through the news analysis, interpretative report and the special report on TV. 3. At least bear a part of the responsibility for handing down the social and cultural wealth from generation to generation. In remote and backward places, education was conducted through oral teaching and the elder would tell historical stories and teach skills to the young. In an industrial society, the education is performed through books, films, tapes, newspapers, magazines, etc. The International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems under the leadership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) completed the report Many Voices, One World in 1980, which expounded the major functions of current media in a more detailed way: 1. Acquisition of information: Collect, accumulate, sort up and communicate necessary news, data, pictures, facts, information, opinions and comments, in order to understand and insightfully reflect the condition of any individual, surrounding environment, state and the world and make proper decisions. 16 [US]

Wilbur Schramm et al., Four Theories of the Press, 1st Edition, Page 102–108, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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2.  Socialization: Accumulate knowledge for the public, help people to engage in activities as an active member of the society and enhance people’s social connection and social consciousness, to push them to actively participate in public life. 3. Driving force: Promote the current and final goal of society, inspire people’s individual wish and ideal and encourage individual or social activities with the purpose to achieve the goal commonly agreed. 4. Debate and discussion: Provide and exchange necessary facts in order to reach an agreement or clarify the different views about social issues and supply relevant factual basis necessary to arouse people’s interests and participation in local, national and international issues. 5.  Education: Disseminate knowledge to facilitate the development of intelligence, cultivate people’s quality and help people acquire various skills and abilities at different stages of life. 6. Cultural development: Spread cultural and artistic works to preserve historical heritage, broaden people’s vision and inspire people’s imagination and aesthetic demands and creativity for the sake of cultural development. 7.  Entertainment: Communicate drama, dance, art, literature, music, comedy, sports, games, etc., through the sign, symbol, voice and image and realize entertainment and enjoyment of individuals and collectives. 8. Integration: Enable all individuals, groups and states to acquire different information they demand and understand and appreciate the life conditions, ideas and wishes of others.17 The eight functions above were concluded based on the observation and research on the “communication,” having exceeded the scope of functions of mass media particularly the news media. Most Western scholars believe that the five functions specified in the Four Theories of the Press by Wilbur Schramm et al. are comprehensive enough for news media. Currently, the Internet, a new form of media, has been applied to journalism and communication, which embraces more social functions than those of traditional newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, etc. The Internet has shown excellent new functions in the gathering and release of information, the multichannel feedback, decentralization of final check right and various forms of information products. The chief translator of The Road Ahead by Bill Gates stated the follows at the end of the book: Human imagination has never been so beyond being and persistent in being as it is now. We sincerely feel surprising and inspiring when reading the information about virtual reality, since people’s dream of seeing thousands of miles away 17 The International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems, Many Voices, One World, 1st edition, Page 19–20, Beijing, China Translation & Publishing Corporation, 1981.

78  B. TONG with a slight move deeply rooted among the people for thousand years has been realized. Only by a touch, people can go anywhere they want. The interweaving of reality and myth constitute a diagram of universe based on the negation of negation, and human imagination and plot of rational potential realization present a complete sinusoidal curve of mutual complement. Back to ancient times and forward into reality mean the same thing in the twenty-first century.18

As indicated in this paragraph, Western journalistic scholars will have newer discoveries and give newer explanations about the functions of news media in the new century. 2.2   Chinese Understanding of the Functions of News Media Chinese scholars had realized the great social functions of media at very early times. Many scholars in the Pre-Qin period paid specially attention to the role of media in political persuasion. In all dynasties afterwards, scholars had their own studies and explanations of the role of media. In modern times, when foreigners started to run newspapers in China, some open-minded people in China discovered the newspaper’s functions of broadening people’s horizon, connecting the up and down and educating people and began to translate these newspapers to fight against foreign aggression. They proposed the idea of “opening eyes to the world” and “learning from the advanced technologies in the west in order to resist the invasion of the western powers.” Hong Renxian, a politician of Taiping Kingdom of Heaven, believed that the press played an important part in communicating between the authority and the people, supervising officials of all ranks, collecting people’s public opinions, reporting the commodity prices, etc. Wang Tao stated that the functions of political-comment newspapers and party newspapers included revealing the people’s sufferings unknown to the authority, practically implementing the emperor’s preferential policies for the people and communicating between China and foreign countries. Reformist leader Kang Youwei believed that the main functions of party newspapers and periodicals were to advocate the righteous cause and inspire the masses. Another reformist leader Liang Qichao led all the Chinese to propose the role of the press as the “mouthpiece” and emphasized the most important function of the press was to remove the obstacles and achieve smooth communication. Yan Fu, another reformist, considered that the press embraced two functions, connecting the authority and the people and connecting China and foreign countries. Later, Liang Qichao had a new understanding about the functions of the press, as he believed the newspaper office bore two major missions, supervising the government and guiding the people.

18 [US]

1996.

Bill Gates, The Road Ahead, 1st edition, Page 360, Beijing, Peking University Press,

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Zhang Taiyan of the revolutionary school held that the function of the press was to “correct public views and support China.” He said it had been Shan Ren’s mission to speak to the authority and educate the people, which should be borne by the press at that time. Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary leader and pioneer, laid special emphasis on the role of the press in propaganda and considered it “more powerful to use the pen than to brandish a sword.” In the foreword to Min Bao, he stated his observation result that the press would introduce the revolutionary theories and ideals to people and make them the general knowledge to lay the foundation of their implementation.19 The party newspaper and magazine had been the mainstream media of China from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, when the ideas of Sun Yat-sen on the functions of party newspapers played an important part. Since the popular press in China was insignificant, it never expressly stated that its goal was to earn a profit. When founding the Ta Kung Pao, Ying Lianzhi only pointed out the two functions of the newspaper: guiding the people and supervising the government. When taking over Shun Pao, Shi Liangcai emphasized two points, the economic and speech independence of the newspaper and the role of the newspaper in “driving the cultural development and serving society.” As a result of Western learnings spreading to the east, Western journalism scholars’ ideas on the functions of media had been introduced to China through some Western journalism and communication works translated and published early and some works written by Chinese journalism scholars. Xu Baohuang held that the newspaper had six functions, supplying the news, presenting public opinions, creating public opinions, introducing knowledge, emphasizing morals and promoting business. According to Shao Piaoping, the primary mission of the newspaper was to supply the latest, most interesting and most relevant information to readers. Ren Baitao stressed that the newspaper not only was a public organization of society but also played a big role in education. The press activists of the Communist Party of China had inherited the ideas of Communist pioneers including Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Lenin on the functions of media, combined the practices of journalism and communication in China and had their unique understandings and representations about the functions of news media. Li Dazhao pointed out that the Chinese newspaper should “adhere to the only mission of creating the young China.” In his opinion, the newspaper carried three functions, firstly, reporting the truth of the dynamic social reality, secondly, criticizing and guiding the social reality, and, thirdly, communicating knowledge and turning dead materials into alive knowledge. He also advocated the efforts to fight against the imperialist “journalistic invasion.” Chen Duxiu emphasized that 19 Sun

Yat-sen, Foreword to Min Bao, “Min Bao”, 1st Issue, 1905-11-26.

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the newspaper and magazine of a party should firstly support and uphold democracy and science, secondly lead the youth to do the right thing and thirdly advocate and safeguard justice. In regard to the theory of the newspaper of the Communist Party of China, the understanding about the functions of media have been constantly developing and deepening. The idea on the functions of media in the party newspaper theory had been gradually formed from Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, Yan’an Rectification Movement, revision of Jiefang Daily to the important speeches of Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi on journalism in 1948. This idea on the functions centered on the relation between the party newspaper and the party committee, between the party newspaper and the people and between the party newspaper and the practice. As determined by the nature of the party newspaper, it should be the propagandist, organizer and mouthpiece of the Party. Being the teacher and the student to the masses, the party newspaper should educate the masses and meanwhile represent and learn from the masses. As the most powerful tool for the practical work of the Party, it should reflect and guide the practical work. Mao Zedong attached great importance to the role of newspapers and magazines in policy propaganda. In his opinion, the function and the strength of the newspaper was to spread the party program, the party line and policies, the tasks and methods to the masses in the most rapid and extensive way. Liu Shaoqi emphasized the role of the newspaper in connecting the Party and the masses. According to him, among the thousands of ways to connect the party committee and the masses, the newspaper was the major way. Liu Shaoqi especially examined the functions of media and the significance of the newspaper from both positive and negative sides. He said that the good newspaper would lead the people to the correct way, otherwise the wrong information would be disseminated, leading to the big risk of the split and mutual conflict of the people. Other leaders of the Party had also expounded their ideas on the functions of news media. Zhang Wentian pointed out that the basic work of the newspaper was to clearly state the missions of the Party and the Soviet government and constantly strive to fulfill these missions; and the newspaper should also provide substantial specific practical materials to educate the masses and improve the work. As emphasized by Lu Dingyi, the newspaper should perform its role as the mouthpiece of the Party through factual reports. Hu Qiaomu proposed that the journalists should issue their “invisible opinions” through excellent news works and give full play to the role of the party newspaper as the weapon of the Party. After the founding of new China, the understanding of the functions of news media further developed along with the shift of the work focus of the Party and government, resulting in new discourses, which mainly included that the news media should serve economic construction, strengthen the supervision over the Party, government agencies and general staff, promote cultural development and render a place for the free discussion of the people.

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In this period, scholars had thought more about the functions of news media. Professor Wang Zhong, as a typical representative, put forward the idea that the newspaper should think more of readers and satisfy readers’ demands. He also proposed the duality of the newspaper, being both a propaganda tool and a commodity, and stressed on giving full play to its role as the propaganda tool based on its nature of commodity. Since the middle 1950s, the “left” ideological trend started to exert an influence on the understanding of media functions. The “theory of the tool for class struggle” had become the major argument at that time. Since the Reform and Opening up, as a significant characteristic of the idea on media functions in China, the understanding of the media functions became increasingly diversified. It has become a common view of the majority that instead of bearing the only function of policy propaganda and political guidance, the media presents diversified functions including information dissemination, theoretical propaganda, delivery of political orders, culture, education, entertainment, etc. An Introduction to Theoretical Journalism and Communication personally written by the author explained the functions of news media as follows: Determined by the certain social and economic foundation, journalism and communication also reacts on the economic foundation. These reactions are considered as the social functions of journalism and communication, mainly including reporting news, guiding public opinions, serving society, teaching knowledge, providing entertainment and printing advertisements. Reporting news constitutes the basic function of news media as well as the foundation for the realization of other functions of news media. Without the basic function of reporting news, all other functions will fail. The second social function of news media is reflecting, affecting and organizing public opinions, i.e. guiding public opinions and conveying ideas and opinions. The propaganda activity, as an important part for the news media to affect and guide public opinions, must observe the law of journalism and communication. The third social function of news media is to serve society and guide people’s life. The most important content of this function is to supervise the environment and the government. This function of serving society and guiding life is mainly embodied in the specific service and guidance provided to the society and the public. As the fourth social function, news media teaches knowledge and popularizes education. With this function, it has become the “textbook for people’s life.” The fifth social function of news media is to entertain the people and benefit their body and mind. It has become an indispensable part of modern people’s life to read newspapers, listen to radio and watch TV. In addition to receiving news, acquiring knowledge and education and enjoying

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services through the media, people can also get relaxed and entertained and thus enjoy the beauty and the rich and active spiritual life. The sixth function of news media is to print advertisements and develop economy. The advertisement is way of publicity to sell commodities and personal services and report the service content and cultural program to the public and plays an important role in delivering economic information, communicating between the production and marketing, promoting the commodity sale, driving economic development and improving life quality. By publishing advertisements, the news media earns lucrative incomes, which sustains its existence and supports its expanded reproduction.20 The author believes that the above statement about the functions of news media represents and concludes the discourses of numerous scholars in China by now. Same as Western countries, China also sees the outstanding social functions of the Internet, a new member of news media. The book An Introduction to Network Journalism and Communication expounds the functions of the Internet from two aspects, the explicit functions and implicit functions. The explicit functions include: 1. Group-based social functions Political function: The network media renders a place for politicians’ performance and opens a channel for the global public to participate in politics. Economic function: It combines massive economic information, forms the virtual economic environment, gathers personal consumption information and proposes suggestions for economic construction. Cultural function: It greatly boosts cultural integration, cultural appreciation, cultural differentiation and cultural evolution. 2. Individual-based social functions Though the network media, the network audience acquires a large amount of information, accelerates socialization, intensifies the driving force to fulfill personal ideal, participates in discussions on social issues, accepts extensive education, optimizes their cultural quality and enjoys entertainment. Implicit functions include: 1. The network media virtualizes and integrates all kinds of traditional news media.

20 Tong

Bing, An Introduction to Theoretical Journalism and Communication, 1st edition, Page 127–130, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 2001.

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2. The network media is essentially the “all-round virtualization” of real society.21 The author considers the above as a comprehensive and representative elaboration of the social functions of the new media, the Internet. This section above briefly introduces the understandings of the social functions of news media and representative ideas in different historical stages in the West and China.

3  The Idea on the Authenticity of News The “fact” in common sense refers to the real conditions of a thing in life, while the “fact” in journalism and communication constitutes the origin, basis and content of communication. In Our Basic Ideas about Journalism, Lu Dingyi stated: “The news originates from and reports the fact. Fact is primary and news is secondary; and the fact comes before the news (report). This is a materialistic idea.” “Therefore, materialistic journalists must respect objective facts during the interview or editing.”22 The point of authenticity is put forward on this basis. The authenticity of news communication and news report essentially means the accuracy of the news communication and news report against objective facts. The consistency between the subject and the object makes the final standard for the authenticity. No one will argue against the authenticity of news communication and news report in the normal context of political culture and journalistic culture. However, the understandings and actions about the presentational level and realization conditions of authenticity significantly vary between China and the West and even among Western countries. The controversy over the authenticity has always been a hot topic in journalism studies. 3.1   Western Understanding of the Authenticity of News From written news to printed news, people “recorded everything they heard” at the early stage. At that time, the news reports were authentic in most cases. However, the authenticity has been questioned during the period of party newspapers and popular newspapers. Some media would exaggerate or fabricate facts for the sake of the party interests or the profits. In 1835, the big news of “Bat Man on the Moon” fabricated by Richard Adams Locke, a journalist of The Sun of the United States, had been widely criticized

21 Lei Yuejie et al., An Introduction to Network Journalism and Communication, 1st edition, Page 71–82, Beijing, Communication University Press of China, 2001. 22 Selected News Works of Lu Dingyi, 1st edition, Page 2, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1987.

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by people, but the newspaper defended this false report with an excuse of “avoiding the troublesome and controversial things.” After J. Bennet took the charge of New York Herald, this newspaper confirmed on the dominant role of news, but often reported things in a sensational way and combined strong personal emotions, which suggested the lack of the real attention to authenticity. Horace Greeley attached great importance to authenticity. He abandoned sensationalism and was honored as the great man who founded “the personality journalism,” but meanwhile he stressed on the consistency between the facts and the pursuit for the truth. Therefore, the authority in his mind had no solid foundation of objective existence. Henry Raymond paid high attention to authenticity and once said that the duty of a newspaper was to publish the real factual materials. Joseph Pulitzer, the father to the modern press, was the one who attached the greatest importance to authenticity. The motto of The World given by Joseph Pulitzer was “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.” He warned his men of “accuracy first” and stated that “the accuracy for a newspaper was as important as the chastity for women.” Another famous newspaperman Adolph Ochs also emphasized authenticity. He believed that journalists should bear a strong sense of history and advocated that the news report should be “clear, lofty and credible.” Western journalistic scholars had made many profound discourses on the authenticity and endowed authenticity with rich theoretical connotation based on practical experiences of the press. Casper Yost, the author of The Principles of Journalism, a classical work of American journalism theory in the early stage, pointed out the follows: Reality is the major element for all news. It is absurd if any newspaper publishes a piece of untrue news. The news shall be a report on a thing that has actually taken place or a status that has been truly existed. If the thing has not happened or the status is not existing, the corresponding report is fabricated and shall not be considered as news. Some unreal, fabricated or false things may show up in a form of news, which constitutes a deceit. This kind of deceit may be produced intentionally or due to misunderstanding or being cheated, but these reports can be called any name other than news. The authenticity is the criterion for determination of the real news. The measurement of the authenticity of a piece of news is essentially the measurement of the quality of the news.

The newspaper bears the mission to spread the news of public significance and public interest. Since reality is a test of a piece of news and the truth of the news is a criterion for the measurement of the news quality, this criterion shall also be measured on this basis. The responsibility and the mission of a newspaper shall be acquiring and publishing news. If the news is not true, the mission of the newspaper is not fulfilled and the public-service responsibility of the newspaper is not completed. When measuring the public service provided by the newspaper to readers, the correctness of the information published by the newspaper will

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always be used as the criterion; while the public trust in the whole newspaper depends on whether the newspaper can always prove the correctness of its information. These two kinds of pressure force the newspaper to raise the standard of correctness to the highest level possible. Any publication that attracts readers with startling news and sacrifices the authenticity, or exaggerates a trifle by putting it as a moving story, or arousing people’s curiosity by talking big or even lying, shall never be called a newspaper in a strict sense in terms of its content and the production process. These statements of Casper Yost represent the mainstream ideas of Western journalism theory works. Before him, John Delane, a famous British newspaperman who served as the chief editor of The Times for as long as 36 years, also made a brilliant analysis: Journalism shall fulfill its mission based on the principle of independence. Pursuing social interests, it shall not collude with politicians, sacrifice the eternal interests or bow to any authority. The primary task of journalism is to report the current affairs in the quickest and the most accurate way, unveil the truth of the incident and provide all kinds of knowledge to the public……Journalists bear the responsibilities similar to those of historians, i.e. sparing no effort to seek the truth. Therefore, what journalists contribute to readers is not the policy or national planning but the fact and truth they do their utmost to acquire.23

American scholar Melvin Manchel proposed similar requirements in the book Journalism Reporting and Writing: Journalists must grasp facts and act with courage and determination when collecting facts… Journalists must be righteous and honest and embrace facts, including spelling the names correctly and not admitting any statement unconfirmed. Like a prospector, a journalist must explore the reserves of facts, since no one will be satisfied with the superficial materials…Whenever possible, the journalist shall dig to the bottom, until the truth of the matter is unveiled.24 In quite a lot of Western countries, the requirements on authenticity are provided by professional ethics and relevant laws and regulations. Article 4 of Journalism Regulations issued in the United States in 1923 stipulated:

23 Quoted from a secondary source: [UK] Fraser Bond, An Introduction to Journalism, 1st edition, Page 3, Taipei, Central Bookstore, 1988. 24 [US] Melvin Manchel, Journalism Reporting and Writing, 1st edition, Page 144, Beijing, Broadcasting Press, 1981.

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Honesty, authenticity, accuracy—Being loyal to readers constitutes the foundation of all newspapers. All things considered, the newspaper must be honest. It is unforgivable if a newspaper fails to do its best to provide complete or accurate information or achieve necessary qualities. As stated in the regulations of France issued on May 6, 1944, anyone maliciously releasing information that disturbed public peace would be punished and would accomplish a crime if spreading any information inconsistent with facts. Relevant laws of the UK rule that anyone releasing untrue report or speech that exerts huge influence on the job and incurs great damages shall be convicted of the crime of “malicious fabrication.” According to Article 17 of Newsprint in Japan, in case of any mistake in the news report that the individuals directly related to the matter of the report require correction or the letter of amendments, the newspaper shall correct the content or publish the whole letter of amendments in the second or third issue after having received the request. Western scholars also vary in their understandings about the authenticity. For example, Walter Lippmann from the United States stated in his Public Opinion: “In my opinion, as the most beneficial hypothesis, the news and the truth shall be clearly distinguished from each other. The role of news is to present a matter explicitly, while the role of truth is to reveal the hidden facts. A real scene will be constructed by combining the two, which will guide people’s actions. Only when the social conditions are available for understanding and perception, the truth and the news are coincidently consistent.”25 Walter Lippmann sharply separated the news and the truth and repeatedly mentioned that the “inherent prejudice” made it easier to present a distorted or unreal report than to truly reflect the objective situation. This idea is inadvisable. However, Walter Lippmann and his book has been honored as groundbreaking work on public opinion and communication by American academia until now and this idea has not been criticized as it should be. In the West, some scholars hold that the authenticity can be sacrificed “for the sake of national interests.” A serious journalistic scholar in Japan, Ono Hideo, stated in The Principles of Journalism (The Department of Journalism, Renmin University of China, translated in 1960, same below): Journalism is a powerful lever for people to create future life……It impels readers to take the initiative to judge issues. Therefore, considering such a function, it shall never guide readers in a wrong way, and the report shall be written based on the fact. However, it does not necessarily mean that the report shall release the truth strictly according to the facts, actually the truth needs to be distorted before release sometimes. 25 [US]

Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion, 1st edition, Page 237, Beijing, Huaxia Publishing House, 1992.

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Ono Hideo here set the truth against the truth released. Why? He explained like this: A state shall appropriately perform its role by considering the interests of the whole nation. For this purpose, it is rational to eliminate, distort or exaggerate certain facts. Fascist leaders including Adolf Hitler et al. treated the truth like mud which could be kneaded into any shape “as demanded by the party and the state.” A famous saying of Adolf Hitler was that: People were born to be bad, could only be managed by violence and could be dealt with by any means. Whenever needed by the policy, the lie, betrayal and even massacre should be carried out. In his book My Struggle, he produced his another famous saying: Even the biggest lies could be turned into truth by repeated description. Why? In the view of Fascist leaders, the masses had a limited ability of receiving, a weak ability of understanding and a poor memory……They believed everything printed out due to their stupidity and incapability……The newspaper exerted an extremely huge influence on those people. As the masses were innocent with primitive intelligence, they believed the big lies even more easily than the small lies, because they themselves only lied about small things and dared not to lie about big things……They might find the big lies ridiculous at first; later, they might feel uncomfortable about it; but finally, they might accept the lie after the lie had been repeated again and again.

In general, bourgeois politicians, journalists and journalistic scholars are seriously pursuing the authenticity. They hold a slogan that “to safeguard the news authenticity like protecting eyeballs and girls’ chastity.” As a foundation of the journalistic idea system, “authenticity is the life of news.” However, a few people do not take authenticity seriously, while the Fascist journalism studies were dead wrong in this fundamental issue and put journalism and communication in a blind alley. 3.2   Chinese Understanding of the Authenticity of News Chinese scholars’ understanding of the authenticity of news are similar to that of most Western scholars. Professor Gan Xifen said in his book Fundamentals of Journalism Theory: “Despite the various different opinions on the fundamental issues between bourgeois journalism and proletariat journalism, they share the surprisingly consistent view that the news report must be authentic.” Like in the West, the understanding of the authenticity also advanced gradually through the practices of Chinese press. Right after the emergence of the modern press in China, authenticity had not drawn people’s attention. The first issue of Eastern Western Monthly Magazine in 1833 had published a false report on readers commending the newspaper. The untrue reports had been widely seen in the earliest batch of modern newspapers and magazines. According to Wang Tao, the false and

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exaggerated reports made up the common fault of modern daily newspapers at that time. The party press of the bourgeois rose in the twentieth century and became the mainstream of Chinese press. Politicians considered: “A great man shall adhere to a firm objective and apply flexible means, and achieve one goal with a hundred different means.”26 They advocated in public: “It was acceptable for the news in the transition period to bluff and bluster.” The first bourgeois revolutionary newspaper China Daily (released in Hong Kong in 1899) had published massive information on party uprisings and popular revolts in all places that had not been verified, to build up the momentum of a state of chaos. Su Bao forged the telegraphs of the revolutionary party and the “imperial edict” and admitted “to resort to every conceivable means to stir up ill feelings between Man and Han nation.”27 After the founding of the Republic of China, along with the increasing newspapers and news agencies, fake news had constantly appeared. According to Zhang Jiluan, since the founding of the Republic of China, the newspapers often fabricated writings without doing interview and used articles to fill in the papers without verifying the authenticity. Jin Bao in Shanghai had published a piece of doggerel named the News Agency on April 18, 1919, saying: “These agencies close their doors and cook up fake news and never distinguish right from wrong. They pretend to send and receive contributions and fabricate the telegraphs.” This doggerel was accompanied with a picture which divided the news agencies into the chasing-the-wind news agency, clutching-at-shadows news agency, flapdoodle news agency, rumor news agency and confusion news agency. The Kuomintang started ruling China replacing the Northern Warlords in 1927. Someone evaluated the news reports at that time in this way: the unified rumor published by the government substituted the rumors derived from different places. Ta Kung Pao once revealed the fact that the so-called unification referred to the unification of speech and reports…The authority decided the right and the wrong, while the newspapers had to follow. In a manner of speaking, the authenticity of news had never been solved from the emergence of the modern press to the press at the Kuomintang period. However, on the other side, the journalism academia and some righteous newspapermen had given quite a few correct discourses on the authenticity. Liang Qichao advocated distinguishing the comments from the information very early. He put forward five standards for the news report, “extensive, rapid, accurate, straight, fair.” The “accurate” here means “authentic.” He

26 Quoted from a secondary source: Fang Hanqi, The History of Contemporary Chinese Newspapers and Periodicals, 1st edition, Page 731, Taiyuan, Shanxi Education Press, 1981. 27 Quoted from a secondary source: Fang Hanqi, The History of Contemporary Chinese Newspapers and Periodicals, 1st edition, Page 731, Taiyuan, Shanxi Education Press, 1981.

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required that anything only heard of should not be published and any untrue factor should be corrected. The book Journalism of Xu Baohuang, honored as the “epoch-making work of the press” by Cai Yuanpei, had conducted a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the authenticity. In the chapter discussing the definition of news, Xu expressly pointed out that the news must be the facts and any groundless information fabricated should not be called news. Xu also stated: “It is an extremely common tag among Chinese newspapers that ‘the newspaper records everything it hears’, which has often been used as an excuse. This saying is actually nonsense. It is unacceptable if believing the messages said by one or two people and publishing the information as facts without investigation and verification. In this case, the newspaper would often release wrong information and become a rumor machine.”28 Until the 1940s, Chinese scholars had achieved great progress in the understanding and explanation of the news authenticity, which was represented by the discourse of Lu Dingyi on this issue as introduced at the beginning of this section. The understandings of the authenticity of Chinese scholars in the contemporary times have been exposed to the profound influence by Marxist classics writers. As stated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, authenticity constitutes the necessary requirement to realize news objectivity. The news objectivity means that the news is derived from the fact, while the news authenticity stresses on objectively narrating the fact. Since readers “only believe in those substantially existing,”29 the truth is the life of news. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had once revealed the cause for the emergence of untrue news, “Untrue thinking necessarily and subconsciously leads to the fabrication of false facts, i.e. distorting the truth and cooking up lies.”30 They also required describing the fact based on the fact itself instead of the will. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had also proposed the ideas including “fact-reprint lie,” “spiritual lie,” “ideological lie,” “historical truth” and “theoretical truth,” enriching and deepening people’s understanding of the scientific definition of authenticity. Lenin’s discourse on authenticity had also been understood and accepted by Chinese scholars. His analysis raised the understanding of authenticity to a new theoretical level. He advocated, by means of openness, publishing the extensive and open report to the masses and adhering to the principle of telling the truth, thus approximating to the truth to the full extent under the new historical conditions of dictatorship of proletariat. Lenin pointed out: 28 Xu Baohuang, Journalism, 1st edition, Page 10, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1994. 29 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 383, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. 30 Same as above, Page 415.

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“What we need is the complete and true information, and the truth shall not change no matter who the information is serving.”31 Mao Zedong’s explanation about the true reports was deeply rooted among the people. Mao stated: “We fight back against the enemy by truthfully reporting the fact of our revolutionary work instead of debate.”32 He also gave the instruction that “to tell the truth and not to steal, pretend or exaggerate any information.”33 Liu Shaoqi had explained the significance of factual reports repeatedly. He told journalists: “The primary requirement on your work is being true. No intended exaggeration and no prejudice. You shall not be afraid to reflect the people’s thoughts truthfully no matter whether they oppose, welcome or misunderstand us.”34 Since the Reform and Opening up, the scientific research on the authenticity of news in China has made great progress, which is firstly embodied in the definition of news authenticity. It is generally agreed “The authenticity of the news report requires not only the correct and accurate information about the event, people’s name, place name, time, number and quotation written in the report but also the reflection of the essence and objective laws of the event.”35 This definition has pointed out the three different-level requirements on the authenticity of news: authentic details, authentic collective and revealing of the essence. Academia holds different views about this definition and the three-level requirements on authenticity proposed by this definition. Though the argument will continue, the most people have already reached a consensus. The Party and the government often put forward requirements on the authenticity of news. The authoritative view in this period is provided by Li Ruihuan in Adhering to the Policy of Giving Priority to Positive Propaganda in November 1989: “The authenticity of news requires not only the authentic and accurate news elements in each report but also the authentic, objective and comprehensive news propaganda on the whole.”36 In Several Issues about Journalism of the Party, Jiang Zemin pointed out: “In addition to assuring

31 Lenin’s

Manuscripts, Chinese 1st edition, Page 457–458, Vol. 10, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1979. 32 Selected Works on Journalism of Mao Zedong, 1st edition, Page 5, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1983. 33 Same as above, Page 125. 34 Liu Shaoqi, A Talk to the Press Corps in North China, “Selected Works on Journalism of the Communist Party of China”, 1st edition, Page 256, Vol. 2, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1981. 35 Gan Xifen, A Dictionary of Modern Journalism, 1st edition, Page 13, Zhengzhou, Henan People’s Publishing House, 1993. 36 Selected Works of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 215, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990.

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the authenticity and accuracy of each matter reported, special importance shall be attached to achieving the authenticity in an overall and essential way based on the development trend.”37 These discourses above constitute the mainstream ideas on the news authenticity in China currently.

4  The Idea on the Communication of News Communication means the exchange and sharing of information. Communication is the chain to various activities, while information plays the most important part in it. The basic requirement for information communication is being objective, and the basic requirement for information processing is being impartial. Therefore, the two concepts, objectivity and impartiality, are proposed in the studies of news communication. As the communicator always evaluates, selects, communicates and processes information based on a specific position, a specific perspective and a specific value orientation, the tendentiousness is considered as a basic concept that cannot be ignored. According to the definition agreed by the most people, the objectivity, impartiality and tendentiousness are defined as follows: Objectivity: Depend on objective facts as the origin of reports and report the facts as they are in terms of both the content and the form. The objective content refers that the fact of the news is objective reality; and the objective form indicates the objective method of presentation. Impartiality: i.e. the principle of fairness, by which the public share the equal opportunity to issue their opinions, engage in arguments and defend themselves and the media and the communicator are impartial to and side with any party. Tendentiousness: The media or the communicator holds certain political position, view of right and wrong and emotion of love and hate expressly or implicitly in news reports. 4.1  Objectivity 4.1.1 Western Discourses on Objectivity The principle of objectivity was firstly proposed by the West, particularly by the United States. The Four Theories of the Press stated that the theory on objective reports “emerged in the nineteenth century and was widely praised as the unique contribution to journalism studies in the first quarter of the twentieth century in the US and the UK……The rapid development

37 Same

as above, Page 198–199.

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of objective reports in American press resulted from the decline of the party press and the transformation of newspapers from the publications publishing opinions to the tools communicating news…..Journalists believe that they need to be detached from the arguments and be the bystander……News shall simply record the events, and the opinions must be explicitly separated from the news.”38 News made up the major content of early newspapers, so many newspapers at that time were named after news, information, post, telecommunication, record, chronicle, messenger, communication, etc. Afterwards, the party newspapers abounded, which laid emphasis on comments and propaganda but only released news interspersed with comments. After the rise of cheap newspapers in the 1830s, news took the leading role again, and popular newspapers all advertised themselves as “processing news objectively.” Therefore, Four Theories of the Press had affirmed the positive role of objective reports. The establishment of the principle of objectivity was associated with the wide emergence of news agencies in the 1860s. With the universal appearance of news agencies, news became more like commodities. As the news released by the news agencies was sold to newspapers embracing different standpoints and different principles, the news should be free from the preference to a certain party or a certain newspaperman. Under these circumstances, the news started to adopt new techniques of expression and only provided information without any opinion, discussion, suggestion or emotion about the information. Cheap newspapers successively announced that they “do not support any party or be the mouthpiece of any political group.” This policy of newspaper had been regarded as the “independent journalism” by the United States. “Independent journalism” advocated being impartial and proposed the principle of “objectivity and fairness” against news reports. Some journalistic scholars in the West believed that the objectivity was a new idea formed upon the bitter experiences in the Dark Ages (the party newspaper period was viewed as the Dark Ages in the United States). Allegedly, Samuel Bowles was the first in the US journalism history to expressly put forward the “independent journalism” as well as the first to propose the principle of objective reports. As the Chief Editor of Springfield Republican, he advocated clearly distinguishing between the fact and the opinion in an editorial published in 1855. In his opinion, the news should only present readers with the most original materials and have readers compare and choose the information themselves, which should be the most essential requirement of objective reports. The objective report not only solved the issue of writing method, but also actually cultivated the personality of news. Without the idea of objective 38 [US]

Wilbur Schramm et al., Four Theories of the Press, 1st edition, Page 70–71, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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reports, news could hardly be distinguished from political comments. In this case, the newspaper could not fully perform its role in delivering information, and therefore could not display its special personality compared to general propaganda media. As it should be, this principle of news processing needed to pass practical tests and the long process of maturing before it became a common sense widely accepted by society and the industry. American scholar Frederick W. Mote pointed out that the objectivity of news only emerged and the news was separated from the comments in the late nineteenth century when the newspaper was detached from political parties. This conclusion seized the essence of the issue, which can be proved by the practical development course of the press in the United States. The Associated Press put forward the aim of “reporting facts instead of opinions” during its reorganization in 1900, which was the first time for the United States and Western countries to officially confirm on the journalism and communication principle of objectivity and also symbolized the birth of “objectivity” as an important news idea. The final symbol for the establishment of the objectivity principle was Article 5 of Journalism Regulations issued in 1923. This article provided: “The impartial – complete work can explicitly distinguish between news report and opinion expression. The news report shall be free from any opinion or prejudice.” The American press still speaks highly of Article 5 of the Journalism Regulations until now. They believe that the most important principle of news shall be objectivity. News shall be a factual report on an event without any prejudice of the journalist. In American press, journalists shall be nonpartisan. They shall only report the facts and leave them to readers to analyze and draw conclusions. Through the practices of news communication for over a century, the West has accumulated many referential experiences on objectivity and the objective ways of reporting, mainly including the follows: The origin of news shall be clarified in a news report; Introduce the source of the news in details and enable readers to evaluate its reliability; Explain the nature of a dispute when reporting a controversial event of dispute; When laying charges against an individual or an organ, assure the right of the accused to answer to the charges; The journalists must do their utmost to speak with facts, particularly the complete facts. Readers show no interest in the journalists’ opinions but will make judgments and decisions by themselves. The opinions on objectivity also vary in the West. Since the principle of objective reports cannot or can hardly be fulfilled due to social and industrial causes, it is called “a glorious ideal” by people. Some scholars pointed out it was quite difficult to measure and achieve objectivity. Journalists act based

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on their own conditions and will consciously or unconsciously have their emotions or opinions affect their views on the truth and facts. Moreover, the journalist can never see the whole circumstance. Things are becoming increasingly complex in our complex world, while the journalist can only see a part of the fact. Another scholar Herbert Altschull pointed out in the book Agents of Power: “The law of objectivity contributes to safeguarding the social system of the capitalist world and preventing the deviation from the legitimate ideology. However, through careful observation, it can be found that the law of objectivity is not that scientific but upholds certain prejudices, defends the current system and opposes sudden changes of society……The law of objectivity allows and even encourages objections against the legitimate ideology only in a certain extent which is provided by the ruling class. Representing the legitimate ideology, the ruling class not only controls the financial resources but influences the authorities in the press.”39 German journalistic scholar Emil Dovifat also questioned the objectivity. He said: “The deal of ‘objective and factual news’ that is disseminated to the people has been widely recognized by those who do not know newspapers, but is unable to come true. Hence this subjectivity of the newspaper that lacks subjective intent has been intentionally utilized in political struggle with purpose. For example, Lord Northcliffe believed that the special power of the newspaper in the UK was to deny a fact by remaining silence against a fact. In his opinion, the power of the newspaper lay in remaining silence, which naturally reminded us of the subjective influence on the report. The newspaper holds a subjective attitude when reporting a real report. If denying the subjectivity of a newspaper, the newspaper itself is denied.” In a word, different opinions on objectivity still exist in Western countries including the United States at present. It is a major contribution of American newspapermen to journalism that they wrote the “objective” report in the textbook of journalism; however, in news organizations, an endless debate is carried out on whether the objectivity principle can be put into practices, and someone even ridicule it as a “myth.” 4.1.2 Chinese Understanding of Objectivity As mentioned above, the generation and development of news ideas in China have been subject to the influence of the West. It is the same with “objectivity.” The bourgeois newspaper saw the “objectivity” in a favorable light and adhered to it as a principle for running the newspaper. Founding the newspaper, The Justice, in 1912, Liang Qichao advocated being fair, practical and independent in reports. Later, he invited Huang Yuansheng to take over the office of the editorial director and published Special Notices on the combined 39 [US]

Herbert Altschull, Agents of Power, 1st edition, Page 150, Beijing, Huaxia Publishing House, 1989.

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25th and 26th issue in 1914, which stressed: “This newspaper sticks to the spirit of independent speech and is free from the influence of any personal relationship or party.” On this same issue, Huang Yuansheng also delivered The New Life of This Newspaper, saying “we will turn the subjective attitude to objective reports” and “our comments and reports will be impartial to any political party.” Doctor Williams, the Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, visited China on December 12, 1921. In the dinner party held by Shanghai Lianhua Association, he asked what the greatest difficulty was in addition to funding for the operation of newspapers in China. Shi Liangcai, the General Manager of Shun Pao, answered that the most difficult thing was the selection of information, because there were only a few loyal messengers in the press at that time. Qu Shaoyi introduced in his article Mr. Shi’s Aspirations in Running a Newspaper that Mr. Shi advocated making fair comments, providing factual news, serving the public welfare and fulfilling the obligations as a civilian. Afterwards, Xu Baohuang, Shao Piaoping and Ge Gongzhen et al. had delivered similar discourses. In conclusion, the bourgeois newspapermen and general scholars in China all advocate practicing the principle of objectivity. In regard to the proletarian press, the majority also support the principle of objectivity. According to Liu Shaoqi’s first instruction given to Xinhua News Agency in 1956, “Learn from the reporting skills of journalists of bourgeois news agencies. They are adept in using objective skills and smart writings to report the facts and meanwhile satirize us. They also have a firm position. People can acquire some true information from their news reports.”40 He also said: “Foreign journalists emphasize that their news reports are objective, authentic and fair and even set the objective, authentic and fair report as their motto. If we dare not to emphasize the objective and authentic report but only stress on the standpoint, it means that our reports are subjective and one-sided.”41 However, there are also some disagreements with the opinions of Liu Shaoqi and some other scholars and journalists, and some even criticize these opinions as “selling the bourgeois ideas.” On September 1, 1968, People’s Daily, PLA Daily and Red Flag published an editorial article Carry out the Revolution of the Press to the End and attacked Liu Shaoqi’s view above as “anti-revolutionary news line.” This article discussed about the “objectivity and fairness” as follows: News always shows the characters of a class or a party. The “objective report” above classes do not exist. The bourgeois newspapers consistently confuse truth and falsehood, distort objective matters and libel over the revolutionary people, in order to deceive the people and maintain the evil rule of the bourgeois. There is nothing that is “objective,” “authentic” and “impartial” at all. These 40 Selected 41 Same

Works of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 119, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990. as above, Page 118.

96  B. TONG pretty words of “objective,” “authentic” and “impartial” are only utilized to cover up their purposes to serve the bourgeois and safeguard the bourgeois interests.

Even in China today, quite a few people still uphold this idea. Instead of agreeing with the slogan and principle of objectivity and impartiality, they believe that the news report shall underline the tendentiousness and standpoint. However, the majority still advocate the objectivity of news reports. Many newspapers adhere the objective reports as one of their principles and give favorable publicity to objective reports as their features in the news competition. Not only influenced by the Western bourgeois journalistic work and ideas, Chinese understandings of objectivity also learn from the journalism theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In the view of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the materialistic view of nature requires simply understanding the original appearance of nature without any influence of external factors. On this basis, many scholars consider that the press, where the subject reflects the object, shall adopt this practical and realistic attitude and methods. According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the press (mainly the news reports published in newspapers and magazines) is a product where the mind reflects the external world and people express their ideas about the real world and spiritual world. “It constantly originates from the real world, inspires the new vitality with the increasingly richer spiritual world and impacts on the real world.”42 This is how Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels explain the objectivity. In practices, they required “news providing the facts that really took place.” They warned journalists that to achieve objectivity, the newspaper should provide facts fairly to readers without any personal understanding of the reporter. Some other special discourses or discussions about the objectivity of journalism and communication are also seen in China. In China, most people support the objectivity and objective reports, but they oppose objectivism and the slogan of recording everything heard. Objectivism, also known as “naturalism,” refers to “being purely objective.” As an outstanding feature, it simply lists all realistic examples irrelevant to each other together without distinguishing the primary and the secondary or distinguishing the essence and the phenomenon, similar to “recording everything heard” known in the West. The editorial Conquering the Objectivity Tendency in Propaganda Reports published in the People’s Daily in north China on November 8, 1948 was the earliest to point out objectivism and its harms.

42 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 179, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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As indicated by some scholars, recording everything heard means the interviewer employs the information told by anybody or contained in any textual material without distinguishing the true and the false. It fails to assure the full authenticity of the report and meanwhile conflicts with objectivity, and therefore it is wrong. The Chinese press generally advocates “speaking with facts.” This is another saying of objective reports. Unlike Western media that avoid mentioning the tendentiousness of news, the press in China emphasizes on skillfully expressing the standpoint and view of the reporter with selective and objective reports on the facts. “Speaking with facts” has become the primitive understanding and operation mode of the objectivity and objective reports in the Chinese press and constitutes the principle of “objectivity” of journalism and communication with Chinese characteristics. This idea requires reporting the true conditions based on the facts but speaking whenever needed, but the “speaking” shall be based on the selection and use of the facts. Comparing it to the West, both forms of “objectivity” stick to “using facts,” but the West stresses on “silence” while China emphasizes “speaking.” 4.2  Impartiality 4.2.1 Western Discourse on Impartiality The impartiality, i.e. fairness, refers to the “principle of fairness” of journalism and communication. Provided in Article 6 of Journalism Regulations issued in the United States in 1923. Fairness: The newspaper shall not publish any unofficial accusation that may impact one’s reputation or moral characters without giving the accused the opportunity to know. For any incident exposed to serious accusation outside the judicial procedure, the correct method is to give the accused this opportunity. 1. The newspaper shall not infringe private rights or emotions before reliably demonstrating that the content is published for the sake of social rights but not social curiosity. 2.  The newspaper bears the privilege and responsibility to rapidly and completely correct any serious errors of fact or opinion regardless of the origin of the mistake. This Article 6 is considered as a classical expression of the principle of fairness in the United States and is widely applied in the press among Western countries. Melvin Manchel proposed the topic of “balance and impartiality” in the book Journalism Reporting and Writing. Combining years of journalistic

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practices, he stated: “Balance is important and is the real creed. The same reason shall be applied to anything that needs fair treatment. For example, if Candidate A makes a serious accusation against his opponent Candidate B, the journalist shall find B to ask for a reply for impartiality. The accused and the blamed shall have the opportunity to speak timely.”43 American scholars hold that “impartiality” is a requirement on the comment (speech). Their general requirement on journalistic work can be summarized as objectively processing the news and impartially giving comments. Since the modern bourgeois newspaper declares to be “non-partisan independent newspapers,” its editorial shall stick to “impartial speech.” Therefore, Article 1 Independence of Journalism Regulations explicitly stipulates that even the newspaper owned by a party or with distinct party tendency shall make impartial speeches. According to this Article, “any partisan editorial disposed to deviate from the truth is breaking the best spirit of American newspapers.” Therefore, Western newspapers often show their “impartiality” through “opposite editorial pages” or other means. According to American scholars, it is a part of democratic procedure to publish the “readers’ letters” in a part of the editorial page, which will extract and simplify the complex and special issues to relatively simpler moral or common-sense issues. People shall participate in the democratic procedure but not observe from the sidelines. “People’s Forum” constitute an important part of the democratic procedure. John Oakes, the former chief editor of the Social Page of the New York Times, said: “The editorial page shall provide the opportunity for readers to propose different suggestions; otherwise it will be dangerous.”44 As dominated by this idea, “The newspapers and magazines often publish the opinions and comments on the page opposite to the editorial page, which has become a popular way for them to publish different views.”45 4.2.2 Chinese Understanding of Impartiality In China, the objectivity and impartiality are often discussed together. The discourse only about impartiality is rarely seen, except the statements or regulations on the standards of practice that provide requirements on impartiality with independent paragraphs. For example, in the Code of Professional Ethics for Chinese Journalists approved in the First Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Council of All-China Journalists Association on January 19, 1991, Article 5 Adhering to the Principle of Objectivity and Impartiality provides the follows:

43 [US]

Melvin Manchel, Journalism Reporting and Writing, 1st edition, Page 50, Beijing, Broadcasting Press, 1981. 44 [US] Chief Editors and Publishers, 1976-10-09, Page 10. 45 [US] Time weekly, 1974-09-09, Page 40.

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Objectivity and impartiality are deemed as the basic requirement of socialist journalism. The news report shall adhere to dialectical materialism and historical materialism, pursue the fundamental interests of the masses and be objective and impartial. Do not follow the private interests of any individual or small group and do not hold any prejudice for the relationship or personal preference during the interview, writing and publication of the news. In case of any dispute with other organizations or individuals, the journalist shall not vent personal spite with public opinion as a tool or make unjust reports. Respect science and practices. Do not conduct subjective assumption or partial reports on any controversial academic issue, people or matter. The above rules were exposed to the second revision in January 1997, when the articles about objectivity and impartiality were remained but incorporated in the articles about authenticity. The above rules were simplified as: “Be objective and impartial during the interview, writing and publication of the news. Do not follow the private interests of any individual or small group, vent personal spite with public opinion as a tool or make unjust reports.” In addition to the professional code of ethics emphasizing that objectivity and impartiality make up the basic requirements on socialist journalism, some scholars’ papers or monographs have also explained the principle of partiality. For example, some papers or works about the news legal system argue that the newspapers and periodicals are responsible for timely publishing the letter of amendments and the declaration of defense to assure the fairness. 4.3  Tendentiousness 4.3.1 Recognition of Tendentiousness in the West In the period of party newspapers, Western newspapers universally present distinct tendentiousness. For example, as to the French Revolution, C. Desmoulines, the chief editor of France and Brabrand Revolutionary, said: “Today, the journalists are controlling the department of public affairs of the country. They disclose facts, make decisions and solve issues or forgive or condemn certain behaviors according to conventional rules……Like the dew endowed by nature every morning, the more than 50 pages of the newspaper is shining in the world like the Sun.” Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Marat, the chief editor of the revolutionary mouthpiece Friend of the People, wrote: “We relentlessly condemn the country thieves, disclose the true features of those hypocrites and uncover the traitors to conquer the enemy of the state. I will drive out those greedy public affair speculators displaying their piety, those cowards incapable of serving the motherland and the suspects who cannot be trusted by the country.”

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It can be seen from the above that these two newspapers showed clear tendentiousness. Upon the emergence of cheap newspapers and the advent of the commercial business period, people held two different attitudes toward tendentiousness, continuing to admit the tendentiousness of news reports or emphasizing the objectivity and avoiding mentioning tendentiousness. Most scholars believe that the tendentiousness of news reports is an objective existence that does not need concealment. Casper Yost referred: “Without doubt, the newspaper exerts great influence on the construction of public opinions. It is incontrovertible that the influence of newspaper is greater than that of any other agency, not because it embraces superior wisdom or anticipation (actually these qualities of the newspaper are generally poor) but because it persists in reporting many matters that draw wide attention. The news itself constitutes an important and fundamental factor for the creation of public opinions, while all opinions on the current affairs are based on the news.” “The newspaper has a great power and a tremendous influence. Who trusting the newspaper feels no discontent against it when the newspaper affects one’s ideology, since the power of the newspaper can hardly be perceived. This is the truly surprising power of the newspaper. Therefore, I always bear a serious sense of responsibility considering this power. The newspaper is shaping and guiding a person in a way he has no idea and even the newspaper has no idea.” As a feature of the commercial newspaper, it stresses on its independence, autonomy, objectivity and impartiality. Does the tendentiousness conflict with the aim of the newspaper? Ono Hideo had answered this question. He said: “The report is essentially a record of objective facts with the purpose to fulfill journalistic missions, so it is not the purely objective description. All reports, no matter with the content of the superior instructions, the opinions of others or the objective facts, are all made in a manner that the newspaper considers beneficial to public welfare. Therefore, the reporters are guiding the readers for the sake of public welfare. It shall be noted that the readers may not realize the reporter’s goal and be unconsciously guided by the report. I call the role of the report described here as enlightenment. The report embraces the function of enlightenment, which is distinguished from the function of guidance.” However, in most cases, journalists, especially the press leaders, avoid mentioning the tendentiousness of news. Edwin James, the former Editorial Director of New York Times, insisted that their only principle was objectivity. Many examples can be listed here. American scholars Wilbur Schramm and Warren Breed disagreed with above ideas in the books including the Four Theories of the Press, Men, Women, Message, and Media: Understanding Human Communication and Social Control in the Newsroom, etc. Wilbur Schramm said: “It is beyond all dispute that the social and economic ideology is controlling the newspaper editorials of the country and controlling the news reports to a certain

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extent.”46 Warren Breed stated that each newspaper was following a certain policy whether it admitted no not. The political, business and labor reports embody the specific policies, which mainly satisfy the class needs. He emphasized that these policies were “secretly fulfilled” instead of being announced officially. He also pointed out that “tendentiousness” was mainly reflected in some reports that covered the violation against the policies and was not manifested as false reports. Warren Breed also mentioned a method generally applied by Western newspapers that when the media report involved “the prominent figures or group that acquired privilege through nondemocratic ways,” the word “class” was barely mentioned, because the existence of social class would reflect the factual truth of the inequality in the United States and was opposite to American creeds. The media also seldom discussed the “unequal incomes.” When flattering the city or the state, media often discussed on the rise of average incomes but kept silent about the distribution of incomes. Warren Breed also listed some other areas hardly be exposed to encroachment, including the religion, family, patriotism, community, health, doctor and judiciary. In other words, the strong tendentiousness of American media in the reports on above areas has been smartly covered up. 4.3.2 Persistence in Tendentiousness in China During the party newspaper period, Chinese bourgeois newspaper publicly advocated showing the tendentiousness to the greatest extent; and in the period of commercial newspapers, some continue to declare their tendentiousness and some avoid mentioning it. The guiding principles of “impartialness, integrity, fairness and rationality” and practices of news reports of Ta Kung Pao have fully demonstrated this point. The journalism undertakings under the leadership of the Communist Party of China publicly acknowledge and declare their tendentiousness. The Communist news media’s understanding of tendentiousness was theoretically derived from the statements and the press practices of Marxist classical writers. When talking about the poor life of peasants in Moselle area, Karl Marx expressed his understanding of the sympathy of the journalist who reported the peasants’ life in the area. He said: “Whoever personally hears the hysterical voice of people living in poverty will easily forget the aesthetic techniques to express ideas in a beautiful or courteous manner and will voluntarily carry the political obligations to publicly use the language of poor people, because he can never forget this language even when he is back at hometown.”47 Mao Zedong once stated: “The newspapers run by the Party and the propaganda work of the Party shall be lively and vivid with complete disclosure 46 [US] Wilbur Schramm, Men, Women, Message, and Media: Understanding Human Communication, 1st edition, Page 188, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1984. 47 Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 357, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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and free expression. This is the due militant style of the revolutionary proletariat. We shall educate people about the truth and mobilize them to fight for their own liberation. This is the militant style we need.” These words of Mao reflected his understanding about the tendentiousness of news. A comprehensive exposition of the requirements of the Communist Party of China on the tendentiousness of news communication can be found in the editorial To Readers published in Jiefang Daily in Yan’an on April 1, 1942. The editorial stated: Firstly, carry out the firm Party spirit. “Frankly and openly side with certain social groups in any incident,” implement the ideas and opinions of the Party in each article, each report and each message, and, more importantly, align the newspaper with the policies and principles of the Party and make the newspaper the pioneer and advocator to fulfill all policies and calls of the Party. Secondly, contact closely with the masses, reflect the emotions, living needs and requirements of the masses, record their heroic and moving deeds, report their sufferings and convey their opinions and voices. The newspaper bears the mission not only to increase the knowledge of the masses, expand their horizons and inspire, educate and organize them, but also to reflect their minds, speak for them and become friends with them. Thirdly, adhere to militancy. The party newspaper must be a warrior fighting for the revolutionary policies and lines of the Party, which shall incite the masses to participate in movements based on the current political incidents. The newspaper can only succeed in the incitation when it sharply reveals all the darkness and corruptions and assails all plots and attempts against the solidarity for the resistance against Japanese aggression. In regard to the ideology, the newspaper shall wage a resolute ideological struggle, promotes the Communist democratism and opposes the reactionary, retreat, darkness or ignorance. Meanwhile, the newspaper shall also be used as a vigorous weapon for self-criticism of the Party. Against any mistake or weakness of the Party members, the party newspaper shall criticize and blame it with a down-to-earth attitude and help the members overcome and correct the mistake. Fourthly, respond to the call of the Party and the government, promote various mass movements according to the policies of the Party, follow and guide the movements and support the mass movements and the struggle of workers and peasants. The party newspaper shall play as the active advocators and organizers of these movements instead of the passive recorders recording everything heard.48

48 Selected

Works on Journalism of the Communist Party of China, 1st edition, Page 50–53, Vol. 2, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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Though half a century has passed, this editorial of Yan’an Jiefang Daily still presents the requirements of the Communist Party of China on tendentiousness in an accurate and comprehensive manner and reflects the Chinese press’s understanding about the news tendentiousness. In the new historical period, in order to assure the newspaper in alignment with the central government politically and improve the social effect of the tendentiousness of news reports, the Party and the government has proposed new requirements, mainly represented by the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Current Propaganda Policies of the Newspaper, Magazine and Radio on January 19, 1981 and a series of important speeches made by Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. All journalists nationwide are actively studying and implementing these ideas. Different understandings of the ideas on the communication of news such as objectivity, impartiality and tendentiousness in China and the West are briefly introduced and compared above.

5  The Idea on the News Values With the development of social production and improvement of the quality of life, the news media are required to provide increasing and better news. The news media may satisfy the increasing demands of the public to the maximum in terms of quantity and quality by virtue of the scientific and technical progress and the soar of the press. Under these circumstances, society and journalists have to consider about the values of news. Different understandings of news values will be formed if seen from different perspectives. From the point of view of information communication, the news values refer to the elements of the news fact itself that satisfy the demands of audience; from the perspective of communication effect, the news values indicate the social reaction, i.e. social effect, produced after the social communication of news; and from the aspect of the communicator, the news values suggest the standards for the communicator and communication regulator to measure and select news. However, the majority of journalistic scholars and journalists in both China and the West advocate understanding the essence of news values. In other words, the news values mainly mean the sum of the special qualities contained in the news facts that satisfy the demand of society (mainly the audience). 5.1   Western Understanding of News Values Western newspapermen and scholars were the earliest to introduce the question of news values. In their opinions, the question of news values is essentially “what is news.” Charles Dana, the Chief editor of The Sun, said that The Sun aimed to report the latest news happening all around the world in the clearest and most vivid form in a concise manner. He believed that “the real interest of humans” was the “absolute standard” to measure a piece of

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news. John Bogart, the editor of the local news pages under Charles Dana, put it more directly: when a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news. News refers to the rare and unusual things. Japanese journalistic scholar Ono Hideo had theoretically and thoroughly explained the objectivity of news values. He said in his The Principles of Journalism, “I once drew a conclusion that the reporting materials were essentially the records of realistic facts according to journalistic missions. As mentioned above, the reporting materials need to be exposed to three processes, consideration of the content, evaluation of the value and determination of the sequence. The major content of the newspaper is only confirmed after these three processes. The first process, consideration of the content, is associated with the essence of the report, where the standards are consistent with those for gathering materials. Evaluation of values measures the reality of materials, and determination of the sequence means to decide the sequence based on their values; while these two processes have nothing related to the essence of the report. Apparently, the reporting materials and the report itself show no essential difference, and the difference lies in that the report formalizes the inherent values of the reporting materials, publishes the values to society through the newspaper and guides people’s behaviors with these values. On the contrary, some newspapers ignore the missions of newspapers by evaluating the news and deciding the sequence only by people’s interest in it.” On this basis, Ono Hideo defined the “report” in the following way: The report is a record of realistic facts according to the news missions and the report published by the media is a formalized form of the “record.” As indicated in the quoted passage above, Ono Hideo believed that the news value was a thing contained in the news material, i.e. the news fact, and it was actually a process of formalizing (materializing) of the value of the fact to write the valuable fact in a report (record) and publish it to society (through the newspaper). His view that the news value is an objective thing contained in the news fact has been a representative idea recognized by Western scholars. Some other Western scholars consider the news value as a product of subjective consciousness, which is the standard to measure the value of news. Japanese scholar Sugimura Kotaro stated in his An Introduction of Journalism: “The news value is the standard to judge the values of the news published in the newspaper.” Only a few debates on news values have arisen in the West, since Westerners pay more attention to discussing the “special qualities.” They believe only the latter features realistic significance. Representing the general ideas of Western scholars, American scholar Hua Lian proposed his understanding about the 10 most important qualities making up the news values, including: 1. Timeliness; 2. Proximity;

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3. Significance; 4. Uniqueness; 5. Drama; 6. Struggle; 7. Peculiarity; 8. Sex; 9. Interest; 10. Novelty Obviously, the 10 factors are much of repetition. Through years of arguments and practices, the five qualities below are widely accepted. The explanations by Fred Hibbert et al. are introduced here: 1. Timeliness. As the saying goes, there is nothing older than yesterday’s news. The news of the newspaper lives for only one day. After a day, the news must be rewritten by adding some new information. 2. Proximity. The geographical factor plays an important role in the news value. Comparatively speaking, the incident taking place nearer to the reader embraces a greater news value. 3. Significance. With more famous participants in the incident, the news enjoys a higher value. 4. Importance. The consequence and influence of an incident is directly associated with its news value. 5. Humanity. Humanity consists of various factors including adventure, conflict, humor, joys and sorrows, relationship, abnormality and personal interest. Many News is selected based on these factors everyday. How to Write News by William Metz, An Introduction to Journalism by Fraser Bond and some other works have also analyzed the factors making up news values in details. Western journalistic scholars not only confirm the news value as an objective existence and determine its component elements, but also pay attention to the realistic significance when the objective qualities are realized (i.e. known to the people) and further identify the relations among these factors. Japanese scholar Ono Hideo put forward the concept of “realistic fact” to distinguish the general fact not known to the people from the news fact that is known to the people from the perspective of news values. Ono Hideo thought: the value of the news fact was only realized after it was published and acknowledged by society. He proposed the following points during the analysis: 1. The reality of a fact is not an attribute of the fact itself, but a subjective feeling of people when they are concerned with the fact. 2. The time of the realistic fact shall be “close to the present.” However, the fact that happened a long time ago can also be realistic if it can guide people to create future life.

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3. Universal attention shall be paid to the realistic fact. The scope of concern about the fact mainly based on instinctive factors shall be infinite; and the scope of concern varies among the facts mainly based on intellectual factors. 4. The concern about intellectual facts is decided by the reason conditions of readers and vary based on different time and space. In this case, a fact may be realistic sometimes and be not realistic sometimes. 5. The degree of concern about the realistic fact is in proportion to the intensifying rate of social life. 6. The degree of reality is directly proportional to the degree of concern as well as the prediction included in the fact. 7. The degree of reality and the scope of concern decide the value of the realistic fact. 8. The reality of the fact is many-sided, and so is the realistic fact. As indicated in the above analysis of Ono Hideo, Western scholars will combine the process and result of news communication, the social feedback from audience and even the category of the news content when examining the news values. It further demonstrates that the issue of news values is quite prominent theoretically and practically. In the analysis of the elements of news values, the West attaches great importance to the interest and humanity factor. They uphold the slogan that humanity makes the cornerstone of news. In The Principles of Journalism, Casper Yost emphasized: “The first basic principle for news selection is to measure its public interest. When publishing news, we shall assure that it is interesting to most of the subjects, because only interesting newspapers are attractive and can be sold well.” “‘Humanity’ is a big treasury. With this treasury, the newspaper can attract a wide range of readers, supply them with suggestions and information and promote the effect and value of newspapers in public services.” This is an important characteristic of the understanding of news values in Western journalism. 5.2   Chinese Understanding of News Values The news value was one of the earliest questions that Chinese journalistic scholars were concerned about as well as a channel for the Chinese to further understand Western journalism. The Journalism (written by Xu Baohuang in 1918, with the first edition published in 1919), the first theoretical monograph written by Chinese people, opened up a special chapter (Chapter 5 News Values) to discuss news values. In this chapter, Xu Baohuang stated: “The value of news is essentially about the number of people concerned with the news and the degree of concern.”49 The fourth chapter News Influence 49 Xu

1994.

Baohuang, Journalism, 1st edition, Page 24, Beijing, China Renmin University Press,

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also involved the news values, where Xu pointed out: “The news influence is determined by whether the news successfully attracts the attention of most readers. A piece of influential news shall have the most people pay attention to the fact.”50 Xu Baohuang also analyzed the elements making up news value in details. This book is honored as the “epoch-making work” of journalism studies in China as well as the groundbreaking work on news value. Following Xu Baohuang, many scholars including journalistic theorists and practitioners had referred to or been dedicated to this area. Shao Piaoping had discussed news values with two chapters in his Applied Journalism (Chapter 9 Standards for Measurement of News Values and Chapter 10 Causes for Depreciation of News Values). Moreover, Liu Yuanzhao’s Journalistic Speech, Tian Yuzhen’s New Theory of Journalism, Liang Shichun’s Applied Journalism, Yu Shuangmi’s Introduction to Journalism Theory, Hu Zhongchi’s On Basic Knowledge of Newspapers, Lu Feng’s Journalism, Chu Yukun’s Introduction to Modern Journalism, Wu Xiaozhi’s Theory and Application of Journalism, Guan Yixian’s Integration of Journalism (Vol. 1), etc., had all conducted in-depth research on news values. The study on news values had suffered setbacks after the founding of new China. It had been stigmatized as the “smuggled goods of the bourgeois” and the “product of the human nature theory of the landlord class and the bourgeoisie” and become a forbidden zone of journalistic theory research. After the “Cultural Revolution,” the discussions on news value rose in swarms. The continuous meetings and endless papers mainly focus on three questions. The first question: What is the news value? Someone believes that the news value is a kind of subjective value orientation and proposes that the news value is the standard for selecting and measuring news or the standard for selecting and measuring facts during writing. Another thought considers that the news value is to understand and reveal the value elements contained in the fact and proposes that the news value is the sum of the special qualities contained in the news facts that satisfy the demand of society (mainly the audience). Others hold that the news value is determined by examining the feedback on the social effect of news communication and proposes that the news value refers to the intensity of response to the news after its communication. The second question: What are the elements making up the news value? Someone believes that the elements of the news value are determined by the nature or the characteristic of the news, including the fact, timeliness, importance and readability. Someone believes that the news factors are closely associated with but are unequal to the news values. The difference between the value of the proletarian news and the value of bourgeois news lies in that the former underlines the political significance of the news fact. Therefore, the news value is 50 Same

as above, Page 27.

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manifested by whether the news reflects the policies of the Party, promotes the development of productivity, represents the aspirations and requirements of the masses, affects the social order and morals, enriches people’s knowledge and spiritual life and influences on the political life of the country. Another thought is that attention shall be paid to the characteristics of journalistic work when the value elements of news are examined. The characteristics here include the importance of the news fact, the satisfaction to social demands and the emphasis on readers’ interest. Others think that the Western analysis of the value elements of news reflects the objective law of journalistic activities. Though embodying certain bourgeois values, the beneficial parts of these analyses are still worth learning. These elements include the timeliness, proximity, significance, importance and interest. With the correct understanding of these factors and adding of healthy content, they can be considered as the content of various elements of news values in socialist China. Currently, most scholars are holding this view. The third question: What are the factors that affect the realization of news values? Since the journalistic activity is not an isolated social phenomenon, it is necessarily subject to the restriction by the social and economic foundation and the political system as well as the influence by the scientific and technical level and the journalism and communication means. Western scholars regard the newspaper principles, readers’ requirements, news review, etc., as the external factors affecting the realization of news values, but Chinese scholars have some different opinions on the factors affecting the realization of news values in Chinese media as stated below: Some people consider that three factors constitute the key that affects news values, i.e. whether it is favorable for politics, whether it is propitious to the current trend and whether it is interesting in writing. Someone considers the guidance over public opinions, political democracy and the role of news as the three factors affecting the news value. Some believe that news sensitivity and political sensitivity are greatly related to the realization of news values. Some others say that the news policy is exerting the greatest influence over the news values. Therefore, the journalist shall neither regard the news value as the only standard for the selection of news nor replace the news value with the news policy and consider the news policy as the only basis for news selection. When studying the news value, Chinese scholars have proposed three correlative but different concepts to deepen the discussions on the news value. The first is the news value. As mentioned above, most people consider that the news value is the sum of the special qualities contained in the news facts that satisfy the demand of society (the audience).

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The second is the values of news, covering all values provided with the news. In addition to the basic value of the news value, news also enjoys the propaganda value (or political value), aesthetic value, commodity value, etc. In a word, news has diversified values. Thirdly, the values of news. They mean the orientation and standards for news values, reflecting people’s values in news evaluation. While the news value of a piece of news work is the objective existence independent of man’s will, the values of news present in varied forms. Based on different values of each person under different historical systems in different historical stages, the values of news necessarily differ from man to man. Under the current conditions of social development in China, some people believe that in addition to the news value, general news also embraces four values, the political value, information value, cultural value and commodity value. The news value is the fundamental and major value of news, but the news still sees other values such as the political value (propaganda value), information value, cultural value, commodity value, etc. Each piece of news may contain the basic news value and another one or several values. In a word, news generally embraces diversified values.

6  The Idea on the Propaganda of News Propaganda refers to the social activity where the individual or group expresses their thoughts and ideas to influence the attitude and behavior of audience through communication media. Same as news communication, propaganda is also a kind of information communication. The correlation between news and propaganda lies in that both coexist in the same media, which carries out news communication and propaganda communication at the same time, and also coexist in the same piece of news work, which performs the function of “news” by communicating news information and the function of “propaganda” by spreading propaganda information under certain conditions. In regard to the comparison between journalism and communication ideas in China and the West, it is another important topic that how to comprehend the propaganda function of news media and news works and what similarities and characters the two social communication behaviors (news and propaganda) embrace. 6.1   The “Taboo” of Propaganda in Western Media The entry of “propaganda” had not been listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1913 edition. It was only after World War I when the word “propaganda” in modern sense was used. Harold Lasswell, a communication scholar, had early (1927) defined “propaganda” as follows: “Propaganda means to control the opinions

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through meaningful symbols, specifically but not accurately including the story, rumor, report, picture and other ways of social communication.”51 Seven years later, he revised his definition as follows: Based on the most extensive meaning, propaganda refers to the skills to influence people’s behaviors by manipulating the expressions. The expression here includes the language, text, picture, music and some other forms. In the West, Harold Lasswell’s definition of propaganda has been considered as the most classical and authoritative definition. Besides, many other definitions of propaganda have been put forward, such as the follows: Propaganda means to present a thing in a way to influence others. Propaganda is an attempt to influence the will and action of others. Propaganda is a method to publish a thing thus to influence others. Propaganda is to communicate the ideas and significance about the fact for the sake of the communicator’s interest instead of the readers’ to achieve certain goal of the communicator. The American Institute for Propaganda Analysis founded in 1937 had summarized the seven common propaganda techniques: defaming, beautifying, utilizing, acting as an example to others, posing as ordinary people (acting as civilians), stacking and calling for following the trend. The word “propaganda” is seen as a derogatory term by many Western journalistic scholars. Many media directors and journalists carefully avoid mentioning the propaganda function of news media mainly for two reasons. One reason was the Faith Propaganda Committee established by Catholicism in 1622 and its notorious “propaganda activity.” Against the religious argument that which of science and religion was the source of knowledge worldwide, Galileo Galilei, based on his observation through the telescope, put forward the idea that the earth revolves around the Sun, which was exactly contrary to the religious doctrine and was therefore a taboo of the church. He was sentenced to death by the religious court in 1633. In this incident, the stubborn propaganda by the church had been proved to be a fallacy by science. Times of propaganda activities like this had contaminated the word “propaganda” with the sense of falsehood and absurdness. The second reason was the excessively political news media during the period of party newspapers. The information bombardment in this period was essentially seeking the private interests of the party. Under these circumstances, the word “propaganda” became a pejorative term and it further disgraced the press. Therefore, when commercial and popular newspapers emerged, they advertised they “do not engage in propaganda” and insisted on the news itself and “independent report.”

51 Propaganda

Skills in the World War, “An Introduction to Modern Publicity”, 1st edition, Page 4, Lanzhou, Lanzhou University Press, 1992.

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In 1907, Joseph Pulitzer, the father to the modern press, wrote the follows: I know that my retirement will not affect the basic principles of the newspaper. The newspaper shall always fight for progress and reform and never tolerate injustice and corruption; always oppose any inflammatory propaganda of any party and never act under any party; always stand against the privileged and pillager and never lose the sympathy for the poor; always be dedicated to seeking public welfare and never be satisfied with simply publishing news; and always maintain the strict independence and never be afraid to wage a struggle against any evil deed no matter conducted by the predatory rich or influential or the greedy poor.

This paragraph of Joseph Pulitzer was published at the editorial page as the program of the Post. It represents Western newspaper’s prejudice and dislike of “prejudice.” Another reason can also be found in the 1930s when Fascist parties in Germany, Italy, etc., gained the state power through dirty propaganda. Since then the “propaganda” would remind people of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and therefore arose people’s dislike and scorn. In the Nuremberg Conference held in 1936, German Nazis hung a banner on the wall, saying “Propaganda helped us acquire and consolidate our political power and will further help us seize the whole world.” Hence it is understandable that Westerners have a prejudice against propaganda. However, the modern propaganda activities are indispensable to modern media. As a matter of fact, every newspaper is engaged in propaganda activities every day. Walter Lippmann had analyzed this point in details in his Public Opinion. When explaining the characteristics of news such as the authenticity, he pointed out that the accuracy of news was directly related to the recording system. Whether the report was authentic as well as the degree of authenticity were fundamentally decided by who recorded the fact and who supplied the fact. According to him, in the West, with the United States as an example, “The right to decide which fact and idea can be reported is quite important. Hence an organized mass group firmly believes that this decision right shall not be entrusted to journalists no matter for the purpose of assuring or avoiding propaganda.” Therefore, a press agent was employed between the mass group and the press, who would operate the news report about the mass group and decide on the selection of facts and the news supplied to the newspaper. In this whole process of news propaganda, this agent was “the reviewer and propagandist responsible for his employer only, i.e. the interests of the employer.”52

52 [US]

Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion, 1st edition, Page 228, Beijing, Huaxia Publishing House, 1992.

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No wonder people lose interest in propaganda as the fact is provided for this purpose through this method and the propaganda is performed through news like this. However, it illustrates a fact that the news media in the United States and other Western countries are also carrying out propaganda activities every day. This is why news and propaganda are indispensable to each other. 6.2   Characteristics of Propaganda in Chinese Media In China, the word “propaganda” (Xuanchuan in Chinese) was firstly used as early as in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The “propaganda” in modern sense was translated and introduced from Japan and had been widely known by the Reform Movement and the Revolution of 1911. What is propaganda? Chinese scholars also hold divergent opinions. The authoritative Encyclopedia defines propaganda as: a social behavior that applies various symbols to communicate certain ideas in order to influence people’s minds and behaviors. Scholars also define the “news propaganda” in various ways. According to one of the definitions, the news propaganda is the communication activity where the party, government, group or organization communicates their subjectivity ideology for special purpose by means of news communication media such as radio, television, book, newspaper, periodical, etc., by applying various forms of literature such as writing messages or making speeches. In view of the special political culture and journalistic cultural traditions in China, journalistic practitioners and scholars all attach great importance to the propaganda communication and the propaganda function of media. In China, the propaganda is not despised and is accepted by all news media. Considering the positive and negative experiences in history, the media propaganda since the Reform and Opening up has mainly studied on two questions: the correlation between news and propaganda in communication and the similarities and individual characters of propaganda behaviors and news behaviors. Currently there are mainly four different opinions on the correlation between propaganda and news: 1. Inclusion theory. This idea holds that news and propaganda present the relationship between the part and the whole, while news constitutes a part of propaganda. News is a genus, and propaganda is a species, so all news is propaganda but not all propaganda is news. News is a means applied to reach the goal of propaganda. 2. Cross theory. Propaganda and news are independent from but related to each other. As two different social phenomena, news and propaganda show distinct differences. However, instead of being completely parallel and separated, they are actually intersecting and penetrating each other.

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3. No difference theory. It believes that news is propaganda and propaganda is news. 4. Parallel theory. It considers that news and propaganda are completely independent and parallel to each other. In regard to the similarities and differences of news behaviors and propaganda behaviors, some scholars hold that news and propaganda are both communication behaviors and social activities but show different manifestations: 1. News is a means to communicate the information on facts of recent changes Propaganda is a means to communicate ideologies. 2. News completes the communication of news information all at once Propaganda completes the communication of ideologies by several times. 3. News is to report objective facts Propaganda is to inculcate subjective ideas. 4. News communication mainly requires quantitatively accurate Propaganda communication mainly requires qualitatively correct. Despite the distinct individual characters of news and propaganda, the two can be carried out in the same news media, since both are reporting news and promoting a certain idea or intention with factual information as the carrier in news media. Exactly as they can coexist in the same media at the same time, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government often entrust the propaganda missions to news communication, while the journalists have always faithfully fulfilled their mission of propaganda. Sometimes the journalists are referred to as the “propaganda fighter of the Party.” Based on the consensus on the relation between news and propaganda listed above, some scholars propose that as a prerequisite for making use of news media for propaganda, it is necessary to respect and observe the law of news communication and overcome the fixed style of propaganda. The law here mainly refers to reporting facts and speaking with facts. In other words, avoid preaching empty words without facts. Moreover, Chinese scholars and communicators often discuss and research on three other points about propaganda. The first is about the “policy of giving priority to positive propaganda.” As early as in the 1940s and 1950s, the Communist Party of China had given the instruction on positive reports in its documents and it was until

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1989 when it was put forward as a policy for news propaganda. In 1989, Li Ruihuan, who took charge of ideological work of the Party, had made a statement in a journalism seminar: “Many problems related to journalism still need to be studied and solved by now. In the light of the general significance of journalistic work, the practical conditions in all aspects or the stability of the overall situation, the key lies in that the news report must adhere to the policy of giving priority to positive propaganda. I believe this is an extremely important guideline that socialist journalistic undertakings must adhere to. To persist in this policy, it is necessary to promote the lines, principles and policies of the Party in an accurate and timely manner, practically reflect the mainstream of social reality, educate the masses with the achievements they have made in creating new life, shape the great spiritual strength encouraging people to move forward and create a public opinion environment favorable for overall stability.”53 In this lecture, Li Ruihuan also explained in details what was “positive,” what was “priority” and how to understand giving priority to positive propaganda. He said: “The ‘positive’ and ‘priority’ we mention here means to vigorously conduct propaganda and publish reports to encourage and inspire people to develop social productivity, to adhere to the Four Cardinal Principles and Reform and Opening up, to strengthen the construction of socialist democracy and legal system, to advance the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, to love our great motherland and carry forward national culture, to safeguard national unity and solidarity and to promote world peace and development. In general, the news opinions that encourage and inspire the people to strive for the prosperity and strength of the country, the happiness of the people and the progress of society shall be deemed as positive and shall be widely reported.”54 By emphasizing the policy of “giving priority to positive propaganda,” it aims to give full and correct play to the role of news media in guiding public opinions. The guidance here refers to correctly guide the thoughts and behaviors of the masses through the communication of correct opinions. One-sidedness shall be especially avoided in order to correctly guide public opinions. In this regard, Li Ruihuan proposed the specific requirements: “The news propaganda shall take a clear-cut stand in what it advocates and what it opposes; and shall specifically prevent any ‘unhealthy trend’. When conducting propaganda for the work, we shall clarify the specific conditions and policy limitation; when commending advanced figure and experiences, we shall expound the condition and allow for unforeseen circumstances; when advocating a certain behavior or form, we shall not debase other feasible behaviors or forms; when emphasizing the side we want to promote, we shall

53 Selected 54 Same

Works of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 202, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990. as above, Page 206.

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still adequately report the other side; and when the social public opinions are focusing on certain ‘hot issues’, we shall divert people’s attention.”55 To implement the policy of “giving priority to positive propaganda” does not mean to reject or reduce supervision by public opinion or critical reports. The key shall be correctly coping with the relation between positive propaganda and critical reports and between praise and disclosure. The news shall not only praise the great achievements but also criticize existing issues; not only eulogize the magnificent feats of the times but also disclose the vile practices. However, it shall be noticed that the positive propaganda shall play the dominant role and the reports of criticism and disclosure only play the minor role, but it shall be handled appropriately. The second is about the typical report. The typical report is a product of news propaganda setting up typical cases, which means to intensify the report on prominent things of universal significance. The universal significance suggests the news represents extensive cases and shows great influence, including the ideology significance, education significance and reference significance. The foundation for a typical report lies in whether the report is representative and features universal education significance. The “prominent” thing refers to the most advanced thing of the same kind, also some things in transformation and a few worst things. The intensified typical report is sometimes intentionally made by the news agency based on the superior work or the audience response, sometimes made upon the joint attention of different news agencies since the thing attracts widespread concern, and sometimes made by the news media when the higher authority or person in charge considers it features promotion significance and shall be underlined. The typical report is a common form of report applied to guide public opinion and manage the whole situation in China as well as an effective working method often used by the Party and the government. Since China adhered to the policy of “more typical reports and fewer comprehensive reports,” the typical report occupies an important position in various news propaganda. In recent years, arguments have arisen on the merits and demerits of typical reports that dominated for decades. The majority still believe that the typical reports shall continue and improve. The third is about “inculcation.” Inculcation was firstly proposed by Vladimir Lenin when he carried out Marxist education for the workers. This word originated from Karl Kautsky. According to him, the scientific socialist thought was not spontaneously born in the workers’ movements, but was inculcated to workers by advanced

55 Selected

1990.

Works of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 208–209, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House,

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intellectuals who knew well about this ideological system. Vladimir Lenin appreciated his idea and introduced this idea in Lenin’s book How in 1905 to oppose the spontaneity theory in workers’ movements. As demonstrated by the experiences of propaganda of Marxist theory, the inculcation means that the scientific socialism must be combined with workers’ movements and the scientific theory shall be communicated deep into people’s minds and understood and accepted by the masses. Conversely, if dogmatism, formalism, pragmatism and bookishness are adopted without targeting the demands and ideological reality of the masses, the “inculcation” will be deviated from the original meaning of inculcation described by Vladimir Lenin and will necessarily fail.

7  The Idea on Public Opinion of News In a broad sense, public opinion is the common opinion of social groups on a controversial issue that has taken place recently and drawn general concern. Journalists see the occupational sensitivity and impulse against the emergence and trend of public opinion. Since the news media reflects, influences, guides and even organizes public opinion, the press is also known as public opinion circle. News and public opinions are unutterably bound to each other. Many questions about public opinion often involve the journalism studies. China and the West hold some similar and some different views about social public opinion and questions related to public opinion and news, which must be covered in Chinese and Western journalistic comparison. 7.1   Western Understanding of Public Opinion Among the explanations of public opinion in Western English-speaking countries, the popular one is the entry of public opinion in Encyclopedia Americana: Public opinion means the synthesis of the opinions of the masses on the question they are commonly concerned with or interested in. As a matter of fact, the definitions of public opinion vary among Western countries and within each country. For example, G. W. F. Hegel defined it as follows: public opinion is an inorganized way for people to express their wills and views, including all kinds of mistakes and truths. Veit Kohnhauser’s definition: public opinion refers to the popular views and emotions of the specific population on the issue they are interested in within a specific period. Peale’s definition: the so-called public opinion is a hotchpotch of stupidness, weakness, prejudice, the right, the wrong, stubbornness and newspaper articles. Carlisle’s definition: public opinion is the biggest lie of the world. Bismarck’s definition is even more special: public opinion is the daily trend of thought that is the most notable in newspapers or meetings. It is possible but nonsense to list dozens of definitions like these. They only prove that Western scholars and politicians hold divergent views about

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the definition of public opinion. This is quite normal in the West exposed to academic pluralism. About the development of public opinion in modern times, scholar Hennessy stated as follows: Before the ideological revolution in the eighteenth century, public opinion is a social and political phenomenon isolated to the ruling power. Apparently, the egalitarian and majoritarian thoughts of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marquis de Condorcet, Thomas Jefferson and other ideologists that emerged between 1650 and 1800 had expanded the foundation for political rights. Before this, the public thoughts had no bearing on the general situation, since the public could not express their ideas or exert any influence on the decision of policies. In addition to the emphasis on political equality and individualism, the technical and economic reform in the eighteenth century enabled the public that had no say at all to affect the government policies. As the public started to influence the policies, their thoughts became more important. Under these circumstances, by the early nineteenth century, the term “public opinion” had been widely used in the intelligentsia.

According to Hennessy’s analysis, the idea that public opinion refers to the opinion of the majority of society was formed in modern history. In this period, after having achieved economic development, the bourgeois required reforming the social political system. In their struggle against the feudal aristocracy, monks and landlord class, they claimed to represent all the people and required establishing a democratic and republic regime. In this system, public opinion was introduced to the bourgeois political theory as the people’s will. Their representatives advocated that the ruler should listen to the people’s opinions, the policies and administration should get the approval by the majority and public opinion should be the real constitution for a country. As pointed out by Western scholar Gaulter, public opinion is formed through the process of natural and slow evolution, but not through the exact understanding and precise analysis of all members of a group based on their common fundamental interest. The generation of public opinion is also associated with people’s stereotypes. Walter Lippmann had analyzed this point in his casting stereotype theory. Ono Hideo also pointed out that the objective material foundation for the formation of public opinions was people’s collective life style. He believed that an influential matter for people living a collective life would induce certain judgments and emotions of all the people, and the foundation for public opinion was established when people entered a psychologically collective life. Western scholars also researched on the characteristics and functions of public opinion. According to Casper Yost, public opinion is essentially the public emotion. Abraham Lincoln said the public emotion was everything, and everything would succeed with public emotion and would fail without public emotion. Therefore, those who cast the public emotion are more

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advanced than those making laws or rendering judgment. No matter with the name of public opinion or the public emotion, it is undoubtedly the most influential force in modern society. Anyone constructing public opinion is endowed with a privilege and a responsibility. As indicated in Power by Bertrand Russell, facts can be easily found to prove that public opinion is omnipotent, giving rise to all other forms of power. Public opinion is the major power in social undertakings. Jean-Jacques Rousseau pointed out in The Social Contract that public opinion was the fourth law in addition to the three basic laws of a state, the real law imprinted on people’s minds. All these discourses drive people to attach great importance to the important role of news media in the work related to public opinion. The focus of the scholars studying news communication and propaganda communication is undoubtedly placed on the relation between public opinion and the news and propaganda. Kurt Lewin, the President of American Institute for Propaganda Analysis, believed that the public opinion mainly reflected people’s response to the propaganda in the present age. He pointed out that whether this kind of statement was correct relied on how the people defined propaganda. If they considered all propaganda to be bad, the above statement was wrong for sure. Conversely, if they regarded propaganda as a method for people to influence others to reach an intended purpose and believed every man with a will could be a propagandist, it would be fair to say that we were in an age of propaganda competition. Warren Argi et al. said in the Introduction to Mass Communication: “Public opinion is used to run the democratic machine……Our officials are subject to the influence of public opinion and only ascend to their offices based on the strength of public opinion. Public opinion is mainly expressed through mass communication tools. When the officials’ behaviors run counter to the will of the public at large, the opposition force will come into play.”56 Casper Yost had carefully analyzed the function mechanism of the newspaper public opinion. He pointed out the newspaper supplied us a continuous and endless film, where we could see the dynamics of the whole world and the whole human race. This film covered all these mysterious and intangible changes in human life including the comedy, tragedy, misdeed, virtue, heroism, faith, adventure, disaster, speculation, sorrow, happiness, etc. In addition to these simple descriptions, the editorials would explain the truth of each incident, combined the information with opinions and comments with facts and therefore enabled readers to know deeper about the incident and generate their own views. These views constituted an element of public opinion. As the “effective ruler,” public opinion was ruling the current world. This is the overall picture of journalistic undertakings. 56 Department

Issue, 1979.

of Journalism of Fudan University, Materials About Foreign Journalism, 2nd

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Many other scholars also had their own excellent expositions of the influence of the news public opinion. Social psychologist Jean Gabriel Tarde stated that the news force was essentially the public force, while the greatest journalist would take absolute control of citizens, direct public opinion and guide the world more profoundly and permanently than the greatest politician. Holtzendrov said the spiritual slavery created by the newspaper was more dangerous than the chain forged with violent power. In most cases, public opinion was created by the newspaper. Except public opinion represented by the newspaper, it was difficult for the people to clearly express their public opinions. Sociologist Affleck believed that people should at least create public opinion of the current day with the news. Being the producer of public opinion or the means to create public opinion, news is not the sixth force, but the first force. Ratnam said that the lonely and silent activity of journalists indoor was guiding the age. After quoting the above statements of many sociologists and social psychologists, Journalistic scholar Ono Hideo drew a conclusion: “Upon the investigation on historical facts, the news generates and reflects public opinion. Moreover, in a common sense, the news embraces a guiding force since it delivers the opinions or reports that guide daily life.” The conclusion of Ono Hideo well summarizes Western scholars’ views on the relation between news media and public opinion. 7.2   Chinese Understanding of Public Opinion According to etymology of Chinese characters, public opinion (“舆论” in Chinese) refers to the opinion of the inferior, which is similar to the meaning of public opinion in the West. It was until the modern times that public opinion was connected to democratic politics by Chinese newspapermen and was endowed with new connotations. Wang Tao pointed out that the newspaper was a tool to “gather public opinions.” Liang Qichao, the “favorite of public opinion circle,” stated that public opinion meant to release the opinion of the majority. The bourgeois revolutionaries valued the effect of public opinion more. The foreword to the Daily Nation said: public opinion was the mother of all undertakings and the national public opinion must be created for the development of national undertakings. Sun Yat-sen explicitly expounded the relation between public opinion and the press and figured that public opinion was the mother of the fact, while the newspapers were the mother of public opinion. Chines proletariat and Chinese Communists have their own idea on public opinion, which was exposed to the influence by the pioneers of democratic revolution such as Sun Yat-sen as well as the Marxist classical writers. Karl Marx stated that the free press was a product of public opinion but meanwhile produced public opinion. He also said that the press should just express the daily thoughts and emotions of people. When discussing public opinion function of the press, Karl Marx compared the newspaper to a “donkey” that carried a bag of social public opinions to sell in the market everyday, regarded

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the newspaper as the “currency in circulation” of social public opinions and underlined public opinion function of newspapers. Mao Zedong had paid much attention to the work related to public opinions. In the 10th Plenary Session of the 8th CPC Central Committee held in September 1962, he said: “For either the revolutionary classes or the anti-revolutionary classes, public opinion must be created and the ideological preparation must be completed before overthrowing a regime.” In the note to his article A Good Experience in Consolidating a Cooperative in 1955, he figured: “The birth of a new social system is always accompanied with a battle cry which promotes the superiority of the new system and criticizes the inferiority of the old system.” Mao Zedong also proposed an idea that the new China should not require the people’s public opinion all of the same pattern but should require the enemy’s public opinion in this way. Chinese journalistic scholars and journalists follow the general train of thought about public opinion mentioned above to understand public opinion and corresponding work. In recent years, in terms of social public opinion and news public opinion, the following questions have become the subjects of studies. 7.2.1 Definition of Public Opinion Professor Gan Xifen had once summarized the following six types of definitions of public opinion: 1. People’s common view on the questions that involve people’s common interests and shall be practically solved in social life; 2. The comment and opinion of a certain group of people on the questions that involve people’s common interests and feature social significance; 3. The synthesis of the opinion of the majority on a question of universal importance; 4. The supporting or criticizing view of the masses on a certain social issue; 5. The stereotype formed based on outside information among some people, which is consistent with their interest; 6. Public opinions or speeches. The six types of definitions share three common grounds: 1. It is a public opinion; 2. It involves an important issue that the majority are concerned with; 3. The people holding these opinions often share common interests. Examining all these definitions of public opinion by Chinese scholars, it can be seen that these three standards are contained by all these definitions, so the three points can be regarded as the generality of various definitions of public opinion in China.

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7.2.2 Formation of Public Opinion Some scholars believe that two conditions both opposite and complementary to each other contribute to the formation of public opinion, i.e. the spontaneity of the masses and the intentional guidance. When a new issue takes place, some people in the social group will spontaneously and individually express their attitude towards this issue based on their own material interests and cultural quality. As people with similar attitude are increasing and exposed to mutual communication and mutual influence, a social public opinion begins to take shape and attract people’s attention. Meanwhile, the political leading group or the authority could also convert people’s attitudes into the social public opinion by putting forward certain propositions or calls based on people’s will and arousing wide sympathy. The two different processes of formation of public opinion are practically converting to each other. In regard to the former type, public opinion is originally produced among the masses and then spread to the masses through the authority; and as to the latter type, public opinion is firstly organized and mobilized by the authority and then communicated to the masses. Some scholars point out that the news communication media play a big part in reflecting, forming and guiding public opinion, so the press is also recognized as public opinion circle. Some political groups make use of the news communication media to release the “political balloons” to explore the response of the social public opinion, which is the further extension of public opinion function of news media. Public opinion is an important part of the news report, while the news report functions as an important carrier of public opinion communication. 7.2.3 Levels of Public Opinion Some scholars divide public opinion into the different levels below based on the influential scope of public opinion: 1. Some social issues may arouse the sympathy or hatred of the most people in the world, therefore producing the world public opinion. 2.  Public opinion formed based on the national or ethnic thoughts responding to the current social issues will be considered as the national or ethnic public opinion. 3. The conflict of interest among different classes and groups may easily incurs public opinion of class confrontation and group opposition, which is known as the class or group public opinion. 4. The differences in the profession, age or gender may produce different public opinions due to their different interests, which are considered as the rank or association public opinion. 7.2.4 Characteristics of Public Opinion Some scholars summarize the characteristics of public opinion as spontaneity, timelines, diversity, fixed procedure and self-transcendence.

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Some scholars believe that the social public opinion is characterized by openness, tendentiousness, publicness and variousness. 7.2.5 Relation Between Public Opinion and News Same with Western scholars, this question has been the focus of the studies of journalistic scholars in China. Some scholars believe that the newspaper and periodical play two roles in public opinion, firstly, expressing and reflecting public opinion, and secondly, guiding and creating public opinion. However, some scholars argue against the idea that public opinion can be created. Ge Gongzhen, a press historian, stated: “The newspaper generally expresses public opinion of the people and sees the formation of public opinion. Therefore, the bounden duty of the journalist shall be representing public opinion instead of creating it. Furthermore, the journalist shall sit down and listen to the people rather than standing up to speak. Listen to others. record the information and recreate the laughter and cries of the people like the gramophone does. In this way, the public will naturally appear and public opinion formed is not fabricated.”57 Chu Yukun also objected to the idea of “creating public opinion” in his book An Introduction to Modern Journalism (Enlarged Revision). He said: “It is commonly said that the newspaper creates public opinion. This is wrong. The newspaper itself cannot create but can only guide public opinion. The editorials published by the newspaper everyday only explain the news facts and guide public opinion.”58 After 1978, some people of the journalism academia again proposed that the idea of “creating public opinion” was inappropriate, thought that public opinion could not be created and considered “creating public opinion” as defiling people’s will. In their view, the idea of “creating public opinion” should be replaced by “organizing public opinion.” According to Lin Feng, the relation between news and public opinion can be examined from two perspectives. Firstly, public opinion generally contains the news value and constitutes an important part of the news report. Secondly, as the report on the fact that happens recently, news provides the basis and conditions for the formation, development and change of public opinion. Therefore, the relation between the two shall be: public opinion is an important part of news, while news is an important means to spread public opinion. On this basis, he concludes that the journalistic undertaking makes a public opinion tool focusing on spreading news. Some other scholars also put forward the idea that the guidance and supervision over public opinion is the new development and new requirement for the public opinion function of news media under new historical conditions. 57 Ge Gongzhen, The History of Newspaper Studies in China, 1st edition, Page 159, Shanghai, The Commercial Press, 1935. 58 Chu Yukun, An Introduction to Modern Journalism (Enlarged Revision), 1st edition, Page 115, Shanghai, World Books, 1945.

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8  The Idea on the Rights of News The right refers to the power executed and the interest enjoyed by the citizen or the legal person according to law. Generally, in a broad sense, the news right, as one of the citizen’s rights, means the freedom of speech, publication and the press enjoyed by the citizen or legal person according to law; and in a narrow sense, the news right refers to the freedom of speech, publication and the press enjoyed by the news media and journalists according to law, i.e. the professional rights of the press and journalistic practitioners. It is generally agreed that the freedom of the press includes the freedom of publication (newspaper or periodical), freedom of report and freedom of speech (criticism and political comment). Rights are relative to obligations, while freedom is relative to responsibilities. The fundamental mission of law is to protect rights and prevent the abuse of rights. In a positive sense, the prevention of the abuse of rights is essentially for the sake of better safeguarding rights. China and the West now have reached agreements on the above general understandings. However, considerable divergences can still be seen in the understanding of rights, legislative guarantee and social responsibilities between China and the West. 8.1   Freedom of the Press The freedom of the press was initially manifested by the freedom of publication. Literarily, the freedom of the press and the freedom of publication overlap each other. From the perspective of political culture, increasing importance has been attached to the freedom of the press, which suggests the rapid development of journalism and communication undertakings and the great power of news public opinion and reveals the increasing influence of the press on social life. British political commentator and journalist John Milton was the first of the world to propose the slogan of the “freedom of publication.” Based on the “natural rights,” he put forward the idea of sovereignty of the people and advocated implementing the “freedom of publication” system. He fiercely attacked the state religion system in the United Kingdom and believed it impeded the development of science and education. John Milton and his slogan had not caused a strong social reaction at that time, but his thoughts had enlightened and inspired the people to run towards democracy and freedom. Afterwards, a batch of Western scholars appreciated John Milton in Four Theories of the Press as follows: “The concepts of ‘an open market of ideas’ and ‘process of self-correcting’ in a modern sense have been formed based on John Milton’s thoughts, which aims to have all the people freely express their minds. The authentic and correct thoughts will be preserved, while the false and wrong thoughts will be overcome. The government shall not participate in the fight or support any side.

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Though the false may win a temporary false, the authentic opinion will maintain itself by attracting the new forces and finally defeat other opinions and survive through the self-correcting process.”59 The journalism history demonstrates that this “self-correcting process” can hardly be realized. Even Western scholars themselves challenge John Milton’s complete praise over freedom and the theory of “self-correcting process” of Wilbur Schramm et al. “If anyone who presents a lofty ideal in his philosophical works lives following his principles, he will be stuck in loneliness or running behind his expenses. Like all other sections, the journalism history is also exposed to hypocrisy and deceit.”60 In spite of this, the contributions made by the pioneers of bourgeois democratic ideology including John Milton shall not be denied. Another democratic soldier in the United Kingdom, John Lilburne, was also a hero fighting for freedom and equality. The Levellers under his leadership had released the New Agreement on the People in 1649, which advocated that everyone was equal before the law and the religious faith and the freedom of publication should be protected by law. Since then, the freedom of publication had become an integral part of the bourgeois democratic political program. According to Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France, “It is one of the most precious rights of man to freely express thoughts and opinions; so, every citizen enjoys the freedom of speech, writing and publication. However, corresponding responsibilities shall be borne for the abuse of the freedom according to law.” Article 1 of the Bill of Rights of the United States (the First Amendment to the United States Constitution) stipulates: “The US Congress shall not formulate any law on following matters: (1) establishing a religion or prohibiting the freedom of religion; (2) depriving people of their freedom of speech or publication; (3) or depriving people of their right in peaceful assembly and petition to the government.” Though people can freely evaluate the above two declarations of human rights in the modern times, the historical merits of them in fighting for and safeguarding the freedom of publication and the press are undeniable. British scholar Ignatz Luxemburg pointed out that these two declarations about the freedom of publication issued by French National Assembly and the US Congress exerted a profound influence. Following the example of France and the United States, many countries, either in the old world or the new world, all provided the freedom of publication in their constitution or publication law after acquiring the political freedom. It has become a symbol of a modern country. After the victory in revolution in 1830, Belgium proudly declared in the constitution that there would be restriction imposed on the freedom of 59 [US] Wilbur Schramm et al., Four Theories of the Press, 1st edition, Page 51, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980. 60 [US] Herbert Altschull, Agents of Power, 1st edition, Page 15, Beijing, Huaxia Publishing House, 1989.

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speech and publication. Similar provisions can also be seen in the constitution of many other countries. On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provided the content similar to the above two declarations of human rights in France and the United States. Following the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, another two documents in the international human rights charter system, also fully safeguard the freedom of speech and publication. The latter document stipulates the follows in Article 19: I. Everyone is entitled to hold their own views free from interference. II.  Everyone is entitled to freely express their opinions, including the right to seek, accept and deliver all information and thoughts, regardless of the country of the person, regardless of the oral, written, printed or artistic form of information and regardless of the media. III. The rights specified in Paragraph 2 of this article are accompanied with special obligations and responsibilities and are therefore subject to certain restrictions, only when these restrictions are stipulated by law and deemed necessary to meet following conditions: (a) Respect the right or honor of others; (b) Safeguard national security, public order, public health or morality. The ideals of John Milton and John Lilburne, the early fighters fighting for democratic freedom, had only been confirmed as an institution in the West after 200 years. Quite a few politicians had also been firm and passionate when striving for the freedom of publication. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, said that the government was organized on the basis of people’s will, so the primary goal should be assuring the correct public opinion. If it was me who decided between the government and the newspaper, I would definitely choose the newspaper over the government. However, there has never been a state leader wanting the newspaper instead of the government. These historical facts prove that the press freedom system can only be established through the long-time efforts and struggles. Only based on these long-time efforts and struggles can the social functions of news media be highlighted, including the functions of supervising social environment, opening people’s minds and forming the favorable public opinion, and can the components of the freedom of the press be gradually clarified, including the freedom of publishing newspapers and periodicals, the freedom of reporting news and the freedom of expressing opinions. According to Western scholars, it was until the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century when the freedom of the press safeguarded by the constitution and law was finally established as a mature political system in

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Western capitalist countries. Since then, the freedom of the press has become one of the fundamental signs of the capitalist democratic political system in Western countries. In the twentieth century, along with intensified capital monopoly and merger, the Western system of the freedom of the press has encountered new challenges. On one hand, the development of commercial media with profit as the ultimate goal affirms the economic independence necessary for the freedom of the press and meanwhile denies the abuse of the freedom of the press during the party newspaper period. On the other hand, the freedom of the press in the West has been exposed to a series of new issues, confusions and challenges, including the follows: Firstly, the news media begin to form an independent force in the social structure due to capital monopoly and centralization. At the same time, the government is imposing a weaker control over news media but is increasingly depending on the media. Secondly, as manifested by the increasingly severe abuse of the freedom of the press, it is more likely to lose control of the media considering the greater strength of media and the less external pressure. Thirdly, the greater role and the higher position of the media impedes the public to participate social politics through media, and the conflict and confrontation between the public and the media on the freedom of the press have been intensified. Under these circumstances, the adjustment and improvement of the press freedom system is placed on the agenda of Western political and cultural life in order to have the traditional press freedom system play a healthy and effective role in the political life of the country. Therefore, the mission of reconstructing the “free and responsible press” was produced, laying the foundation for the emergence of the “social responsibility theory” in the 1940s. In the old China, the press freedom theory was similar to the above theories of Western countries. However, practically, neither Chinese people nor Chinese journalists could enjoy the real press freedom in the Western sense due to the special semicolonial and semifeudal condition of China. After the founding of new China, Chinese theory and practice about the freedom of the press fall into the category of another ideological system and implementation mechanism. The press freedom theory in new China was firstly derived from the discourses on the freedom of the press by Marxist classical writers, mainly including the following key points: Firstly, the freedom of the press is for a specific class. The freedom of the press is specific but not abstract, and is relative but not absolute. The freedom of the press of a class can only be realized by depriving the hostile class of their press freedom. The so-called universal freedom, absolute freedom and freedom of all mankind are all lies.

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Secondly, the freedom of the press is for a specific historical period. The freedom of the press is associated with the stage of historical development, particularly the overall trend of the class struggle. Thirdly, the freedom of the press is for a specific political system. Being both a goal and a means, the freedom of the press is essentially a means serving for the higher political and economic goals. In the socialist system, the freedom of the press is the free right of the masses. As entrusted by the masses, the journalists are engaged in journalism and communication work to serve the right of the masses in the freedom of the press. In order to safeguard the fundamental interests of the masses and prevent any damage to their right in the press freedom, the journalists shall comply with the constitution and other laws and abide by the policies and disciplines of the Party. Under this premise, journalists can enjoy the full freedom of the press. Therefore, distinguished from the Western society, the freedom of the press under the dictatorship of proletariat is actually a kind of freedom under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. As to the press freedom system in China, Mao Zedong had once put forward the principle of not requiring the people’s public opinion all of the same pattern but requiring the enemy’s public opinion in this way. He said: “In our system, the freedom of speech is only provided to the people but not antirevolutionaries. We allow the inconsistent public opinions of the people, which means people have the freedom of criticism, the freedom to express different opinions and the freedom to promote theism and atheism (i.e. materialism).” “The conflict between the people and the antirevolutionaries lies in that the people carries out dictatorship over the antirevolutionaries under the leadership of the working class and the Communist Party. Therefore, replacing a democratic method, the dictatorship is applied to require them observing the rules and not speaking or acting carelessly. Not only public opinion but also law is consistently applied to them.”61 Under the influence of ultra-leftist line, China had once been exposed to the historical tragedies including the expansion of anti-rightist struggle and the Cultural Revolution. The leadership of the Party on journalism and the news legal system shall be further improved. Therefore, the freedom of the press will continue to be a sensitive question for a long period. Among the studies on the freedom of the press, some once advocated replacing it with the term “democracy of the press” and some even judged that the “freedom of the press” was not a scientific concept. The discussions on the freedom of the press need to be deepened. It is good news that Chinese government had signed the two international covenants on human rights respectively in 1997 and 1998 (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International 61 Quoted

from Tong Bing, History of Marxist Journalistic Ideology, 1st edition, Page 383, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1989.

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Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). In the spring of 2001, the National People’s Congress had officially approved the first international covenant on human rights. It suggests that China has agreed with the international concepts in terms of speech, publication and the press freedom and is geared to international standards on the human right legal system construction. I believe that new breakthroughs will be achieved in the press freedom studies. Since the Reform and Opening up, particularly the construction of the socialist market economy, the abuse of the freedom of the press has emerged in the press. The Party, government and the people fell discontent about this situation, and the issue of “social responsibility” has been placed on the agenda of news legal system construction and news ethics construction. 8.2   Social Responsibility The social responsibility is a news concept that is relative to the news rights of news media and practitioners. The social responsibility here refers to the legal and moral responsibility and social obligation assumed by news media and journalists for the sake of social stability, state security and public physical and psychological health. In general, Western news media attach great importance to their own social responsibilities. According to Casper Yost, without law, freedom is bound to self-destruction. Therefore, the publication freedom has to be restricted to prevent the infringement of other rights or the abuse of the publication freedom. The publication freedom shall be exercised for good motivation and fair goal. He emphasized: “The journalism undertakes two major responsibilities for publication freedom. Firstly, the newspaper shall defend the right from any infringement as long as the right will not incur any direct, urgent and obvious damage over the free government and the citizen freedom. Secondly, the newspaper shall exercise the right faithfully and wisely for the sake of the public interest.” The forward to the International Journalistic Ethics formulated by the United Nations Subcommittee on Freedom of the Press reads: The freedom of the press and publication is a basic human right and the foundation of all freedom rights respected and honored in the Charter of the United Nations and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, the press and publication freedom must be safeguarded to improve and maintain the peace. This freedom will be better guaranteed when the workers of the press and all other news media take the initiative to sustain the maximum sense of responsibility, practically fulfill their moral obligations, be loyal to facts and seek the truth in their reports, declarations and explanations of the facts.

As shown above, the Western press and the journalistic academia believe that the freedom of the press can be truly safeguarded only if certain social responsibilities are fulfilled.

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According to the Declaration on Principles of Journalists’ Conduct passed by the International Federation of Journalists, firstly, the journalists’ hold the primary responsibility to respect the truth and the people’s right to acquire authentic news; and secondly, the journalists shall maintain two principles to fulfill this responsibility, i.e. the freedom of faithfully collecting and presenting news and the right of fair comments and criticism. It can be seen that the social responsibility is inseparably interconnected to the freedom of the press and is regulated and bound by law and morals in the view of Western scholars and journalists. The Committee on Freedom of the Press organized by Robert Hutchinson, the President of the University of Chicago, in 1943 and the Four Theories of the Press compiled and published by National Council of Churches of America in 1956 had provided comprehensive rules about the social responsibilities of the press. In the view of experts, the news media including the press shall bear the following social responsibilities: 1. The primary responsibility of the press is to be accurate and never lie to the public. The news report shall describe the entire process of a thing based on the fact and explain the significance of a thing. 2. The press shall function as a forum for the exchange of opinions and criticisms. It is impossible and unfair to require the press publishing all people’s opinions, but the press shall bear the responsibility to publish the important opinions opposing to the media owner. 3. The press is responsible to portray the typical life of each social group objectively without any affective bias. 4. The press is responsible to propose and explain the social goals and values. Featuring the function of inspiring people’s thoughts, news media shall play the role of educator. 5. The press shall bear the responsibility to report the current incident as completely and objectively as possible, as people’s demand on understanding the conditions of the current day is more pressing in the modern industrial society than past times.62 The research report not only pointed out the new social responsibilities that the mass media of communication including the press must assume, but also appealed to the government on interfering the policies and operations of media if necessary. The report stated: “If the self-disciplined newspaper or periodical and the self-correcting social life cannot ensure acquiring necessary benefits through the public communication tool, the government shall help. The government can adopt several measures, such as formulating the law, prohibiting the defame or slander in the press (which is poisoning the well of

62 [US]

Wilbur Schramm et al., Four Theories of the Press, 1st edition, Page 102–108, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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the public opinion) or joining the communication undertakings to complement the existing communication tools.”63 In regard to the freedom of the press, considering the abuse of the press freedom in Western media in the twentieth century, it is of great significance to propose and implement the “social responsibility theory.” However, this theory has been exposed to constant criticisms since its birth due to the lack of enough argument basis and theoretical evidence and its conflict and contradiction against the traditional principles of the press freedom. According to Chinese researchers, the fundamental defect of the social responsibility theory lies in it confusing the law with the morality and inappropriately or wrongly placing the factors of social control under the category of moral restraints. As an internal contradiction of the social responsibility theory, while it doubts and condemns the traditional and abstract human nature and reason, it pins the hope of solving realistic problems on the abstract human nature and reason again. The doctoral dissertation of Wu Yonghe, The Historical Trend of Western Freedom of the Press, had explained this idea. Some other Chinese scholars also point out that the social responsibility theory overcomes all these disadvantages of private media while making every attempt to safeguard the private ownership of media; and prevents the government interference while appealing to the government on restricting the news media, so this theory is lost in the inevitable contradictions.64 As the theory of democratic participation was proposed, the Western social responsibility theory finally came to its historical end. According to the mainstream view on the “social responsibility” of journalistic scholars and practitioners in China, the social responsibility is the responsibility and obligation that shall be borne by news media and journalists for society, country and the public. This kind of understanding is theoretically derived from the discourses of Marxist classical writers, the documents and leaders’ speeches of the Communist Party of China and Chinese government, the laws, regulations and policies on journalism, the journalistic moral standards and the words and deeds of excellent journalistic practitioners. Some statements in part of works on Western journalism and the words and deeds of some excellent journalists in the West also benefit the construction of the social responsibility idea after the Reform and Opening up. The Western social responsibility theory also exerts a certain influence on Chinese scholars and journalists. In general, the “social responsibilities” in the view of Chinese journalists mainly include: serving the people wholeheartedly, abiding by law and discipline, adhering to the highest criterion of social effect, pursuing the policy

63 [US] Wilbur Schramm et al., Four Theories of the Press, 1st edition, Page 113, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980. 64 Li Liangrong, An Introduction to Western Journalism, 1st edition, Page 39, Shanghai, Fudan University Press, 1997.

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of authenticity, comprehensiveness, objectivity and impartiality, being honest and incorruptible in work, carrying forward the spirit of solidarity and cooperation among peers, etc. Compared to the freedom of the press, the theoretical studies on the social responsibility are still inadequate and have not drawn wide attention from scholars.

9  The Idea on the Audience of News The audience is a generic name for the receivers of the mass communication information. In the communication of news information, the audience generally refers to those reading newspapers and periodicals, listening to radio, watching movie or clicking the Internet news. As the end of the flow of news information, the news audience is the consumer of news media and the information carried as well as the examiner of news media, news information and news communicator. They are the receivers of news information and the publishers of feedback information at the same time. In a word, they are the active behavior subjects in the news communication activities. The journalistic scholars and journalists in China and the West hold different opinions on audience based on their different courses of history. 9.1   Western Understanding of the Audience During the party newspaper period, the Western press thought little of the audience (only the readers of newspapers at that time). The newspaper owner only regarded the newspaper as a tool to sell the party viewpoints and advocate the party revolution. In the eighteenth century, a leader of a US Congress party openly declared: “My newspaper is run for those sharing consistent ideas with me. It only promotes my ideas regardless of the profit or the popularity.”65 No matter whether in the United States, the United Kingdom, France or Japan, the newspaper owners were all from or supporting bourgeois political parties. Being infatuated with the party propaganda, they were not attracted by the profit and were indifferent to readers. By the period of popular newspapers and commercial newspapers, the newspaper has become a tool to earn money, and the reader is the king. The newspapers depend on readers for newspaper sales and advertising promotion, and have to close down if without readers. Casper Yost stated in The Principles of Journalism: “Readers, especially endless readers, make a newspaper valuable. A newspaper has to be attractive so that the readers will subscribe and continue to subscribe it. A newspaper that people has little interest

65 Quoted

from Chen Chongshan, Brief Analysis of the Audience-Centered Communication, “Newsline”, 1993(2).

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in has no market and no respect from people, which has been repeatedly proved by the facts.” “No sales means no reader, and no reader means no efficiency. No matter how lofty the ideal of the journalistic undertaking is, this failure cause always applies in practice.” The theory of Casper Yost was concluded from the practices of numerous popular newspapers in the United States. The policy of The Sun, an early popular newspaper in the United States, was to “report the news of the current day for the public.” The bourgeois newspaper considered it perfectly justified to run a newspaper “for the public” and “for readers.” After stepping from free competition to the monopoly operation period, the capitalism has ushered in the further development of productivity and meanwhile incurred an unprecedented flood of corruption and fraud. Under the new historical conditions, some decent newspapermen drew on advantages and avoided disadvantages and satisfied readers’ demands with healthy content. American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer adopted the newspaper policy of striving for the people’s interest. His The World announced “ten programmes,” which were well received by readers and the public. As a factor contributing to the success of this newspaper, it explored the market with major news at home and abroad and motivated readers’ interest in reading. In the popular newspaper period, the Western newspapermen and journalistic scholars mainly adopted the newspaper principle and newspaper means of satisfying readers’ demands and regarding readers as the king. The popular newspaper paid special attention to middle and lower-class readers, the main target readers of the newspaper. J. Bennet, the founder of New York Herald of the United States, stated in a declaration that this newspaper targeted the broad masses of society as the readers, including the merchants, mechanists, workers, families, restaurants, employees, employers, secretaries and officials. When running the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley claimed to operate the newspaper as “a frequent visitor to families.” The founders of popular newspapers declared that only the newspaper independent from the political party or government serving readers and the public could be regarded as the real popular newspaper. When running the New York Times, Henry Raymond had written an article named the Theory of Journalism, which said the official newspaper of the political party should not be taken as the public newspaper, since it was not a legal member of journalism, irresponsible for a journalistic undertaking and unqualified to be honored as a journalistic undertaking. The public newspaper features lofty functions. To win the public trust, the newspaper must be nonpartisan and independent and assure its image in people’s minds as a newspaper responsible for justice and public welfare instead of being loyal to the interests or demands of the political party. Popular newspapers mainly serve most social members and target the lowest class of social members as the main readers. The owner of American Scripps News Group held: “I have a principle, sparing no effort to stop the rich from being richer and stop the poor from being poorer.” In a letter to

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a young chief editor of the news group, he said: “I hope that when you are promoted to be the chief editor, you will persist in the only goal to serve the class where the people can only afford for the penny newspaper.”66 The above statement regards readers as the “king” and adheres to the newspaper policy of satisfying the “readers’ demands” particularly the “demands of the lowest-class social members.” This is a product of the popular newspaper, running contrary to the “mouthpiece theory” in the party newspaper period. The generality of all newspapers created or controlled by political parties rests with the role of the newspaper as the mouthpiece of a political party and its function of political propaganda. It is a universal characteristic of popular newspapers to adopt the policy of satisfying readers’ demands and adhere to the slogan of “reader is the king.” Some serious journalistic scholars such as Casper Yost disagree with the idea of satisfying readers’ demands merely for the exploring the market and soliciting advertisements. In The Principles of Journalism, he pointed out: “The salability constitutes the first condition for the newspaper. Therefore, the primary factor for the journalism undertaking is to publish a commodity sellable. Undoubtedly, a newspaper can feature a noble reputation, a lofty ideal and the determination to seek truth, but it has no value at all if it cannot be sold out. Despite the sparkling ideas and excellent writing, the newspaper is essentially a piece of waste paper that is nonsense if no reader.” The “noble reputation,” “lofty ideal,” “seeking truth,” etc., make up the purposes of newspaper operation other than the market exploration and advertisement solicitation. Apparently, it is not the sole purpose of news media to satisfy readers’ demands. Wada Koichi, a Japanese journalism professor, analyzed the reasons why newspapers took readers seriously in his book An Introduction to Journalism as follows: 1. From the standpoint of the newspaper producers, reader is the receiver of the information they send, who reads the newspaper and responds to it. 2.  From the standpoint of the readers, they hope they can draw wide attention from producers and participate in the newspaper production as an information sender. 3. The decision process of man’s will and the behavior adapting to environment constitute a topic of behavioral study. It is of great significance for the will determination and environment adaption study to observe the readers’ behaviors of reading and evaluating newspapers. In other words, the study on readers’ behaviors plays an important role in behavioral science and social development.

66 Quoted

from Zhang Longdong and Fu Xianming, Brief History of Foreign Journalism, 1st edition, Page 70, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1988.

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There are some views, represented by the “magic bullet theory” and “casting stereotype theory,” that despise or ignore readers. The “magic bullet theory” was popular during World War I and World War II. American scholar Wilbur Schramm pointed out that the superstitious psychology of mass media omnipotence had been widely spread in Europe and the United States, where people believed that the media influenced readers like the bullet shooting at a target. According to Wilbur Schramm, the “magic bullet theory” was actually not a theory, but essentially an exaggerated social ideological trend cultivated by the aggression propaganda of German Nazis. By the 1940s, the research results proved that the influence of “magic bullet theory” gradually reduced. The “casting stereotype theory” was initially put forward by American scholar Walter Lippmann in his Public Opinion, which argued that people would be inclined to generate a settled and general view on a certain group of people or a certain kind of thing because they lived in a narrow corner, and the view would not change easily once it was generated. In this case, people often understood and accepted external information based on the “stereotype.” Provided that the news communicators learned the “stereotype” of these people in advance, they could successfully send massive information that suited the taste of these people and acquired expected results. Like those believing in the “magic bullet theory,” they treat the audience as the completely passive information receiver without any life experience or interconnection. 9.2   Chinese Understanding of the Audience As early as in the pre-Qin Period, the communicators started attaching importance to their audience. For example, as indicated in the article about Shao Gong admonishing King Li of Zhou in the State Records, “It will cause more harm to stop the free flow of people’s thoughts than to stop that of the rivers. When the dike breaks, the more people will suffer. Therefore, it is better to guide the water flow and, similarly, let the people speak.” In the modern times, Liang Qichao et al. regarded the audience as the “disabled” who needed the pioneers to awake and educate by means of the newspaper. Liang Qichao wrote in On the Benefits of Newspapers to National Affairs: “The strength of a country depends on its openness and closeness……Among the various channels to achieve openness, the newspaper plays the leading role……The newspaper functions as the eyes, ears and mouth of the disabled.”67 In the modern and contemporary times, the Chinese political parties also deemed readers as their object of propaganda. Sun Yat-sen had explicitly clarified this aim in his Min Bao. In the foreword, he said: “The bounden duty 67 Current

Affairs Newspaper, Vol. 1, 1896.

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of Min Bao is to advance the progress of social groups with the best minds, apply the most appropriate methods to adapt to Chinese people and help the Chinese catch up with the world. It aims to introduce the revolutionary theories and ideals to people and make them the general knowledge to lay the foundation of their implementation. This is my forecast upon the birth of Min Bao.”68 In China, all political party newspapers regarded readers as their object of propaganda. As a famous discourse in The Talk with Editors of Jinsui Daily, Mao Zedong stated: “Our policies shall made known not only to leaders and cadres but also to the broad masses. Any issue related to the policy shall be generally promoted through the newspapers or periodicals of the Party. We are now carrying out the land system reform, so all policies related to the land reform shall be published on newspapers or broadcasted through radio to be made known to the broad masses. When the masses know about the truth and share the same goal, they will be of one mind to work……The role and the strength of the newspaper lies in that it can deliver the programmes, lines, policies, missions and working methods of the Party to the masses in the most rapid and extensive manner.”69 Liu Shaoqi, another leader of the Party at that time, also mentioned the relation between the newspaper and the reader. He analyzed this question from two aspects. On one hand, the newspaper of the Party functions as the mouthpiece and the forum of the leading authority of the Party to declare the policies to readers and the masses; and on other hand, the newspaper of the Party plays as the information and channel for the leading authority of the Party to listen to the readers and the masses. Liu Shaoqi said: “According to Vladimir Lenin, the Party shall be connected with the masses through hundreds of channels. Therefore, our Party will connect with the masses through hundreds of channels with the newspaper as a very important one. The newspaper is meeting the masses and delivering the policies of the Party to the masses every day. The army is a bridge between the Party and the masses, and so is the People’s Congress and the cooperative. Without these bridges, the connection between the Party and the people is broken and a wide gap shows up between the Party and the people. Therefore, these bridges are essential to us. Among the thousands of bridges and channels, the newspaper is a very important one.”70 “You will play a big part if you can reflect the emotions of the masses authentically, comprehensively and profoundly. You shall say the things that the people dare not or cannot say. This is the correct way that Marxist journalists shall follow.”71 68 Sun

Yat-sen, Foreword to Min Bao, “Min Bao”, 1st Issue, 1905-11-26. Works on Journalism of Mao Zedong, 1st edition, Page 149, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1983. 70 Liu Shaoqi, A Talk to the Press Corps in North China, “Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi”, 1st edition, Page 348, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1981. 71 Same as above, Page 404. 69 Selected

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Chinese journalistic scholars and journalists not only highly appraise the great role of readers in news communication, but also establish the idea of “journalists shall respectfully learn from the masses and readers like pupil learn from teachers” under the guidance of the policy of “serving the people.” Lu Dingyi said: “Journalists shall always encourage themselves to be a servant to the people. Journalists who do not farm or work are raised by the people. If we harmed instead of benefiting the people, we would be worse than the moth and meaner than the loafer.”72 Liu Shaoqi also emphasized that journalistic workers should learn from readers and accept the supervision by readers. He said: “You are writing things for readers. You are serving readers. If the readers recognize you, you are doing good. If the readers acquire materials, experiences, lessons or guidance from you, you are doing perfect.”73 Th above ideas were reflected by the news communication practices of the majority of newspapers, periodicals and radio stations around 1956. In 1956, the editorial To Readers of the People’s Daily expressly conveyed its clear-cut standard and good wishes to passionately serve the readers and function as the platform for the masses to talk. According to the editorial, “The People’s Daily is the newspaper of the Party as well as the newspaper of the masses, which has been always serving the interests of the Party and the people since its first issue.” “We are living in a world exposed to constant changes, while different readers require understanding this changing world from different perspectives. It is our bounden duty to satisfy the diversified requirements of readers to the full.” “With a name of the People’s Daily, it is the public weapon and the public property of the people. Its owner is the people. Only depending on the masses can we run the newspaper well.”74 Three decades later, the People’s Daily had published a leading article about the above editorial, Our Wish—To Readers About the 30th Anniversary of the Revision of the People’s Daily. This article stated: “The reform and the opening up are rapidly changing our country. The situation we encounter largely varies from that a few years ago, not to mention the situation three decades ago. More than ever before, the readers need to know new information, new things and new issues in various sectors as well as the opinions of the Party Central Committee on these new things and new issues from the newspaper; need to acquire the new ideas, new knowledge and new technologies necessary for modernization from the newspaper; need to exchange thoughts and experiences through the newspaper; and need to know the

72 Lu Dingyi, Selected News Works of Lu Dingyi, 1st edition, Page 10, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1987. 73 Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi, 1st edition, Page 396, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1981. 74 People’s Daily, 1956-07-61.

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new things happening worldwide. At present, there are thousands of newspapers and periodicals in China and the radio and television become increasingly popular. Under these circumstances, as the official newspaper of the Party Central Committee, we determine to find a way to give full play to our advantages, satisfy the readers’ demands to the maximum, cultivate our own characteristics in terms of both content and form, build a readable, credible and affable image among readers and become their true friends.”75 Under the new circumstances, the understandings of leaders of the Party Central Committee have significantly improved. On February 8, 1985, Hu Yaobang made a speech in the conference of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, saying “As our Party is serving the people wholeheartedly and the working line of the Party is ‘from the masses, to the masses’, the journalistic undertaking of the Party shall play a full role as the mouthpiece of the Party and bear the mission to communicate between the people and the government, including strengthening the connection between the Party and the masses, reflecting the people’s minds and satisfying the people’s demands on information of all aspects.”76 Journalistic scholars also have the new and comprehensive evaluation of the audience of news media. Professor Gan Xifen wrote the follows in his monograph Fundamentals of Journalism Theory: What is the primary factor that our journalistic undertaking shall give priority to? We shall firmly answer: the people. Who are we serving? The people. Who are we depending on? The people Why are we working all day long? For the people. We are trying to deliver the good and bad information, our analysis of the current situation and our best food for thought to the people. If our journalistic undertaking fails to win the favor and the spiritual and material support of the people, we cannot survive. If we are objected by the people, we have to close down. Therefore, the people are the foundation for the existence of journalistic undertakings.77 The Modern Journalism and Communication jointly written by scholar Cheng Shishou and Liu Jie has comprehensively evaluated the important role of the audience in news communication. They said that as to the process of

75 People’s

Daily, 1986-07-02. of Journalistic Documents, 1st edition, Page 288, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1990. 77 Gan Xifen, Fundamentals of Journalism Theory, 1st edition, Page 139, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1982. 76 Collection

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news communication, the audience was the important source of the information of news communication as well as the end of the news communication; and the news audience was the active participant of the news communication activity. From the perspective of the development of journalistic undertakings, the news audience is the most important pusher of the development of journalistic undertakings, one of the important constraints and also the important resources and “economic driving force” for the development of journalistic undertakings. Scholar Li Liangrong summarized the decisive influences of the audience on news communication in An Introduction to Journalism as follows: 1. The audience decides the selection of the content by news media; 2. The audience decides the style of news media; 3. The audience decides the direction and process of news reform. After analyzing the three decisive influences above, Li Liangrong put forward a conclusion like this: “It is true that the news media in China have centered on the communicator for quite a long time and required the audience receiving anything produced by the media. Wang Zhong, a famous journalistic professor in China, had proposed the ‘theory of readers’ demands’ in 1956, which had been long criticized as a bourgeois viewpoint and was only redressed by the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee. However, the true respect to and the emphasis on the audience were only established after the 14th National Congress of the CPC. It was only when the news media entered the market and joined the market competition that the practitioners of news media started to understand that the audience was the king on whom the news media live on. Since then the journalists in China start to see the transformation from the communicator orientation to the audience orientation. In this process, news media are attaching greater importance to the audience investigation and listening to all feedback from the audience wholeheartedly.”78 This conclusion generally represents the understandings of current journalistic academia and the press in China on the news audience. The news competition is becoming increasingly fierce since the socialist market economic system is established in China, where a variety of slogans and means have been put forward to fight for the market, the advertisements and the readers, such as the “attention economy,” “battle for attention” and “split of the readers market.” However, the rational thinking and theoretical conclusion over this long-lasting competition for readers are yet to be conducted.

78 Li

Liangrong, An Introduction to Journalism, 1st edition, Page 116, Beijing, Higher Education Press, 1999.

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10  Several Concluding Remarks About the Analysis of Journalism and Communication Ideas Karl Marx said that “Ideas are nothing more than material substances that have been moved into and transformed by the human mind.” Friedrich Engels stated that “All ideas are derived from experiences and reflect the reality, correctly or wrongly.” Fundamentally, the different opinions and different academic expressions on the same topic between China and the West are generated because China and the West are running different media, accepting different instructions and gaining different operating experiences. In a word, based on different systems and practices, the ideas that are moved into the human mind and are generated through thinking are inevitably different. The difference or variation between Chinese and Western journalism ideas mainly results from the different objects (i.e. material things) for understanding. As to the same country or region in different historical development stages, since the media present different properties, functions and characteristics under different historical conditions, people necessarily get different understandings about these media and their methods of operation and therefore have different journalism ideas. The most fundamental basis for the comparative study lies in the different objects for understanding. By analyzing and comparing the major journalism ideas mentioned above, we can get a further understanding of the basic Marxist principle of “social ideology is a reflection of social existence.” As the earliest modern news media created by humans, newspapers and magazines emerged when they became necessary and possible through the development of the capitalist commodity economy. The rise of the party press was due to the demand of the bourgeois on constructing and consolidating the political power. As determined by the historical conditions, the party press featured the external characteristic of speech over news and the internal characteristic of being the mouthpiece of the Party and government. This had been an inevitable stage that neither the bourgeois nor the proletariat could jump over in both the West and China. The completion of the Industrial Revolution had provided the subjective and objective social demands and material and technology conditions for the emergence of cheap newspapers, since when the popular newspapers appeared and finally became the mainstream media of the society (at least in terms of the quantity). This is the historical trend that cannot be stopped by any human factor. In conclusion, within the scope subject to the restrictions of the law of social and historical development, the news media between China and the West show certain same or similar properties and functions, so the news ideas formed on this basis are also similar in some aspects. Secondly, within the scope subject to the restrictions of the law of journalism and communication, Chinese and Western journalistic practices have proposed the same or similar standards the basic requirements of journalism and communication including authenticity, objectivity, impartiality and

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tendentiousness. These standards are not only reflected by the laws, regulations, business specifications, professional ethics and the operating practices of the editorial office, but also embodied in the understanding and expression of journalism news, while the differences only lie in how active they are in the reflection or expression. In regard to the understanding and expression of objective and tendentious ideas, some are explicit, some are connotative, some are fundamental and some are reserved. It can be seen from the analysis in this chapter and the studies in the following chapters of the book that China and the West reach more consensuses on the journalism ideas about practices but relatively fewer consensuses on the journalism ideas about politics. Along with the increasing international exchanges and news cooperation, the consensuses on journalism ideas are increasing. For example, the understandings of the press freedom and the included freedom of publication (press), freedom of reporting (knowing) and freedom of speech (expression) and the knowledge of social responsibilities of China and the West and getting closer. China and the West will have more in common based on the “international integration” of the legal framework and moral construction. The cognitive differences between Chinese and Western journalism ideas are mainly embodied in some ideas subject to the influence of value orientation. For example, as to the news value, both agree that news must communicate valuable facts and information, which is decided by the law of journalism and communication. The news value mainly consists of five elements, timeliness, importance, significance, proximity and interest, which is still widely accepted to the all by now. However, China and the West hold quite different opinions on what is important and what is interesting. Similar differences are commonly seen in the press freedom, social responsibilities, objectiveness and impartiality, publicity and public opinions, etc. Due to the different social political systems and cultural traditions in China and the West, the scholars and journalists hold different values. These differences may exist for a long time, and debates and criticisms cannot be averted. However, it does not mean that China and the West have reached consensuses on all journalism ideas decided by the social objective law and journalism law. As a matter of fact, some journalism ideas are even different within the West or within China. For example, the scholars and journalists within the United States or China are still arguing on the guidance and supervision of public opinions, the commodification of news media and news (not covered in this chapter), the social responsibility theory and democratic participation theory (briefly introduced in this chapter), while the consensus cannot be achieved in a short period. In fact, it is unnecessary to seek only one opinion or expression of journalism ideas. Why is only one voice permitted despite the complex world, the diversified media and the rich cognitive activities? Therefore, this chapter aims to introduce instead of to judge the comparison of journalism ideas between

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China and the West, and only objectively describes the representative ideas without too many comments. We know that more and more detailed case studies are needed for the accurate evaluation of the different journalism ideas in China and the West, but it cannot be carried out for a while. We would like to dedicate the following saying of young Karl Marx to readers: You appreciate the pleasant changes and endless deposits of nature and you never request the same fragrance from rose and violet. Then, why would you allow only one form of spirit, the richest thing ever in the world?

CHAPTER 4

Differences and Similarities Between the Journalism and Communication Systems in China and the West

The collective wisdom of millions of creators creates something much more intelligent than the greatest genius ever foresaw. —Vladimir Lenin You can protect the boat if understanding the law of the running water; and you can have the order fulfilled smoothly with the understanding of people’s mind. —Sun Bin

In contemporary society, the journalism and communication media is a kind of institution, organization and undertaking founded based on a certain structure, functions and rules. In particular, the connotation and functions are considerably expanded when all news media are seen as a whole. The modern journalism and communication undertaking constitutes not only the information industry of the largest scale and the greatest power in the social structure but also the most influential and powerful organization of social public opinions. In the modern social structure, the journalism and communication undertaking and all its elements including the newspaper media, periodical media, radio media, TV media, news agency media, news and film media, Internet media, mixed media, journalism education and journalism research have made up the huge network of social journalism and communication. This network comprises all kinds of media organizations and numerous media agencies such as newspaper offices, periodical offices, radio stations, TV stations, news agencies, news and film studios, electronic websites, journalism schools, journalism institutes, etc., which are all founded based on certain systems and principles according to their ownership and management, social mission, operation law and market and audience orientation. This kind of organizational system is the journalism and communication system.

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The journalism and communication system varies due to different social missions of the media, different aims of the media owners and managers, different national traditions and mainstream cultures, different value orientations, different characteristics and habits of media formed in the long history, different economic foundations and different social systems. The journalism and communication systems in China and in the west also share some similarities as a result of the basic law of journalism and communication but also show a large number of substantial differences. The journalism and communication system mainly covers three aspects, the ownership, the media policy and the organizational structure. This chapter will conduct the comparative study of the journalism and communication systems in China and the west from the three aspects.

1  Analysis of the Ownership of Chinese and Western News Media The ownership here can be actually divided into two parts, the ownership system and the ownership. The ownership system, also known as the “system of ownership of the means of production,” makes a general reference to the way how people occupy material resources. Being a manifestation of the ownership system in law, the ownership means the right to own the means of production and the means of subsistence confirmed by law. Therefore, before discussing the ownership of news media, the physical form of news media and the legality for certain people or groups to own this physical form shall be firstly determined. 1.1   The Forms of Ownership of News Media in Western Countries According to some scholars, the ownership of news media in Western countries can be divided into six forms: private ownership, government ownership, party ownership, group ownership, cooperative ownership and quasi-government ownership.1 The earliest news media in Western countries were exposed to the private ownership. More than 90% of news media in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany and some other countries were established, owned and operated by the private. Until now, this form of ownership is still widely seen in most news media in the west. The original government or party newspapers in some countries like the newspapers of the Conservatives and the Labor Party in the United Kingdom and all newspapers of the Republicans and Democrats in the United States had abandoned the previous ownership and been transferred or sold to the private.

1 Tao

Han, Comparative Journalism, 1st edition, Page 141–152, Beijing, Wenchin Press, 1994.

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Subsequently, the government newspaper and the party newspaper appeared, respectively founded and owned by the government or the party. These two forms of ownership still exist today. The Examiner established by British government in London in 1710 was considered as the earliest newspaper owned by the government worldwide. The Daily News founded by British Conservatives in 1720 was the first newspaper owned by the party. At present, some news media still keep the party ownership, such as the Forward of Italian Socialist Party, the People of the Christian Democratic Party, the Akahata of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Japan, the National Commentary of the Australian Party, etc. All-trade Newspapers and Technicians Weekly established by many industry associations in London of the United Kingdom in 1825 was recognized as the earliest newspaper of group ownership in the world. The news media exposed to this form of ownership were jointly owned by several groups instead of being owned by the government or the private. The cooperative ownership shares some similarities with the group ownership, only that the cooperator can be a group, or an entity jointly owned by individuals and groups, or jointly owned by several enterprises or groups. For instance, the Associated Press in the United States is a news agency of cooperative corporation system made up by more than 1300 newspaper and magazine offices and over 3600 radio and TV stations. Le Monde of France is incorporated by the workers and the members of the editorial committee of the newspaper, while the journalists, editors and managers occupy 49% of the shares and 11% belong to the proprietor. The most influential newspaper Excelsior in Mexico is also a representative newspaper of cooperative ownership. Some other news media that are owned by the party or individual or jointly owned by cooperators have actively or passively accepted the financial support by the government or agreed with government holding shares and became a quasi-government news media due to the fund shortage or no political backstage supporter of the media or the special demands of the government. Though Agence France Presse (AFP) is nominally known as a news agency being “independent and ruled by the market law” and has its proprietor selected by the board of directors made up by the representatives of French newspapers and periodicals, it still accepted the indirect financing from the government to cover the huge expenditure of AFP. The financial support from the government occupies approximately half of the whole-year budget of AFP. Though known as a media of cooperative ownership, the 12 directors representing all walks of life in the board of directors are recommended by the government and appointed by the Queen. The overseas broadcasting of BBC depends on government funding. Therefore, AFP and BBC are both the representatives of the quasi-government ownership. The six different forms of ownership emerge due to the different economic levels and historical and cultural backgrounds of the news media in different historical periods, the different goals and aims of the media and the

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journalism systems applied by the government. At present, the private ownership, state (government) ownership, public and quasi-government ownership play the main role in Western news media. These forms of ownership generally co-exist in one country or one region, with one form as the primary form and other forms as a supplement. The news media of private ownership are controlled by the private or monopoly capital, free from the direct interference of the government in news communication, operation and management activities. They mainly cover their expenditure with advertisements and various operating incomes and aim to seek profits; while the most of them adopt a system of commercial economy. The news media of this form of ownership account for over 90% of news media in developed Western capitalist countries. The most powerful and influential newspapers in the United States such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal as well as the United Press International, another global large-sized news agency in the United States, and several big radio and TV networks are all exposed to private ownership. The private ownership of news media has achieved great development after the World War II. By the 1990s, the merger and monopoly of news media have been intensified, having drawn wide attention, as many people believe that the power centralization has imperiled the press freedom in capitalist countries. However, according to some scholars, the news media embrace rich capital and enjoy greater independence from the government, so it is favorable for the freedom of the press. Government ownership is another common form of ownership in Western countries. The news media of this ownership belong to the state under the full control by the government and serve national interests and government policies. Quite a few news agencies, radio and TV stations in the west, particularly the news media especially for overseas propaganda, apply this form of ownership. It actually embodies the government monopoly over the news right, broadcasting right and radio and TV, etc. The Voice of America (VOA), the TV agency for overseas broadcasting of the American government, is the most representative news media of state ownership. Under the management by the US Information Agency, its director is appointed by the President and its expenditure is covered by the government budget. It bears the major mission to propaganda the foreign policies as well as the social and political systems, lifestyles and values of the United States to the whole world. The commentary manuscripts of VOA are compiled by the people especially assigned by the US Department of State through the discussion with the White House, the Department of State and the Department of Defense. The languages, hours and columns of VOA are adjusted in alignment with the demands of foreign policies of the American government. In addition to VOA, the radio and TV undertakings in France have been mainly owned and exclusively operated by the government. According to the

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law issued in 1923, the undertakings should be subject to state monopoly. By 1984, the French law still expressly stipulated that the radio and TV undertakings should be operated by the state and any infringement on the broadcasting right monopolized by the state would be punished. It was only until 1986 when the Communication Freedom Law came into effect in France that French TV 1 was transformed to the private ownership and the state monopoly over the broadcasting right had been broken. The third form of ownership of news media seen in the west is the public ownership. Owned by social groups or civil associations, the news media of this ownership have their capital coming from broadcasting charge and advertisements and their communication policies decided by the board of directors made up by representatives from all walks of life and conduct relatively independent communication activities. Therefore, it is a system of social service and social self-governance. Since most countries in Western Europe apply the public ownership of radio and TV, this form of ownership is also known as the Western Europe Model. Before the drastic changes, some news media of the Eastern Europe also adopted this form of ownership. With this form of ownership, the radio and TV system is organized as a public undertaking and governed by an independent radio and TV administration especially responsible for this sector, and independently runs businesses according to national laws. German TV 2 is the public undertaking jointly managed by the federal states of Germany. Distinguished from other commercial stations, the major source of income of this TV station is the TV charges instead of the advertisements. In Germany, each household owning the TV set shall pay a certain amount of money as the TV charge stipulated in the agreement jointly signed by all federal states monthly (currently 28.25 Mark). This income will be allocated among the public TV agencies and the media administrations of all states by the Consortium of Public Broadcasters in the Federal Republic of Germany. In France, TV 2 and TV 3 are both national public TV networks, generally called the French TV 2/3. Like in Germany, French citizens must register their identities and residences when purchasing the TV set so that the TV charges can be easily collected. No matter whether they watch the programs of the public TV channels, each household with the TV set must pay 700 Franc each year. Also like in Germany, French government provides explicit regulations on the advertisement content, broadcasting quantity, broadcasting method and review rules of the public radio and TV system. The European treaty passed in 1997 plays a certain role in protecting the public radio and TV undertakings in Europe. However, news media of this form of ownership in Western Europe run into difficulties and obstacles due to the shock by commercial radio and TV networks and the market pressure, insufficient support from the government and the imperfect programs and services of the public radio and TV network. The public ownership of the news media in former Eastern European countries was similar to the previous group ownership. For example,

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Yugoslavia ruled that the civil group reaching a certain number of members enjoyed the right to run newspapers according to law. The newspapers, magazines and radio and TV agencies financed and founded by this kind of civil group could independently formulate their own working regulations, decide on the allocation of capital and allocation of personal incomes and determine their systems and people responsible for free selection. This is a kind of relatively complete news media system of public ownership. Later, the Soviet Union passed its first journalism law in June 1990 under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, which provided that each organization and individual was entitled to run newspapers according to law. In the context, some news media of public ownership had emerged. However, this form of ownership was just a flash in the pan and came to its end rapidly in both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The last one is the quasi-government ownership. The news media of this kind of ownership form were formerly founded by the private, but later the government seizes part of the control over the media by buying the shares or providing financial support and then enjoys the right to assign officials to take charge of the media or review the policies, etc. Among the four major news agencies in the west, AFP is the representative of the quasi-government ownership form. According to the AFP Charter approved by the French parliament, AFP operates as a commercial news agency, detached from the control by any party or group, but it receives a subsidy of 120 to 200 million Franc from French government, taking up approximately half of the whole budget of AFP. Moreover, the representative of “state-run institution client” in the board of directors is generally assigned by the government, clearly demonstrating its quasi-government ownership. 1.2   The Forms of Ownership of News Media in China The forms of ownership of news media in old China showed no great difference to those in western countries. At that time, the government or party media such as the Central Daily News, Central Radio Station and Central News Agency co-existed with private media such as Ta Kung Pao and Shun Pao. After the founding of new China, the central government and the Party Central Committee took resolute measures to take over all the newspapers, periodicals, radio stations and news agencies under the management of Kuomintang army and party and expel the “imperialist news agencies” in China. Different treatment is extended to private news media, which had been exposed to socialist transformation (public–private joint ownership, etc.) and changed to state ownership. Until 1960 when the News Daily was closed down, all news media in Chin belonged to the state, i.e. applying the government ownership. This situation had lasted until the beginning of the Reform and Opening up.

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The form of state ownership of news media in China presented the following characteristics: the capital needed for running a newspaper was provided by the government according to the budget; the materials needed for running a newspaper was supplied by the government according to the plan; the release of newspapers was realized through the post office based on the mechanism of “combination of distribution and post”; and the personnel needed for running a newspaper was determined by the government; and the leaders of the newspapers were assigned by the Party committee according to the cadres’ management power. In this uniform form of ownership, the news media were considered as the tool of the Party and the government, but they had been exposed to transient industrial transformations twice. The first process lasted from 1949 to 1956, i.e. from the founding of the new China to the completion of the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft and capitalist industry and commerce. In this period, the central government adopted the policy of “enterprise management” for newspapers and had achieved great results. At that time, many news media could finance themselves. This transformation had suspended due to the media environment since 1957. The second industrial transformation took place after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Party and consisted of mainly three stages. In the first stage, from 1979 to 1988, news media applied the operation principle of “the essence of the public institution and the management of the enterprise.” The second stage, from 1988 to 1992, aimed to realize multiple modes of operation and paid services. The third stage, from Deng Xiaoping’s Talks in the South in 1992 to the present, has adhered to the slogan of “one form of ownership as the principal and several modes of operation as the supplement.” These twice industrial transformations, particularly the second one, have impacted and adjusted the ownership forms of news media in China. Since 1992 when the market economy was implemented, some new explorations have been made on the forms of ownership. Firstly, the increasingly diversified forms of ownership are seen in some departments within or subordinate to news media. With the newspaper industry as an instance, newspapers can be generally divided into three different situations. The newspaper offices themselves apply the uniform state ownership (according to the explanation of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which does not accord with the fact exactly). The secondary accounting departments including the printing, release and advertising departments subordinate to the newspaper offices mostly adopt the state ownership, but some of them are established as an independent legal entity in a form of limited liability company or company limited by shares. The majority of these departments are still held or solely invested by the newspaper offices. Some newspaper enterprises

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applying multiple modes of operation (i.e. non-press industry) present diversified forms of ownership. Among them, some enterprises release corporate shares, solely invested, held or shared by the newspaper offices; while some enterprises issue natural-person shares, shared by newspaper employees or the whole society. Secondly, the merger and development of the press drive the birth of over twenty news groups. According to the regulations of the government authority, basic conditions for the organization of newspaper groups are listed below: (1) Media strength: In addition to one influential major newspaper, it shall release at least four subnewspapers and subperiodicals to make up a complete series of newspapers and periodicals. (2) Economic strength: Considering the gap of economic development in different regions, the annual tax benefit of newspapers in coastal areas shall be over 50 million Yuan, while that of newspapers in the middle and Western region shall be over 30 million Yuan. (3) Talent strength: More than 20% of newspaper editors shall acquire the senior journalistic title (above the associate senior professional); and the operation, management and technology personnel shall have over 15% enjoy the medium professional title and at least 1 employee acquire the senior professional title. (4) Technology strength: It shall possess the independent printing house, the modern phototypesetting and offset printing equipment and the ability of colored offset printing. It can undertake a certain quantity of printing businesses for others in addition to the printing and binding mission of the newspaper itself, and reach a total printing capacity over 2 million copies in folio. (5) Release strength: The total circulation of the major newspaper, subnewspapers and subperiodicals shall exceed 600 thousand or ensure at least one newspaper for every 150 people within the region. Moreover, it has a smooth channel for distribution and sees the opportunity to gradually establish the self-run distribution network. Some of the subnewspapers or non-press enterprises making up the press group have been exposed to the changes of the ownership and partly applied some forms of ownership other than the state ownership. 媒,如: Thirdly, the external capital including foreign capital has joined in the news media, leading to the changes of the forms of ownership of these news media. As the government cancels or reduces the financial allocation to news media, the media are becoming increasingly enthusiastic to seek external capital under the fierce pressure of the press industry. The International Data Group, an international data company that publishes 270 professional publications worldwide, has cooperated with China in publishing 12 kinds of publications,

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the most well-known of which is the Computer World. IDG Chairman Patrick McGovern said that he would continue to invest 1 billion US dollars in Chinese media in the following seven years. Only a little international capital has been introduced to Chinese media by now as restricted by the policies. By comparison, domestic capital has been invested in Chinese media in large amount. For example: Shanghai Johnson Group, a listed company, has contributed 2.99 million Yuan to purchase 20% of the shares of magazine New Finance Economics; invested 2 million Yuan to incorporate the Shanghai Money Weekly Advertising Distribution Company jointly with Shanghai Century Publishing Group and accounted for 20% of the shares; and contributed 160 million Yuan to found Shanghai Johnson Media Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (with total registered capital of 200 million Yuan) and occupied 80% of the total shares, with the other 20% invested by Shanghai Huipu Technology Investment Co., Ltd. with 40 million Yuan. Listed company Chengdu B-ray Media held controlling interest in Chengdu Economic Daily. Listed company Sanlian Group invested in the Economic Observer. Beijing Tianyihua Advertising Company held controlling share in Chinese Cosmetics etc. Three Nine group held majority share in New Weekly. Shanshan Group held controlling interest in Elegance. China Interactive Media Group held controlling interest in ILOOK World City. Beda Jade Bird Group and Culture Group invested in Beijing Times. …………2 The list of companies investing in the media sector is endless, and the above are only provided as examples. Theoretically, the capital reorganization will necessarily lead to changes of the ownership, but the current laws and policies are strict about it. We will wait and see the changes in the future. Fourthly, some media are exposed to capital reorganization and some start to apply the shareholding system. In recent years, some news media have been quietly reorganized as shareholding companies and have run well. For instance, Jinhua Daily adopted the separate shareholding system reform of moderate intensity, invited employees to purchase individual shares and correctly and distinctly established the political premise by assuring “three favorables” and “four invariants.” The “three favorables” refer to being favorable to promote the Party’s leadership over the journalistic work

2 Cao

Peng, Wang Xiaowei, An Insight into Media Capital Market, 1st edition, Page 10–11, Beijing, Guangming Daily Press, 2001.

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and give better play to the role of the mouthpiece of the Party and the people; being favorable to arouse the enthusiasm of cadres and employees and enhance the cohesion; and being favorable to constantly advance the strength of the press undertakings. The “four invariants” means to stick to the essence and missions of the Party newspaper; stick to the newspaper policy of “serving the people and serving socialism”; stick to the correct guidance of public opinions; and stick to value preservation or appreciation of state-owned and collective assets. Through years of efforts, the economic benefits of newspapers have risen sharply; the press industry has ushered in all-round development; employees’ incomes have increased and the decision making of newspaper offices is becoming more scientific. In more cases, media have separated, integrated and reorganized their high-quality operating assets, registered shareholding subsidiaries of independent legal person qualification controlled by state-owned assets and applied to becoming listed companies to raise funds publicly from society, such as the Oriental Pearl listed in 1994, China Television Media listed in 1997 and Radio and TV Media listed in 1999. Some subsidiaries control and reorganized listed companies by purchasing the shares of listed companies. For example, Chengdu B-ray Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidy of Chengdu Economic Daily, purchased 20 million shares of listed company Sichuan Electrical Apparatus and became the largest shareholder. Subsequently, Sichuan Electrical Apparatus transferred the land and real estate properties valued 12 million Yuan to Chengdu Economic Daily. Chengdu Economic Daily has become the controller of Sichuan Electrical Apparatus, which was then renamed as Chengdu B-ray Media Co., Ltd. This company is further engaged in the media industry, covering businesses of advertising, printing, publishing, information network, e-commerce, etc. Since then, B-ray Media has purchased the shares of other companies and incorporated new companies, and thus become a nationwide famous media company. More than a dozen of companies have grown through capital reorganization in this way. The emergence of shareholding media companies will necessarily influence the changes of the ownership forms of media. In conclusion, as Chinese economy is transforming from a planned economy to a market economy, the news media are experiencing unprecedentedly great changes. Along with China’s entry into the WTO and the advent of international capital, the ownership forms of news media in China are exposed to constant reforms and changes. Journalists and journalistic scholars both in China and the west are paying urgent attention to these reforms and changes. According to Chinese laws and policies and the positioning of the news media industry in the industrial structure, the nature and major functions of news media in China as well as the dominant role of state-owned assets in Chinese news media will not change; however, the ownership forms of part of the news media or part of the ownership forms of news media will inevitably change.

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1.3   Brief Conclusions of the Analysis of the News Media Ownership Forms in China and the West Upon the detailed analysis of the ownership forms of news media in China and the west and their evolution, the following conclusions can be reached. Firstly, the private ownership plays a major part in the ownership forms of news media in Western countries, including the developed and developing capitalist countries. The role of the private ownership of news media is more important in countries of a more developed economy and a more perfect market system. This is exactly opposite to the news media in China, where the state ownership, i.e. the government ownership, is the main part. The government authority once explicitly declared that all newspapers of China were state-owned assets. Legally, China has no private media, and even the news media founded jointly with foreign capital are state-owned capital. The different forms of ownership of news media in the west and in China, respectively with private ownership and state (government) ownership as the main role, decide the two different natures of news media to a great extent. Secondly, the forms of ownership of news media and their development in different countries are closely associated with the economic and political systems of these countries. Generally, the Western newspapers in early stages were mostly owned by the government or the party; private ownership became increasingly popular along with the capitalist development; and finally, some government and party newspapers had been sold to individuals. As to the news media in socialist China, the original private ownership had been transformed to state ownership through the joint public–private ownership and purchase. Since the Reform and Opening up, increasing domestic and foreign capital is joining the journalism and communication sector, some media are reorganized as shareholding companies and go listed and the subsidiaries to the media groups start to apply diversified forms of ownership. Therefore, the non-state ownership is developing in China from the previous uniform state ownership of news media. It fully demonstrates that the economic and political system of society exerts decisive effect on the generation and change of the ownership form of media. Thirdly, the forms of ownership of news media are not fixed. Though the ownership form of news media is relatively stable once it is formed, it will change along with the alterations of the subjective and objective conditions. Therefore, the growth and decline of the ownership form of news media follows an objective law. The mature media owners and managers bear the important responsibilities to guide the media development in the light of its general trend, make full use of objective conditions, promote the change of the media ownership in a way that is favorable for the development of media undertakings and assure that the media bring benefits to the country, the people and the owners. Even in a period of stable development of a certain ownership form of media, different ownership forms show their own

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advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the media owners and managers shall pay close attention to make use of the merits of one form to make up for the shortcomings of another form.

2   Comparison of the Editorial Policies of Chinese and Western News Media The editorial policy is a relatively stable overall design of the content, form and style of the media decided by the news media according to the media owners’ will, aim of the newspaper and communication environment. The editorial policy constitutes the basic principle and major basis that journalists shall observe during their editing activities and is regarded as the “law” for the decision making of media. 2.1   Editorial Policies of Western News Media 2.1.1 Editorial Policies of American News Media In view of the special position of news media in social life, the editorial policy embodies a concentrated reflection of the political culture and journalistic culture of society and the editing skills of news media. As to the analysis of the editorial policies of American news media, the primary importance shall be attached to the investigation on the leading role of the mainstream political culture of American culture in the media. The editorial policies of American news media are exposed to the influence of the mainstream culture. American political scientists tend to summarize the political creed of Americans as follows: (1) freedom; (2) equality; (3) individualism; (4) democracy; (5) legality. The creed is derived from The Declaration of Independence, with democracy and freedom as the core. In alignment with the mainstream political culture, the ideological system of American news media generally consists of four beliefs: (1) the news media shall be free from external interference by politics, advertisers and even the public; (2) the news media shall safeguard “the right to know of the public”; (3) the news media explore and reveal the truth; (4) and the news media shall report the facts in an objective and impartial way.3 As the United States is the most economically developed country in the world, the long-term prosperity of its market economy has boosted the rapid and stable development of journalism in the United States. However, the commercial culture in the United States is flooded with various hackneyed and stereotyped expressions and vulgar content at the same time. As stated by Sinclair Lewis, the first American writer to receive the Noble Prize 3 [US]

Herbert Altschull, Agents of Power, 1st edition, Page 133, Beijing, Huaxia Publishing House, 1989.

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in Literature, “the various hackneyed and stereotyped expressions in our commercial culture have been widely spread without restraint through the mouthpiece that represents this culture, fully displaying the noises of the most vulgar middle class in the United States in their commercial activities.” Under the significant influence of this kind of cultural atmosphere, the special personality has been formed in the basic values of American press: the “altruistic” democratic consciousness, “responsible” capitalism, pastoralism in small villages and towns, individualism, modernism, scientific and rational spirit, social order and justice, state leadership and ethnocentrism, etc. The editorial policies of American news media are also subject to the restrictions by party interests. Generally, the political ideology of American society can be divided into two major schools, liberalism and conservatism. The liberals advocate that a powerful government extensively implements the social program under the premise of safeguarding democracy and human rights; while the conservatives advocate laissez-faire and strict restrictions on government power. Though the news media in the US avoid mentioning their tendentiousness and being considered as partisan, they actually form into two camps, liberals and conservatives. In regard to the most influential media, New York Times, Washington Post and three major radio and TV networks make up the “eastern liberal news power group”; and the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Hearst Newspapers hold the conventional conservative ideas. As to the presidential race between the Democratic Party led by the liberals and the Republican Party led by the conservatives since the 1840s, the majority of the daily newspapers which support presidential candidates with leading articles have sided with the Republicans. It demonstrates the great influence of conservatives in American press. See Table 1. The editorial policies of American news media are not fixed but are subject to the influence of economic and political factors in different historical periods. Here the changes of the editorial policies in two centuries are analyzed with the newspaper industry as an instance. After the constituent assembly of the United States in 1787, the newspapers could be divided into the “federalist” and “anti-federalist” and ushered in the period of the party newspaper, which lasted until the nineteenth century. According to the journalism history of the United States in the first 30 years of the nineteenth century, the newspaper continued to play the role as the official newspaper of major parties and aimed to discuss political and economic issues instead of publishing news, so the newspaper reflected and aggravated the political struggle among the parties. In the 1930s, the cheap newspaper emerged based on economic development and democratic governance by President Andrew Jackson. This new type of newspaper led to the changes of the editorial policies. In an early cheap newspaper Sun, the founder Benjamin Day declared: “Our goal is to run a newspaper affordable to everyone, which publishes the reports of the current day for the public and provides the favorable advertisement media.” Six months after the release of the newspaper, he announced

156  B. TONG Table 1  Daily newspapers that support presidential candidates with leading articles Year

1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988

Support the Republican Party (%)

Support the Democratic Party (%)

No comment (%)

% of newspapers

% of newspapers

% of newspapers

63.9 60.1 65.1 67.3 62.3 57.7 35.1 60.8 71.4 62.3 42.0 58.0 31.0

% of circulation 69.2 68.5 78.5 80.2 72.3 70.9 21.5 69.9 77.4 62.2 49.0 52.0 40.0

22.7 17.7 15.3 14.5 15.1 16.4 42.3 14.0 5.3 12.1 12.0 9.0 13.0

% of circulation 25.2 17.9 10.0 10.8 12.8 15.8 61.5 19.3 7.7 22.8 22.0 21.0 25.0

13.4 17.9 15.6 18.2 22.6 25.9 22.6 24.0 23.3 25.6 42.0 33.0 55.0

% of circulation 5.6 13.8 10.0 9.0 14.9 13.3 17.0 10.5 14.9 15.0 25.0 27.0 35.0

Data Source (1) For the data of 1940–1976, see [US] Edwin Emery, Michael Emery, The Press and America, 1st Edition, Page 654, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1982 (2) For the data of 1980–1988, see Mei Zi, American Political Statistics Manual, 1st Edition, Page 194

again: “We adhere to the policy of independence……Our motto is the truth and we will not bow to the slanders spread by the pillagers or the money of officials. We will unveil any evil conducted by any individual or any group for denouncement.” In the same period, another American newspaperman James Gordon Bennet founded the New York Herald and claimed itself to be an impartial independent newspaper. In the first issue of the newspaper, he said: “We will not support any party or be the official newspaper of any school or small group. We show no interest in the selection of the president or other officials. We will devote ourselves to recording the facts as well as the major public events and their issues. Without nonsense, we will present reports in an impartial, fair, independent, fearless and nice manner and give comments appropriately.” Based on his own newspaper policy, James Gordon Bennet had contributed considerably to the news reports. With his efforts, the newspaper broke into and affected people’s life. Therefore, he was praised as the first real journalist of the United States. According to Rivers, Bennet created a new idea at that time that the newspaper was the supplier of news but not comments. When talking about the founding of New York Tribune, newspaperman Horace Greeley said: “I was encouraged by my friends from the Whig Party to run this business. They believed that our city was in urgent demand of cheap newspapers targeting workers. The two penny newspapers in New York, The Sun and Herald, practically sympathized with and supported the

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Democrats though they did not reveal their party inclination……I have two principles when running the newspaper, firstly, never serving for any party, and secondly, never pretending to be neutral. The party spirit in the United States is intolerably strong. The chief editor of a non-party newspaper will be restricted when delivering his opinions and suggestions on the most important and urgent issues, but the newspapers of the Democrats, Whigs and Republicans always observe the ideas and interests of their parties to praise or criticize, welcome or abominate, honor or condemn a thing. I believe that a moderate way between the two extreme phenomena, where the journalist can openly and sincerely publicize the principles and judge the measures of the party the journalist embraces, frankly present different opinions on specific issues and condemn any unqualified (or worse) dependent candidate of the party.”4 The Sun, New York Herald and New York Tribune were among the best of cheap newspapers. Completely distinguished from the party newspaper, the penny newspaper showed three characteristics. Firstly, these newspapers declared to be “non-partisan independent newspapers” from the political perspective. Instead of relying on the financial support by the political parties or politicians like the party newspaper does, the penny newspaper was essentially a capitalist enterprise and an economically independent “commercial newspaper,” with the middle-class and petty bourgeoisie and laboring people as the targeting readers. Secondly, it covered an extensive scope of news reports and paid special attention to local news, social news, human-interest news and sensational news. The party newspaper mainly wrote political comments and mostly reported political news. Thirdly, the newspaper was managed with the mode of capitalist enterprise management and the advertisements contributed to the main incomes of the newspaper. Determined by the editorial policies of cheap newspapers in this period, these three characteristics further reflected and highlighted the nature and style of cheap newspapers totally different from the editorial policies of the party newspapers. The editorial policies of American newspapers have been exposed to more changes in the period of modern journalism. When founding the St. Louis Post Dispatch in 1878, Joseph Pulitzer declared: “The Post Dispatch serves the people instead of political parties; plays as the mouthpiece of the truth instead of the Republicans; criticizes instead of supporting the administrative authority and opposes any kind of deceit and fraud in any place; and advocates principles and ideals instead of prejudices and partisanship. These ideals and principles are essentially the ideals and principles for the founding of our country……They are the good ideal of the real democracy and the principles for coins, local autonomy and tax reform.” Scholars appraised this editorial policy of Joseph Pulitzer as the ideal, unprecedented and best expression of American journalistic undertakings. 4 [US]

Willard G. Bleyer, History of American Journalism, 1st edition, Page 213, the United States, 1945.

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The World of Joseph Pulitzer has been regarded as the model of American modern bourgeois press. In the foreword to this newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer announced that this newspaper would adopt the new operation and management method and new aim and policy and target the new readers. He believed that in New York, the increasingly developed metropolis, there should be such kind of newspaper, since it was characterized by low price, rich content and large space, sided with the people based on real democracy, refused to attach itself to the wealth power, disclosed all deceits and outrageous conducts, opposed any public malpractices and strived for the people’s interests. The World also declared the “Ten Programs” in the editorial: taxing luxuries; taxing huge incomes; taxing monopolized enterprise; taxing privileged companies; formulating the tax regulations for the state; reforming the system of civil servants; punishing corrupt officials; punishing vote traders; punishing the employer suppressing employees during the vote; etc. The World has been a great success. Journalistic historian Frank Luther Mott had summarized the experiences of The World guided by the new editorial policy of Joseph Pulitzer into six points. Firstly, in regard to the news policy, The World focused on major news at home and abroad and supplemented it with a large number of exciting news to arouse readers’ interest. Secondly, it carried out various social movements such as raising the fund to build the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Thirdly, the high-quality editorial page vigorously created public opinion to support the social reform advocated by the newspaper. Fourthly, it consisted of a large number of pages but was sold at a low price. The advertisement placed at the headline read: The only 8-page newspaper sold at only 2 cents. Fifthly, it led all other newspapers to use illustrations. Sixthly, it stressed on marketing. To compete with Joseph Pulitzer’s The World, William Randolph Hearst also adopted the new editorial policy for New York Daily. His watchword: strive to be the first to acquire news regardless of the cost; stimulate readers with constant noises; challenge the improper wealth and make a vow to the poor to attract readers and increase the sale. Finally, these two newspapers competed with each other by stimulating readers with yellow news and sensational news. The later generation judged William Randolph Hearst that he had lowered the quality of journalistic undertakings and published the worst newspaper of America. Nearly every American newspaper had applied some of his policies. As a case study, we hereby especially analyze the editorial policies of American mainstream newspaper New York Times and their evolution over a century. Henry Raymond and two colleagues of his founded the New York Times on September 1851, when they proposed an original editorial policy. In the editorial of the first issue, Henry Raymond wrote: “The New York Times will always report the worldwide news from the perspectives of morality, industry, education and religion and attempt to be the best newspaper of New York…… We do not mean to write articles driven by our emotions unless it really excites us. We will try not to be swayed by our emotions.”

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The later generation pointed out that Henry Raymond was trying to figure out a way between the emotional impulse of New York Tribune and the moral degradation of the New York Herald.5 The New York Times has advertised itself as an “independent newspaper” since it was founded. In 1857, Henry Raymond had written an article named the Theory of Journalism, which described the differences between an independent newspaper and a party newspaper: “The official newspaper of the political party shall not be taken as the public newspaper, since it is not a legal member of journalism, irresponsible for a journalistic undertaking and unqualified to be honored as a journalistic undertaking.” “The public newspaper features loftier functions.” “To win the public trust, the newspaper must be non-partisan and independent and assure its image in people’s minds as a newspaper responsible for justice and public welfare instead of being loyal to the interests or demands of the political party.” “The New York Times is not involved in the struggles of political parties but seeks for public welfare instead of political interests. When advocating a certain behavior or explaining a certain incident, it sides with the people instead of considering the interest of any school or political party.”6 This is the editorial policy of the New York Times. When taking over the New York Times, Adolph Ochs announced the following policy: “Report news, all the news……Report news justly without any fear or preference, regardless of the interest of any political party or group.” This newspaper started to post the news policy at the headline of the newspaper since 1896, saying: “All news appropriate for publishing.” This statement declared two standpoints of the news, firstly, reporting complete news, and secondly, reporting news seriously without any dirty report and “not polluting the napkin during breakfast.” Applying the principle of separating facts from comments, the New York Times divided the news editing department and the editorial writing department. Its news policy was: reporting news objectively. The former Editorial Director Edwin James said: “Every day, we use only 125,000 words from the 1 million words of news reports……This is a process of selection. Our only principle is objectivity.”7 The most distinct characteristic of the New York Times lies in its detailed and complete reports, making it the largest news supermarket of the United States and even the world. The number of news published here is larger than that of any other newspaper. Moreover, it has borne the obligation as a historical material newspaper for a long time and become the common

5 [US] Willard G. Bleyer, History of American Journalism, 1st edition, Page 240 and 241, the United States, 1945. 6 [US] Willard G. Bleyer, History of American Journalism, 1st edition, Page 243–244, the United States, 1945. 7 New York Times, Newspapers, 1st edition, Page 16–17, the United States, 1945.

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newspaper of record internationally. Even when the New York Times is criticized, the critics usually get the grounds of argument from the news reports of this newspaper. The limitation of the objectivity principle has also been manifested by the New York Times. For example, it has always been cautious when discussing the “state security.” The American press holds that the news column of the newspaper pertains to the public and the content of the news column presented to the public shall be free from any private thought of the newspaper owner or editor; while the editorial page is the “territory” of the newspaper owner and editor and represents the idea of the newspaper itself. The separation between the “public” and the “separate” is jokingly referred to as the “government-religion separation.” However, even the “territory” of the newspaper owner and editor shall adhere to the principle of “impartiality.” Therefore, like all other American newspapers, the New York Times emphasizes its non-partisan editorial policy. John Oakes, the former chief editor of the Editorial Page, said that the editorial page would be valueless unless it was non-partisan and strived to play the leading role in state affairs. Being “non-partisan” does not necessarily mean that the media remains neutral in party competition. As a matter of fact, the media always expressly show their supporting or opposing attitudes toward the candidates in the presidential or congressman election. Before 1955, the New York Times had supported the Democratic candidate for three times and supported the Republican candidate for three times. From 1960 to the present, the position of the editorials of the New York Times has leaned toward the Democrats, and it supported the Democratic presidential candidate every time. Does the one-sided action conflict with the policy of “justice” and “impartiality”? The former publisher of the New York Times, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, blamed it on “the split of Republicans” instead of the deviation from the newspaper policy. Leonard Silk, a columnist of the New York Times, also defended the newspaper and stated that though the New York Times tried hard to be politically independent, it was inclined to side with the Democrats based on its position on social issues. Due to its liberal traditions, the New York Times had been teased by the history, including the election of Richard Nixon and the rightist development of Republicans. In this case, the New York Times could hardly play the role it liked as a unifying force supported by both parties. Under the banner of “liberty” and “justice,” the keynote of the editorials of the New York Times in the twentieth century has experienced the evolution of “mild – progressive – arrogant.” With the changes of the international situation and the rise of the newspaper status, the New York Times has become more arrogant in editorials in recent years, especially reflected by its editorials about the China issue. It frequently attacked the “human right” issue jointly with other newspapers and urged the American government to put pressure on China.

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The editorial policies of the New York Times embodied in its news policies and editorial policies and their evolution in recent years analyzed above are representative and typical in not only the American press, radio and television but also the press of all Western countries. It is necessary to introduce the editorial policies of the Voice of America (VOA) here, one of the few official news media subordinated to the US Information Agency. The Articles of Association of the Voice of America provides the follows: It is necessary to establish the direct communication channels with people all over the world through radio for the sake of the long-term interest of the United States. For better results, the Voice of America subordinated to the US Information Agency must win the attention and respect of the audience. VOA shall comply with the three guiding principles below: Firstly, as the authoritative information source trusted by the audience, VOA shall present news accurately, objectively and comprehensively. Secondly, VOA represents the whole American society instead of a social class. Therefore, when introducing American institutions and ideologies, VOA shall cover extensive content and comprehensive reports. Thirdly, VOA shall clearly and effectively expound American policies and report on the responsible opinions and comments on these policies. American professor James Aronson evaluated the VOA in his News Gathering and Writing as follows: “VOA is an organization under American government, as it is invested, operated and managed by and has its employees recruited by American government. Though it strives to provide news impartially, it is essentially safeguarding the interest and overseas image of American government.” This judgment of James Aronson can be applied to the editorial policy of all official media in Western countries. 2.1.2 Editorial Policies of News Media in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan France The French people had contributed to the world with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (approved by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789). Article 16 of the Declaration provides: “It is one of the most precious rights of man to freely communicate thoughts and opinions; so, every citizen enjoys the freedom of speech, writing and publication. However, corresponding responsibilities shall be borne for the abuse of the freedom according to law.” The political press in the revolutionary period was the first beneficiary of this freedom. Bourgeois revolutionaries utilized the press as a weapon to fight against the monks and nobles, promote the just requirements of the third grade and attack the retroaction by the royalist press.

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The editorial policy of Jean-Paul Marat’s Friend of the People was to educate the people to use the freedom. Some scholars pointed out that the Friend of the People had become the official newspaper of revolutionary democrats since its birth. The poor, civilians, farmers and the urban petty bourgeois all treated Jean-Paul Marat as the defender of their interests. He had disclosed the plot and secret plan of the anti-revolutionary party and revealed the dual characters and the rebellion tendency of the bourgeois aristocracy and its leaders. In the article Disclosure of the Plot to Benumb the People and Obstruct with the Formulation of the Constitution, he wrote: “We relentlessly condemn the country thieves, disclose the true features of those hypocrites and uncover the traitors to conquer the enemy of the state. I will drive out those greedy public affair speculators displaying their piety, those cowards incapable of serving the motherland and the suspects who cannot be trusted by the country.”8 The La Presse run by Emile de Girardin and the Century run by Didenko were the early representatives of cheap newspapers in France. When founding the La Presse in 1836, Emile de Girardin declared that this newspaper would not promote any new theory or build any party. It would operate as an independent newspaper for the sake of people’s interests. Therefore, it placed social issues above political issues and devoted itself to making more people happier. Based on this newspaper idea, Emile de Girardin decided the three features of the editorial policy of the newspaper: reducing political news and speeches and publishing more social new and court cases; making use of a large space to publish knowledge and discussions on public hygiene, health, childbirth, food, clothes, family, etc.; and inviting Victor Hugo, Honore De Balzag and Alexandre Dumas et al. to write literary works popular among readers. The independent Century (founded in 1836) shared similar editorial policies with the La Presse, but took a more clear-cut stand. It emphasized that the government should be capable of fulfilling its social functions and considered the interests of the whole people as the only standard to judge the social functions of the government. The Century was more emotional and sensational than the La Presse in the reports on social news and court cases, so it had always led the sales volume of the La Presse. By the late nineteenth century, the major four cheap newspapers in the French press included Le Petit Journal, Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin and Le Journal. The editorial policy of Le Petit Journal stressed on attracting readers with social news, popular content and serial novels and gave vent to national chauvinism and militarism. Claiming to be neutral, Le Petit Parisien adhered to an editorial policy of playing the role as “the regulator of public opinion.” Le Matin alleged that it had no political or economic background and had no financial support from the bank, industry or commerce. After the owner 8 [FR]

Van Lode Blanche et al., A General History of French Journalism, 1st edition, Vol. 1, Page 455, Paris, University of France Press, 1972.

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of this newspaper changed, it made use of political and fiscal incidents to ask for allowance and bribery and had become notorious at that time. Same as the Century run by Didenko, Le Journal insisted on the editorial policy of “providing literary works suitable for businessmen, workers, primary school teachers and employees” and invited literary masters including Emile Zola to supply contributions. After the World War II, the representatives of major newspapers in France included Le Monde, Le Figaro, France-Soir, etc. France-Soir applies the policy of editing and publishing a great number of social news. It is wild about publishing sensational anecdotes and indifferent with the serious analysis of incidents, so it is a little vulgar in style. Founded in 1944, Le Monde declared itself as politically independent and financially self-supported, detached from any news group and rejecting government subsidies. The first issue of Le Monde emphasized its editorial policy of providing all-round and accurate news reports to readers in a timely manner. This newspaper has cultivated its own style through long-time experiences, i.e. publishing more explanatory reports presenting excellent analysis, fewer pictures and no yellow news. In recent years, insiders say that this newspaper has established a closer relationship with the government, and its editorials mainly reflect the views of government and particularly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its daily circulation reached 307,000 in 1997. Le Figaro was named after the character in the Marriage of Figaro, a play written by Pierre Beaumarchais. As an old newspaper founded in 1854, it is known as “the Bible for the middle and upper-class of France.” In the early period, this newspaper was printed with a saying of Pierre Beaumarchais: “Without the freedom to criticize, there is no true praise.” The policy of this newspaper is to seek stimulating news and local news. The sponsor Hippolyte de Villemessant said: “A dog drowned in Paris is more interesting than the collapse of a distant world”.9 This newspaper was bought by Robert Hersant’s Socpresse in 1975, but its overall political inclination to right-deviationist conservation has not changed. Its daily circulation in 1997 was 380,000. The United Kingdom After the British bourgeois revolution, the bourgeois had overthrown the feudal rule, but still failed to prepare the material condition for the development of popular newspapers. Therefore, the major player of the press at that time was still the political party newspaper, and the development was slow. The first successful cheap newspaper in the United Kingdom should be the Daily Telegraph founded in 1855. In its first issue, it declared the editorial policy as: running a cheap but high-quality daily newspaper under the constitutional

9 Wang

Taixuan, An Outline of Foreign Famous Newspapers, 1st edition, Page 143, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1985.

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monarchy, to defend the country, promote the moral level and improve democracy and welfare. The new chief editor emphasized on transforming it from a newspaper telling about news in a simple and straightforward way to a newspaper reporting worldwide news excellent in both content and language that was popular among the readers. The chief editor Edward Levy Lawson believed that the popular newspaper should play as a mirror of the times and should arouse the emotions of readers. At present, the Daily Telegraph is leading a way of quality paper, the editorial policy of which stresses on the combination of serious news and humane news. It claims to be a politically “conservative” and “center-right” newspaper. Lord Northcliffe, the founder of modern journalistic undertaking in the United States, created the Daily Mail in 1896, which was a model of modern popular newspaper of the United Kingdom. The first editorial of the newspaper specified its policy in this way: this is a newspaper for busy man with low price and concise text, by which you can read all news with only half penny. The advertisement of the newspaper before its founding had repeatedly emphasized this policy: this is a newspaper for busy man and poor man, sold at only half penny. Though holding that “the anomaly is news”10 and seeking novel news, Northcliffe did not make his fortune from the yellow news. This was likely because he had to compete with quality paper with high-quality news. The Times is a model of quality newspaper in the United Kingdom. This old newspaper, with a history over 200 years, declared right upon its founding that a newspaper should record the times and all information according to the fact. The second manager of the newspaper stressed that the newspaper publisher should regard the “independent and reliable newspaper of public conscience” as the only honor. Though it declared to be independent upon its founding, it actually had started to accept the government subsidies very early (John Walter accepted a government subsidy of 300 pounds a year since the founding of the newspaper), so it played as the mouthpiece of the government for some issues. Later when it stopped receiving official subsidies, it held the banner of “independent from any party.” In 1981, this newspaper was transferred to an Australian, Rupert Murdoch, who did not interfere with the editorial policy and would maintain the style of the newspaper as a traditional high-quality newspaper. However, according to a report of the Newspaper Council of the United Kingdom, The Times has lowered its quality to increase the circulation at full split since the takeover by Rupert Murdoch. Its daily sales reached as high as 770,000 in 1998. Another high-quality newspaper The Guardian of the UK adopted the policy of liberalism and stressed on the free comments, sacred facts and detestable propaganda. The newspaper was entitled to present the dissenting voices of people and should maintain the precious impartiality of comments. 10 [UK]

Harold Hudd, History of British Journalism, 1st edition, Page 241, the UK, 1952.

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By now, the popular newspaper in the United Kingdom is jokingly called the “sewer sheets.” Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said that popular newspaper was the dirt flowing from the Fleet Street (the street where London newspaper offices are densely located). These newspapers adhere to the completely market-oriented policy mainly presenting yellow news and entertainment materials. The Sunday newspaper News of the World owned by Rupert Murdoch is the popular newspaper of the highest sales volume in the United Kingdom. It mainly publishes the yellow news and black news (violent activities, etc.), and the circulation of which hit an alltime high of 7.89 million in 1948 and was lowered to 4.77 million in 1995. However, it is still the Sunday newspaper of the highest sales volume in the United Kingdom and worldwide. The Sun, a yellow tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, is the best sold daily newspaper, with a daily circulation of 3.7 million in 1998. Germany Despite the early start of the development of the German press, the press in Germany was far behind that in the United Kingdom and France due to the various kinds of restrictions on the press during the wars and feudal autocracy since the seventeenth century. The party newspaper had dominated for too long and the cheap newspaper emerged late. During the two world wars, the German press had encountered huge pressure from the militarism. It was after the World War II that the German press had ushered in vigorous development and different newspapers began to show their distinct editorial characteristics. The four most influential newspapers in Germany included Die Welt, Frankfurter Nachrichten, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Sueddeutsche Zeitung. These four newspapers all claimed to be independent and do all they can to present comprehensive and fair reports. Each of them shows its distinct and unique political stand. They seldom support a certain political party but agree or oppose some opinions of a certain political party. In the view of German journalistic scholar Hermann Meyn, in regard to the four newspapers, “The report of a single newspaper may be one-sided, but the newspapers together, which may be imperfect, provide the extensive and diversified opinions. These diversified opinions are indispensable for the elaboration and analysis of political issues in democratic society.” The editorial policies vary among the four newspapers. The policy of Sueddeutsche Zeitung is: “Observe the principle of liberalism and serving the community and safeguard and pursue the liberal and democratic social form.” The appendix to the editorial work agreement of Frankfurter Nachrichten states that the basic attitude of the newspaper is social liberalism (“left” liberalism). It agrees with the concept of human rights, approves the constant reform of national policies, supports minorities, advocates nonviolence and supervision over the power authority with public participation in decision making, and attempt to promote the audience to form their own opinions.

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung politically supports Christian Democrats and Christlich-Soziale Union, economically appeal for safeguarding the interests of entrepreneurs and provides a forum accommodating all schools of throughs for the writers outside the newspaper. Die Welt persists in the conservative national standard, with the slogan of “no red or black monastery.” The weekly Times advertises itself as the “liberal” newspaper. The joint publisher Ms. Denhof explained the editorial policy of Times in this way: “Tolerate the people holding different views as long as they do not use violence; and tolerate the spiritual freedom and protection of minorities as long as the minorities do not attempt to carry out a reign of terror over the majorities. We will always provide the forum for extensive diversified opinions.” The weekly Der Spiegel, regarded as the public opinion leader of Germany, declares that the weekly bears the mission to consciously show the dark side of society. People have different evaluations about this policy. The supporter believes that Der Spiegel seriously fulfills its functions in criticizing and supervising the press, covers much richer content than that in daily newspapers, provides novel topics and publishes reports independently. Meanwhile, the critic criticizes that Der Spiegel only discloses and criticizes scandals, lacks positive reports that figure out the future road for selection, and provides onesided information and false reports. Japan Nowadays, the five major newspapers, two major news agencies and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) are carrying a big weight in the journalism and communication circle in Japan in terms of the scale, strength and social influence. Their editorial policies basically reflect the general situation of the Japanese press. Asahi Shimbun, claiming to be “impartial,” adheres to the editorial policy below: hold an impartial stand, implement the freedom of speech and put great efforts to construct a democratic country and safeguard world peace; devote itself to national happiness based on humanism, eliminate any illegitimacy and violence and fight against corruption; report the truth in a fairly and rapid manner and give just comments with the progressive spirit and be tolerant, attach importance to the quality and responsibilities and respect the sober and dignified style. Right after its founding, Yomiuri Shimbun had run contrary to the talk in high-sounding phrases widely seen in the dominant political party newspapers and been welcomed by readers with a “popular” style. Until now, this newspaper still stresses on “popular” style, provide rich and diversified content that is popular and easy to understand. It is one of the popular newspapers with the most evident popular style. The charter (policy) of Mainichi Shimbun provides that this newspaper aims to be “a newspaper open to the people,” with its editorial policy decided by the Editorial Guideline Committee made up by an equal number

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of members from social organizations and the press trade union through negotiation. This regulation has broken the frame specified in the Declaration on the Editorial Right published by Japan Newspaper Association in March 1948 and challenged the editorial right controlled by the investor. Under these circumstances, the editors and journalists at the middle or lower level of the newspaper office acquire certain right to speak about the editorial right. The program of the newspaper is: assuring the freedom and independence of speech to provide factual reports and fair public opinion rapidly; implementing its mission as a social tool based on the cooperation of all employees; basing on social justice and respecting freedom, human rights and labor; and advancing the construction of a cultural country on the basis of democracy, complying with international faith and devoting itself to safeguarding the world peace. Nihon Keizai Shimbun adopts a simple and clear newspaper aim (policy): being impartial and contributing to economic development, the basis for national life, as well as the development of peace and democracy. The creed (policy) of Sankei Shimbun provides: the Sankei Shimbun fights for democracy and liberation; devotes itself to the construction of a rich country and comfortable society; considers about the peace of Japan from a global perspective; and aims to create a bright future. The aim of the NHK follows the Broadcasting Law. Article 1.2 of the Law stipulates: “Being impartial, assuring the authenticity and independence of broadcasting and leave perfect freedom to the selection of broadcasting materials.” The NHK itself also focuses on two basic principles, freedom of expression and democracy and formulates the “standards for domestic programs” and “standards for international programs.” The former standards provide: “Play as a public broadcasting agency sided with the whole nation, be impartial and independent from any interference from any party, assure the freedom of speech and expression and put great efforts to promote public welfare and improve the cultural development with rich and high-quality broadcast.” The later standards say: “Strengthen other countries’ understanding of Japan through the international broadcasting to advance the cultural and economic exchanges worldwide and contribute to international goodwill and human welfare.” Kyodo News Agency is the largest news agency in Japan after the World War II. According to its editorial program, as an international news agency representing Japan, it provides internal and external information to news agencies overseas. Another news agency, Jiji News Agency, adopts the aim: “Report the world dynamics to Japan and carry the voice of Japan to the world” and claims to “base on the complete conservatism.” 2.2   Editorial Policies of Chinese News Media In general, the editorial policies of Chinese news media can be divided into two different types before and after 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was founded.

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2.2.1 Editorial Policies Before 1949 The editorial policy was born with the media. The preface to Chinese Monthly Magazine, the first modern newspaper or periodical compiled in Chinese, can be regarded as the first policy of the Chinese press. The preface to the 1st issue, Vol. 1 of this Magazine wrote the aim and principle of this newspaper. It said: “Since there have always been reasons that have not been observed or clarified, scholars shall pay much attention to observe the world and distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad.” This magazine “covers religion, humanity, common customs, astronomy and geography and so on and spreads the knowledge following certain sequence, religion, humanity, common customers and others. People often favor the colorful cloud, so the content in this magazine shall be as diversified as the colorful cloud to attract readers.” Among the small number of the rich and the large number of the poor, poor people had less leisure time, “so each chapter of this Magazine shall not be long or difficult……It will be more effective to spread knowledge with easier content. Even people with less knowledge or intelligence can acquire something from the magazine, and the evil shall improve themselves and the good shall advance their morals.” Wang Tao is praised as “the first man with special thoughts about running the newspaper.” When operating the Universal Circulating Herald, he expressly stated that running a newspaper meant “recording current affairs without any taboo.” He suggested to follow the model of Western newspapers, “The Times in the UK is widely respected and adored in the whole world and its articles about anything big of the country are considered as the standard.” He wished China would be the same, “An editorial can exert a great influence and even affect the government.”11 Reformist leaders Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were the earliest to advocate official newspapers and promote the progress of political party newspapers in China. Current Affairs Newspaper organized based on the system of Western newspapers had been regarded as a model of official newspapers by Kang Youwei. In regard to its newspaper policies in Kang’s view, “This article of this newspaper accords with the current conditions at home and abroad and are useful in practices”; “The articles of western newspapers translated by this newspaper introduce the military system, agriculture, mining, industry and commerce in details.” He criticized the old-style Di Bao for “never reporting foreign affairs” and “only recording and spreading imperial edicts but not covering other areas”.12

11 Wang Tao, On the Increasing Popularity of Daily Newspapers in China and On Establishing New Newspaper Offices in Provincial Capitals, “Tao’s Collected Works”, 1st edition, Vol. 7, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1959. 12 Kang Youwei, The Memorial to the Throne on Changing the Current Affairs Newspaper into an Official Newspaper, Vol. 1 of “Collection of Political Comments of Kang Youwei”, 1st edition, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1981.

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Liang Qidao directly proposed the function of the party newspaper as a “mouthpiece.” According to him, “Among the various channels to achieve openness, the newspaper plays the leading role. It is called disability if without the function of ear, eye or mouth. At present, all countries are standing as neighbors, while the countries in a continent are roommates. If anyone knows nothing about the neighbor or even the roommate, he could be considered blind and deaf; and if the authority implements a policy that is unknown to the people, while the people cannot tell their sufferings to the emperor, they actually had no tongue. The newspapers performed the function of ears, eyes and mouth.”13 Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao all considered the policy of party newspapers as being the mouthpiece of both the government and the people. At the turn between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, the policies of party newspapers in China became similar to those of Western newspapers. The Eastern Times founded in 1904 pointed out: “Our newspaper will be impartial and never be inclined to any party.” Min Bao created in 1905 held an even more distinct banner, and in its foreword, Sun Yat-sen stated: “It aims to introduce the revolutionary theories and ideals to people and make them the general knowledge to lay the foundation of their implementation.” In the foreword to Chinese Women’s Daily, Qiu Jin imposingly wrote: “The newspaper bears the responsibility to influence public opinion and supervise the state. I would like to combine these two responsibilities with this newspaper, speak for all the women in China, inspires and motivates women to live, work and make progress and help them adapt to the bright world. This newspaper is created with all my strength in the hope to guide the awakening and development of China, light up the dark room, enable Chinese women to shine and win the respect and applause from the whole world. Let us encourage each other and forge ahead.”14 When founding People’s Independence Journal, Yu Youren put forward the policy of speech independence in its foreword, where he stated: “Only with an independent nation can an independent country stand; and only in an independent country can the independent speech be realized. Meanwhile, only with the independent speech can the independent nation be established, and only the independent nation can protect its independent country. The speech, nation and country are depending on each other. If the independence of either element is damaged, the independence cannot be achieved.” Therefore, he adopted “arousing the sense of responsibility of the people” and “creating fair speech of the people” as the aim of this newspaper. As declared in the Responsibilities of Our Newspaper, the foreword to Central Daily News, a party newspaper directly under Kuomintang (founded in Wuhan on March 22, 1927, and in Shanghai on February 1, 1928), “This 13 Liang

Qichao, On the Benefits of Newspapers to National Affairs, “Current Affairs Newspaper”, Vol. 1, 1846-08-09. 14 Qiu Jin, Foreword to Chinese Women’s Daily, “Chinese Women’s Daily”, 1st Issue, 1907-01.

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newspaper represents the opinions of our party and all its comments comply with the policies of our party as a basis.” The forward emphasized the following five points as the recent mission and policy of the newspaper: “reform of the old system,” “rejecting the Communist theory,” “further promoting the Three Principles of the People,” “preparing the propaganda plan” and “crack down on all evil forces.” In February 1929, the Central Daily News was moved southward to Nanjing and reorganized, which continued to stress “partisanship” as its editorial policy, aimed to “wipe out all alien forces,” meanwhile advertised “the affinity to the people” and claimed to be the “mouthpiece of the people.” On May 8, 1932, the chief of the newspaper personally wrote an editorial about the reorganization To Readers, and pointed out: “In my opinion, the interests of the Party comply with the interests of the people. In other words, the people’s interests equal to the party’s interests, and speaking for the people’s interests equals to speaking for the party’s interests. Therefore, this newspaper is the mouthpiece of the party as well as the mouthpiece of the people.” This editorial also announced its editorial policy of “defending the government,” saying: “The Central Daily News is the newspaper of the party in terms of the institution and therefore publishes the theory of the party and the party founders……Our newspaper frankly admits itself as the defender of the party”; “Our newspaper will bear the equal courage to criticize and defend the government. We will maintain a good fame of seeking the truth. Only those loving the truth are courageous, and only those being courageous will defend the government. This is the unique characteristic that we differ from others.” This policy of “defending government” can fully explain the decades of propaganda reports of all newspapers and periodicals directly under Kuomintang such as the Central Daily News. Shun Pao founded in 1872 was the representative of the commercial newspaper in old China. The Public Notice of the Newspaper in the first issue of Shun Pao stated: “The newspaper system was introduced from the west to China. Since the newspaper system in Hong Kong had set a good example, we are now following the example and establishing a newspaper in Shanghai.” In the first three decades, Shun Pao adopted a mild and conservative style and was detached from the political struggle according to its policy. As stated in an article On the Establishment of New Newspapers in All Countries in 1873, the policy of Shun Pao was: “As Mencius said, criticizing people would definitely bring adverse consequences. I hope that the current newspapers will not judge current affairs or criticize people arbitrarily or arouse people’s anger or hatred. In this way, it will benefit all relevant parties.” Until 1905 when the country was faced with an increasing crisis and the democratic thoughts were widely spread, Shun Pao was forced to change its policy and “renew its aim.” By 1907, the Chinese had bought Shun Pao from Ernest Major et al. from the United Kingdom and acquired the ownership of the newspaper. During the Revolution of 1911, Shun Pao was sided with the bourgeois revolutionaries and changed its editorial policy again due to “the constantly changing situation and the increasingly complex things.” On

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August 24, 1911, the Important Statements on the Reform of the Newspaper said: “This newspaper has adhered to a serious style. However, people’s thoughts are becoming more active, but it is difficult to realize the serious and active style at the same time. Therefore, this newspaper is carrying on a reform to combine both styles.” It can be seen from this policy that despite the reform carried out by Shun Pao, it, distinguished from the general bourgeois party newspaper, was still a mild popular newspaper seeking for profits. Detached from all these disturbances afterwards, it had survived by 1949. Before 1949, the working-class press guided by Marxism had developed from nothing, gradually grown stronger and slowly but unstoppably expanded. The editorial policies of the Marxist press had also been exposed to a process of gradual development. The Youth, the first Marxist periodical in China, emerged in 1915 (named as The Youth Magazine when it was founded), and the first article of its announcement said: “The country and the learning are declining. The youth shall shoulder the future. This periodical is founded to discuss with the youth on how to cultivate themselves and save the country.” “This periodical aims to deliver plain articles and present lofty ideals. It will spare no effort to introduce any academic thing the youth are interested in and spiritually support young people who are studying science.”15 Four years later, by 1919, this magazine renamed as The Youth had seen significant changes of its standpoint and values. The Defense of the Magazine written by Chen Duxiu pointed out: “Westerners had created disturbances and bled a lot to support science and democracy. It was science and democracy that saved the west from the dark and led them to the bright. Now we decide that only science and democracy can save China from the political, moral, academic and ideological darkness. We will not hesitate to sacrifice ourselves to support science and democracy against any government oppression or social attack.”16 Later, The Youth clearly clarified its political stand and ambition in the Magazine Declaration: “We believe that militarism and capitalism have caused the infinite evil worldwide and shall be abandoned now. We believe that some part of the conventional political, moral and economic ideas in all countries are unreasonable that impede our progress. To seek for social progress, we have to break the stereotype that was considered as “unalterable principles”; and, when abandoning these old ideas, we will combine the thoughts of scholars of the past, scholars of the presence and our own to build the new political, moral and economic ideas, cultivate the spirit of the new times and adapt to the new social environment. Our ideal is to construct the new age and the new society that are honest, progressive, positive, free, equal, creative, beautiful, kind, peaceful, friendly, pleasant for working and universally happy, in a hope that the false, conservative, negative, restricted, 15 Newspaper 16 The

Notices, “The Youth Magazine”, 1st Issue, Vol. 1, 1915-09-15. Youth, 1st Issue, Vol. 6, 1919-01-15.

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hierarchical, conventional, ugly, evil, warring, disturbed, lazy, worrying and rarely happy phenomena will gradually reduce and disappear.”17 Since the official newspaper directly subordinated to the Communist Party of China, the political stand and revolutionary requirements become more distinct. The first official newspaper under the central committee of the Party, The Guide, was established on March 13, 1922. Its foreword, Declaration of the Newspaper, expressly stated: “Under the name of the republican, if the state fails to render these freedoms (the freedom of speech, assembly, association, publication and religious belief, explained by the author) to the people, people will acquire these freedoms through revolutionary means according to the natural law of political evolution, because these freedoms are necessaries not luxuries in our life.” The first daily newspaper under the Party central committee, Bloodshed Daily, founded on June 4, 1925, declared its aim as follows: “It is the hot blood and the cold iron that create the world culture. At present, the power of the world occupies the cold iron, while the weak has only the hot blood. However, as long as the hot blood flows inside us, we need not worry about the cold iron. When the hot blood gets the cold iron, the power of the world will be overthrown. This is the aim of our newspaper!” The publication reasons of the Politics Weekly (on December 5, 1925) written by Mao Zedong explained this in a clearer and more direct way: “Why do we publish the politics weekly? For the revolution. Why do we carry out revolution? For the liberation of the Chinese nation, for the rule by the people and for the economic happiness of people.” The editorial Support the Newspaper of Workers and Peasants published in the Red Flag Daily, an official newspaper of the Party central committee, on August 18, 1930, clearly explained the editorial policies of the newspapers and periodicals under the leadership of the Party. The editorial said: This newspaper is provided to the broad masses of working people. It is the speech organ and the mouthpiece of all the oppressed. Since this newspaper is founded by the central committee of the Communist Party of China, the vanguard of the proletariat, it leads Chinese revolutions from the standpoint of the proletariat. This newspaper sensitively reflects the policies of the Communist Party of China, the Communist International and all Communist activities worldwide, enables the masses to understand these policies, unites the people with the policies and initiates resolute and ruthless struggles against our class enemies. Therefore, this newspaper is not only the mouthpiece of the broad masses of laboring people but also the weapon for them to strive for liberation and freedom. As a classical representative, the above quotation has clarified the newspaper principles and editorial policies of the Marxist newspapers and periodicals.

17 The

Youth, 1st Issue, Vol. 7, 1919-12-01.

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2.2.2 Editorial Policies After 1949 The People’s Republic of China was founded on October 1, 1949, when the Kuomintang government withdrew from the mainland and the journalism and communication media of the Kuomintang system moved to Taiwan. The news media in mainland China had adjusted their editorial policies and accepted the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the mission of propaganda of the Party’s policies. This was the common characteristic of the editorial policies of the media. Through five decades of developing, including the impact by several movements and 20 years exposed to the Reform and Opening up, the editorial policies of the news media in mainland China adhere to common principles and meanwhile show their own diversified characteristics. The editorial policy of People’s Daily, the official newspaper under the Party central committee praised as “the biggest newspaper in China,” is as follows: under the leadership of the central committee of the Party and the guidance by Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, propaganda the political propositions of the Communist Party of China, deliver the domestic and foreign policies of the Chinese government, report the achievements and experiences in the socialist revolution and socialist construction of Chinese people, attack the thoughts and behaviors that damage the interests of the state and the people and report and comment on current international incidents. Unity Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, adheres to the following policy: place focus on the propaganda of peaceful reunification, “one country, two systems,” promotion of “three exchanges” and common prosperity of China, report the current conditions of Chinese Taiwan with large space, evaluate the situation of Taiwan and contribute to the early reunification of China. Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, adopts the following policy: emphasize on the propaganda of Deng Xiaoping theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and the thoughts on military construction in the new period and the new achievements in building a revolutionary, modern and regular army and work hard to present the characteristics of firm political stand, distinctive military characteristics, compliance with the practices of the troop and elegance. As one of the newspapers of mass groups, China Youth Daily is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the aim of which is: serving the healthy growth of the youth wholeheartedly. Its specific principles are as follows: unite and educate the youth with the Communist spirit, motivate the youth to forge ahead on the road of construction of a socialist country with Chinese characteristics; guide the youth to study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, master modern science and culture and become a new socialist man with ideals, morals, talents

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and self-discipline; reflect the suggestions and requirements of the youth on the state and social life; represent and safeguard the legitimate interests of the youth and satisfy their various needs; promote the mutual understanding between the youth and society, the youth and the adult and the elderly and enhance the mutual understanding between the Chinese youth and the foreign youth; and report the activities organized by the League in all places, guide the work of the League and boost youth movements. Economic newspapers have their unique policies. The nationwide Economic Daily directly under the State Council mainly focuses on economic propaganda and presents the following editorial policies: follow the macro guidance of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council on national economic work and report national economic activities and economic trend; present the new achievements and experiences in the Reform and Opening up and economic construction; point out the new conditions and new issues rising along with the development of economic life; and discuss economic theories, communicate economic information, promote the scientific and technical achievements, reflect the voice of the masses and introduce economic knowledge. The evening newspaper is welcomed by people at all places. The evening newspaper with unique characteristics generally show its advantages in the policy. The policy of Xinmin Evening News: promote the policies, change existing habits and customs, spread knowledge among ordinary people and target a wide range of readers at all levels aged from 8 to 80. Having a foothold in Guangdong, Yangcheng Evening News faces the whole China and adopts the editorial policy of “reflecting, interfering, guiding and enriching life.” With a policy of “facing the masses and complementing the daily newspaper,” Beijing Evening News attaches importance to knowledge and interest, gives full play to the advantages of the capital as the political, cultural and talent center and creates the features of the evening newspaper in Beijing. The policy of Today Evening News: have a foothold in Tianjin, face the family, propaganda the propositions of the Communist Party of China, reflects the voices of the masses, spread knowledge and information, respond to realistic problems, enrich cultural life and encourage the people to strive hard for the realization of the Four Modernizations and the revitalization of China. The current two major news agencies in China also hold their own policies. The policy of Xinhua News Agency: adhere to the principles of authenticity, comprehensiveness, objectivity and justice and form the unique features. These features include: insisting on the principle of Party character of proletarian news; adhering to be responsible for the Party and the people; fulfilling the ideological line of seeking truth from facts of the Party in propaganda and reports; and applying the serious working attitude, rigorous working style, tight working regulations and strict discipline. The editorial policy of China News Service: adopt the propaganda policy of patriotism and introduce the foreign policy of peace, overseas Chinese policy, mainland

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construction, new look of the hometown of overseas Chinese, excellent traditional culture and beautiful sceneries of China with the facts. Since 1949, the radio and TV undertakings in China has seen considerable progress. In particular, the television sector only started in 1958 has developed rapidly and achieved a large scale. The TV stations in China, represented by CCTV, adhere to a general aim and policy: under the guidance of the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, arm the people with scientific theories, guide the people with correct public opinion, cultivate the people with lofty spirit and courage the people with excellent works; report the policies and achievements of the Communist Party of China and the government in a timely and accurate manner and well reflect people’s work, life, requirements, wishes and appeals; and enrich the content of TV programs, satisfy the increasing demands of the audience on TV culture and serve the people, socialism and state in a better way. 2.3   Comparison Between the Editorial Policies of News Media in China and the West As proved by the historical materials on numerous media mentioned above, the editorial policies vary between China and the west, between party newspapers and commercial newspapers in the west and between the period before and after 1949. The most evident differences include the four below: 2.3.1 Standpoint and Inclination The party newspaper always stressed on its political stand and report inclination mainly due to the role of these newspapers as the mouthpiece of a party. Said by Willard Bleyer, “As demonstrated by the history of American journalism in the first 30 years of the 19th century, the newspaper continued to function as the official newspaper of major political parties, aiming to discuss political issues instead of publishing news. These newspapers had reflected and aggravated the political struggle among different parties.”18 In 1809, American federalists possessed 157 newspapers, compared to 158 of the Democrat-Republican school. These two schools of newspapers attached each other fiercely, which was called the “dark ages” by historians. When discussing the Friend of the People, a model of party newspaper in France, scholars pointed out that it had become the official newspaper of revolutionary democrats since its first day of publication. This had been the same case with all Western party newspapers no matter in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany or Japan. As to their editorial policies, they were firmly sided with a political party or a school, publicly defended the interest of the party, banged the drum for the political and economic slogans of the

18 [US]

Willard G. Bleyer, History of American Journalism, 1st edition, Page 152, the United States, 1945.

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party and attacked the propositions and policies of the other party without hesitation or reservation. Friedrich Engels specified the mission of the party newspaper or periodical in Communists and Karl Heinzen: “Firstly, organize a discussion to demonstrate, clarify and defend the requirements of the Party and refute and overthrow the delusion and judgment of the hostile party.”19 This discourse also pointed out the characteristics of party newspapers. In China, the reformist newspapers of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao and the revolutionary newspapers run by Sun Yat-sen and Zhang Taiyan et al. all fell into the category of the party newspaper. Like the party newspapers in Western countries, they voluntarily functioned as the mouthpiece of their class and their party in terms of the political standpoint and inclination. The Central Daily News run by the Kuomintang expressly declared in the policy: “This newspaper represents the opinions of our party and all its comments comply with the policies of our party as a basis”; “The Central Daily News is the newspaper of the party in terms of the institution and therefore publishes the theory of the party and the party founders”; “Our newspaper frankly admits itself as the defender of the party.” The newspaper or periodical, particularly the official newspaper, run by the Communist Party of China also distinctly define their nature and standpoint. The Red Flag Daily announced: “Since this newspaper is founded by the central committee of the Communist Party of China, the vanguard of the proletariat, it leads Chinese revolutions from the standpoint of the proletariat.” People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Party central committee at present also clarifies its policies: “Under the leadership of the central committee of the Party and the guidance by Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, propaganda the political propositions of the Communist Party of China, deliver the domestic and foreign policies of the Chinese government……”. In general, all political newspapers and party newspapers in China and the west, regardless of their standpoint and political inclination, make a distinct, direct and clear statement on their inclination. However, the cheap newspapers, popular newspapers and commercial newspaper show different standpoints and political inclinations in China and the west. Once upon the generation, the cheap newspapers in the United States, including the four representative cheap newspapers in the early stage, advertised themselves as independent from the class or political party to distinguish themselves from the part newspapers. The Sun declared “We adhere to the policy of independence.” New York Herald announced that the newspaper was an impartial independent newspaper and did not support any political party. According to the founder of the New York Times, the party newspaper shall not be taken as a legal member of journalism, but the New York Times as a public newspaper independent from any party. Different from the above three newspapers, the owner of the New York Tribune, on one hand, declared 19 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Page 300, Vol. 4, Chinese 1st edition, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1965.

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that this newspaper would not serve for any political party, and on the other hand, frankly admitted that it would not pretend to be neutral, because the non-party newspapers should also express their opinions on the most important issues. In the subsequent century, American newspapers had all gone through a process similar to the newspapers mentioned above in terms of the political standpoint and inclination. Meanwhile, when the newspapers in Western countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, etc. had passed the period of party newspapers, they would claim to be independent from any class or party. The situation differed in China. Even Shun Pao, which claimed to be a commercial newspaper and made every attempt to extricate itself from political struggle, had to express its own political ideas at the critical moment of political struggles. In the 1830s and 1840s, someone had proposed the editorial policy of independence of Western newspapers, but had been opposed and mocked by the people and therefore had not put it into practices. After 1949, all newspapers and periodicals, radio and TV stations and news agencies in mainland China have clearly expressed that they will be sided with the working class and the Communist Party of China and be politically consistent with the Party central committee. As a matter of fact, in the period of the commercial newspaper, the bourgeois newspaper in Western countries cannot be completely independent from the class. In this respect, Western journalism and communication scholars have conducted many excellent analyzes. On January 23, 1925, the Wall Street Journal had once published an article written by its chief editor William Hamilton, saying: “The newspaper is a private enterprise, which has not been endowed with any privilege by society and therefore undertakes no social obligation.” This opinion had attracted many disapproving comments. Scholar Lundborg said that the speech and editorial policies of private newspapers would necessarily conform to their owners’ opinions. “For an obvious but funny cause, many newspaper owners would like to create an illusion in society that the power over the news selection and speech is controlled by editors.”20 The former Editorial Director of the New York Times, Edwin James, was trying to create an illusion of “editing independence” of the newspaper with a talk. He said: “Every day, we use only 125,000 words from the 1 million words of news reports……This is a process of selection. Our only principle is objectivity……Many critics assume that the publisher Arther Sulzberger would hold a meeting with major shareholders of the newspaper every evening to decide which news would be presented at the headline and which news would be rejected. However, this is not the case. The editorial director is free from any constraint. He can do whatever he believes good. He may 20 Wall

Street Journal, 1925-01-23.

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make mistakes, but not because of the news policy. We have no news policy other than objectivity.”21 As disclosed by American scholar Warren Breed, the editorial policy of each newspaper is not made known but is implemented secretly. In some Western countries, the publisher may be charged with the violation against the press freedom and journalistic ethics if requiring the newspaper editors to implement certain policy in public. According to another scholar Don R. Pember, the news policy of a newspaper is not posted on the bulletin board or printed on the working manual, but is implemented through various ways. The qualified gatekeepers and journalists will be rewarded, the journalists understanding the policy will be entrusted with an important pose, while the news reports not complying with the policy will be revised, deleted or rejected. The practices of the newspaper essentially rely on how the employees understand its news policies. Then, can the publisher or the major shareholder be completely independent from society? No. William Allen White, a senior chief editor of newspaper in the United States, had conducted an analysis about it. He said that as a prominent figure, the newspaper publisher would undoubtedly contact with the bankers, business tycoons, industrialists and capitalists in the same city, and his friends would imperceptibly affect him and vice versa. In his daily social intercourse, the ideas of the newspaper publisher will integrate into the ideas of other capitalists. As a journalistic capitalist, he shares the basically consistent opinions with the industrial capitalists and financial industrialists. This idea is also supported by US expert Cofferland working in China. He said: “American journalistic undertakings are owned and operated by the capitalists, so the newspapers will naturally promote capitalism without any order.”22 It can be seen that though the Western news media did not announce its editorial policy of certain political standpoint after entering the period of commercial operation, it inevitably holds certain political standpoint and inclination. By comparison, the news media in China expressly state their political standpoints and inclinations. 2.3.2 Information and Opinions By examining the editorial policies of media in Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, it is found that they stress on the separation of information and opinions. In the period of the party newspaper, the opinions prevailed over the information, and the information reports were inclined to political struggles. In the period of the popular newspaper, the information prevails over the opinions, and their slogan says that news is the heart of the newspaper. In other words, the party newspaper is “a 21 New 22 The

York Times, Newspapers, 1st edition, Page 16–17, the United States, 1945. Global Reference, 1979(6), Page 51–52.

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newspaper for political comments,” and the popular newspaper is “a newspaper for news.” In the west, both the party newspaper and the popular newspaper attach general importance to editorials. In the view of American journalistic scholar Casper Yost, news makes up the body of the newspaper, while editorial constitutes the spirit of the newspaper. American famous newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer said: “Among the numerous pages and columns of my New York World, what I was concerned with the most was the editorial page. I want to attract readers through different columns to read our editorials.” To show the “impartiality” of the newspaper, Western newspapers often adopt the method of “opposite editorial pages.” It is a common way for the newspaper to publish different opinions in a page exactly opposite to the editorial page. It is a part of democratic procedure to publish the “readers’ letters” in a part of the editorial page, which will extract and simplify the complex and special issues to relatively simpler moral or common-sense issues. People shall participate in the democratic procedure but not observe from the sidelines. “People’s Forum” constitute an important part of the democratic procedure. This method adopted by the popular newspaper is significantly different from the party newspaper which only focuses on one-sided political comments. In China, the party newspaper mainly publishes political comments and the popular newspaper mainly presents information. This is similar to the development course in Western countries. objectively without any opinion of the media or communicator, the news media in China advocate reporting facts and spreading ideas at the same time and hold “speaking with facts.” This is called the “news means” in Chinese journalism. A Dictionary of Modern Journalism explains it in this way: “An important form applied by the news agency to report and evaluate facts and promote certain ideas and policies. The core is to report facts and “speak” with facts. It often expresses the intangible pinion. The news published by the news agency often seems to be an objective report on the fact, but as a matter of fact, it usually embodies the thoughts and ideas of the publisher through the fact selection and report and reflects certain standpoint and political inclination. When delivering the information on the fact to the audience, it drives the audience to unconsciously accept the ideas and opinions of the reporter. Therefore, the newspaper is exerting a silent influence on the audience.”23 This is a representative explanation in China. Relevant departments have also proposed a requirement on journalists to “skillfully include the opinions in the factual and objective reports.”

23 Gan

Xifen, A Dictionary of Modern Journalism, 1st edition, Page 43, Zhengzhou, Henan People’s Publishing House, 1993.

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2.3.3 Satisfying Readers’ Demands The editorial policies of news media in the west generally regard satisfying readers’ (or audience) demands as an important goal as well as an important symbol to evaluate the efficiency of news communication. The Theory of Readers’ Demand is not only the most important practical guidance of news media but also an important theory in journalism studies. The policy of The Sun, an early cheap newspaper of the United States, was to “report the news of the current day to the public.” As one of the common characteristics of the first batch of cheap newspapers in the United States, they all covered an extensive scope of news reports and paid special attention to local news, social news, human-interest news and sensational news. The emergence and the large circulation of these newspapers was associated with the new information demands and cultural pursuit of the general public inspired by the new economic life and social life after American society ushered in the age of largescale industrial production. After stepping from free competition to the monopoly operation period, the capitalism has ushered in the further development of productivity and meanwhile incurred an unprecedented flood of corruption and fraud. Under the new historical conditions, The World of Joseph Pulitzer proposed the new editorial policy, which, based on the demand of the broad masses, expressly indicated that it refused to attach itself to the wealth power, disclosed all deceits and outrageous conducts and “strived for the people’s interests.” The World announced “ten programs,” which were well received by the public. As a factor contributing to the success of this newspaper, it explored the market with major news at home and abroad and motivated readers’ interest in reading. Indeed, there are newspapers that attract readers and explore the market by sacrificing its professional ethics and the basic quality. To compete with The World, William Randolph Hearst proposed a slogan of exciting readers with constant noises and stimulating readers with yellow news and sensational news regardless of the cost. People criticized William Randolph Hearst that he had lowered the quality of journalistic undertakings and published the worst newspaper of America. As proved by the fact, in case of any deviation of the editorial policy, the so-called “satisfying readers’ demands” would incur devastating consequences and lead to bad effect. In socialist China, the editorial policies of news media generally give consideration to both demands: the demand of the Party and the government and the demand of the broad masses of the people. The policies of many media provide that the media is responsible for the Party and the people at the same time. The official newspaper directly subordinated to the Party attaches more importance to the former one. As mentioned above, the policy of the People’s Daily: propaganda the political propositions of the Communist Party of China, deliver the domestic and foreign policies of the Chinese government, report the achievements and experiences in the socialist revolution and socialist construction of Chinese people, attack the thoughts and

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behaviors that damage the interests of the state and the people and report and comment on current international incidents. The following several times of reform, the People’s Daily had all proposed the issue about satisfying readers’ demands. The editorial To Readers published on July 1, 1956 proposed: “We are living in a world exposed to constant changes, while different readers require understanding this changing world from different perspectives. It is our bounden duty to satisfy the diversified requirements of readers to the full.” On July 2, 1986, the People’s Daily released an editorial article Our Wishes, saying that the newspaper workers should improve the newspaper based on readers’ demands in the overall trend of reform. On February 20, 1989, the new edition of the People’s Daily was released, and the article To Readers on the Spring Festival stated that the newspaper should satisfy the readers’ demands to the maximum, cultivate its own characteristics in terms of both content and form, build a readable, credible and affable image among readers and become their true friends. As demonstrated by the above conditions, the Chinese media are close to the Western media and share some common views with Western media in terms of formulating and executing the editorial policies on satisfying readers’ demands. However, some people also doubt the slogan of “satisfy readers’ demands,” particularly the saying of “reader is the king.” The popular watchword in recent years is to be “close to life, reality and the masses,” which emphasizes that the readers, as a complex, may also propose irrational requirements, so the media shall satisfy the rational requirements of readers and guide them to the correct direction. 2.3.4 Style and Characteristics The editorial policies of news media in China and the west have both provided the pursuit for and commitment on the ideal style and characteristics of the media. The media style generally refers to the relatively stable characteristics of the media formed within a certain period, including the ideological inclination, content selection, arrangement, layout and wording and phrasing, etc. The characteristic means a special thing that is only seen in one place. The style and characteristics of the media are the product of deliberate exploration and meticulous management and exist and develop against other media. In a manner of speaking, since the emergence of modern news media, their editorial policies have been pursuing certain style and characteristics consciously or unconsciously and personally taking part in practices according to the promise. Benjamin Day had drawn up the editorial policy of The Sun as follows: “Our motto is the truth and we will not bow to the slanders spread by the pillagers or the money of officials. We will unveil any evil conducted by any individual or any group for denouncement.” This policy shows the style of The Sun defying brutal force and hating evil as the enemy. Scholars pointed out that with the changes of international situation, the confirmation of the great power status of the United States and the expansion

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of the influence of the New York Times, the editorials of the New York Times have experienced the evolution of “mild—progressive—arrogant,” which can be deemed as the changes of its style and characteristics. The early cheap newspapers in France, such as La Presse and Century, liked to invite great writers to write literary works, which constituted a characteristic of these newspapers at that time. The four major cheap newspapers in France by the end of the nineteenth century included Le Petit Journal, Le Petit Parisien, Le Matin and Le Journal, which were characterized by giving vent to national chauvinism and militarism. The Times from the United Kingdom had a foothold in the world press based on its timely report on major incidents home and abroad and the authoritative comments. Meanwhile, the “sewer sheets” were famous for publishing massive yellow news and entertainment materials. Chinese media have formed their own styles and characteristics through the long-term development. As one of the characteristics of manuscript selection and arrangement, the media are serious, cautious, dignified, simple and giving priority to positive propaganda. Therefore, it reflects the high sense of responsibility of the press for society but is sometimes one-sided and untimely. Leaders Liu Shaoqi and some people criticized it for one of the defects, “reporting only what is good while concealing what is unpleasant.” Chinese media pay attention to the cultural quality. Some newspapers feature the fresh and beautiful style of writing. Previously, our newspapers seldom present any pornographic or violent description, but the obscene reports often emerge in recent years. Relevant departments are now sparing no effort to crack it down. Generally speaking, the Chinese press is superior to the Western press in this respect. Being one characteristic of Chinese newspapers, Chinese media have reported much more domestic events than international events in quite a long time. Despite the great improvement since the Reform and Opening up, a part of the ten pieces of major international news selected by the international press every year have been missing in Chinese newspapers, while quite a little international news has not been published in the page for important news. It suggests the wide gap between China and the west in understanding the news values.

3  Different Organizational Structures of News Media in China and the West The dictionary explains the word “organization” in many different ways. Firstly, it refers to the system, making a general reference to the cooperation relationship. Its second meaning is the collective established upon a certain aim and system. Thirdly, it means to organize individuals into a collective. The media organization covers all these three meanings. The media organization refers to an orderly and effective communication and operation system organized by people based on a certain purpose.

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The purposes of constructing the optimum media organization include: building an excellent media image among the readers and audience and satisfying their demands to the maximum; fully mobilizing the enthusiasm and creation of all employees of the media; exchange the minimum manpower, material resources and financial resources for the maximum efficiency; and realizing the editorial policy and aim of the media in addition to satisfying the audience demands and achieve economic efficiency. The four purposes can be summarized as: Make use of the shortest time to attract the most audience; and makes use of the fewest materials to achieve the best efficiency. The media organization has been exposed to constant changes in several centuries and been optimized and improved all the time. The Chinese and Western media have led a different road in cultivating their own organizational patterns. 3.1   General Pattern of the Organizational Structure of Western News Media 3.1.1 Newspaper In the early time, the Western media saw a small scale and a simple organization. Take the newspaper as an example. The owner employed several educated people to be the journalists and then hired several people as the printers. In this case, the newspaper was a factory, where the owner worked as the editor and the manager at the same time. With the business expansion, the owner could no longer play multiple roles at the same time. Then, the owner employed several editors to make up an editorial department and recruited several managers to construct the manager department, which was the sign for the separation between editing and operation in the newspaper management. In 1817, The Times in the UK started to apply the chief editor system, by which the owner employed the educated person with rich knowledge as the chief editor and paid a high salary, while the chief editor would manage the editorial department. The policy of editing independence was applied, separating the editing from operation. By the end of the nineteenth century, The Times adopted the general manager system. In this system, the general manager controlled the manager department and was responsible for the operation of the newspaper. In this case, the owner was only the chief or the publisher, having the chief editor and general manager under the owner who respectively managed the editorial department and the manager department. Finally, the “two-wheel” organization structure under the master control of the owner was formed, which is also known as the “T-shaped” structure (see in Fig. 1). The chief editor and the general manager were exercising part of the power originally belonging to the owner. The power and position of the two

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posts varied in different countries. In European and American countries, the chief editor often had higher status than the general manager, but in Asian countries such as Japan and India, the power of the generally was generally greater than that of the chief editor. In current Western countries, many newspapers adopt the shareholding system and operate as a company limited by shares. The newspapers that raise funds through stocks generally apply the three-level management structure. In this system, the representatives of the families with controlling shares in the general meeting of shareholders make up the board of directors. The board of directors will choose the president (publisher), chief editor and general manager; or the president (publisher) selected by the board of directors will choose the chief editor and general manager. As specified by some shareholding newspaper companies, the president (publisher) may not be the representative of the family with controlling shares. In this way, the management is separated from the ownership. Some shareholding newspaper companies stipulate that the board chairman can concurrently serve as the president (publisher), while other directors can concurrently work as the chief editor or general manager, to establish a closer bond between management and ownership. In a word, the newspapers of the shareholding system apply the pattern of organizational structure as shown in Fig. 2. In the editorial department of British and American newspapers, the news and the speech are divided, while the chief editor is responsible for news editing and the “editorial page chief editor” organizes the speech. In the eyes of the British and American press, the editorial department is an independent department where the news processing shall not be affected by the political standpoint of the newspaper, but the propositions of the newspaper can only be reflected by the editorial articles. As determined by this news concept, the organizational structure of British and American newspapers adopts the pattern shown in Fig. 3.

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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Fig. 2  Chart of the organizational structure of shareholding newspapers in the west

Generally, the chief editor leads the three divisions that make up the editorial department, including the local news division, domestic and international divisions and Sunday paper division. Among them, the local news team is the most important and has the most employees. This team consists of the chief editor, associate chief editor, several editors and a great many journalists. The chief editor is responsible for the interview of local news and management of local journalists, draws up the interview plan, guides editors to revise the manuscripts handed in by journalists, produces the titles, plans for the layout and coordinates with the picture team. The editors shall revise and process the manuscripts from the journalists, arrange the work of revisers and cooperate with the chief editor in arranging journalist interviews. The domestic and international divisions generally cover the domestic, international, financial, education, scientific, labor, real property, sports, social interaction, religion, entertainment (radio, film, music and drama), book review and artistic (comics and fine arts) manuscripts. This division is mainly responsible for selecting news from the great amount of manuscripts from the news agencies, while the large-sized daily newspaper shall also edit the manuscripts from its own journalists at all places home and abroad.

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The Sunday paper division shall organize and process the “magazine-like” manuscripts for the Sunday edition, while the news and comments of this edition are provided by the original divisions of the newspaper. The editorial-page chief editor is in charge of the work related to the editorial page and shall write the editorials and comments representing the attitude of the newspaper jointly with editorial writers. Newspapers often publish the readers’ letters in the editorial page, some specially set a column for readers’ letters and some place the readers’ letters in the news editorial department. The manager department of general newspapers consists of printing, finance and business divisions. The printing division is responsible for the printing of its own newspaper and meanwhile undertakes the outside printing businesses. The finance division takes charge of the finance inside and outside the newspaper and assists the general manager in balancing the books.

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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The financial manager of the shareholding newspaper company is often concurrently assumed by the director. The business manager is responsible for advertising, release and promotion. The advertising department may set up three teams, local advertisements, national and international advertisements and classified advertisements, among which the classified advertisement is the most important. The release department consists of local, mailing and traffic team. Considered as the blood of the newspaper, release is playing an important role, since no sales, no advertisement. The promotion department mainly aims to cultivate the image of the newspaper, promote the sales of the newspaper, seek for advertisements and introduce the new column and special contributions. 3.1.2 Radio and Television The organization structures of the radio and television stations are the same in essentials while differing in minor points. As to the commercial radio and television, with the medium market in the United States as an example, the structures of the radio and television stations are respectively shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The organizational structures of radio and television media run by the government are different from those run by the private. With French Broadcasting Corporation as an instance, its organizational structure is shown in Fig. 6. As the representative of public radio and TV undertakings, BBC’s structure is as follows (Fig. 7). The pattern of the radio and TV organizational structures of above types is designed for two purposes: firstly, providing high-quality programs, and, secondly, performing effective operation, promoting incomes and reducing expenses. The state-owned and public radio and television media shall give consideration to both the interest of the audience and the demand of national policies in terms of the program production and balance, schedule and control of programs and international cooperation and sales of programs. Even

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Fig. 5  Chart of the organizational structure of commercial television in the United States

the private electronic media shall also pay attention to self-discipline and try to carry out their assignment. 3.1.3 News Agency News agencies in Western countries are divided into three types, the private, the semi-official and the government owned. The private or semi-official news agencies apply the shareholding system and three-level management system, the organizational structure of which is shown in Fig. 8. The manager department constitutes the key of the organizational structure among all major news agencies worldwide. The general manager can be a member of the board of directors, or appointed by the whole board of directors, or a non-director member designated by the chairman. In the latter case, the ownership is separated from the management, which is favorable for the development of the undertaking. In the government-owned news agency, the general manager and the chief editor are generally appointed by the government, while the chief editor reports to the government and leads all department leaders to carry out the businesses of the news agency.

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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Fig. 8  Chart of the organizational structure of private or semi-official news agencies in the west

3.2   Review of the Organizational Structure of American News Media 3.2.1 Editorial Department of the Newspaper The editorial department, under the leadership of the chief editor, is responsible for interview, writing, selection of contributions, preparations before printing and processing of pictures. The chief editor mainly fulfills the obligation and exercises the power with the help of the managing editor and the editorial-page chief editor. The managing editor and the editorial-page chief editor directly report to the chief editor. The editorial-page chief editor mainly takes charge of arranging the editorial page. In major newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, the editorial-page chief editor is mainly responsible for the opposite editorial page where other comments (special columns, special articles, etc.) are published. The managing editor, the director of the news office, bears the primary obligation to organize the news editing. He will decide the location of the important news on the newspaper and the editorial policies of the news reports, but he has to consult the chief editor and even the publisher for major decisions. In major newspapers, the managing editor has one or several assistants. The news chief editor is responsible for the editing team of the newspaper. The editing team finalizes the contribution, designs the layout and produces the title. Most small newspapers set up only one contribution editing team (i.e. adopting the mixed editing system), respectively responsible for the gathering and editing of all kinds of news such as local news, state news, national (central) news and international news and separately setting up the special news editing teams including the sports team, entertainment team, lifestyle team, finance team, social communication team, etc.

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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Fig. 9  Chart of the organizational structure of small-sized newspapers in the United States

The local news chief editor is in charge of guiding the work of journalists writing local news. The local news team is the center of the news editing office, since the local news makes the basic product of most newspapers. The journalists work under the local news chief editor or his assistants and undertake the mission assigned by them. The most large and medium-scale newspapers apply the classified editing system and has several other chief editors parallel to the local news chief editor. The journalists engaged in news gathering can be generally divided into three types: (1) general journalists who can report a wide range of things without topic restriction; (2) special journalists who bear the responsibility to interview the special government departments and (3) and professional journalists who have accepted corresponding education or training to report on professional areas including commerce, science, urban issues, military, etc. Figures 9, 10 and 11 respectively present the structure of the editorial departments of the three major types of newspapers in the United States.

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3.2.2 Editorial Department of the Radio The United States has seen widely covered by many nationwide commercial radio and television networks, which provide the national news, sports reports, special contributions and comments to neighboring radio stations. Since the 1970s, the National Public Radio (NPR) has seen a rapid growth and has acquired approximately 250 affiliated stations within a decade. It broadcasts and provides non-commercial programs. Most radio stations broadcast a variety of programs mainly about music, news, talks, advertisements, sports, etc. The FM radio station broadcasts four minutes of news each hour on average, while the AM radio station broadcasts six minutes of news each hour on average. The organizational structures vary in different radio stations, which are adjusted to the size, program type, market and competition of the radio station. The large-sized radio station generally sets up news, marketing and technology department. In medium-sized radio stations, the broadcaster often concurrently works as the editing journalist or marketing or technology personnel. In small-sized radio stations, the program director may be the

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marketing manager; there is no news department; and the broadcaster may be a licensed engineer. Due to the small proportion of news programs in all radio programs and the dependence of radio and television undertakings on the technology, the scale of the news department is relatively small. See its structure in Fig. 12. 3.2.3 News Department of the Television Station The TV sector of the United States consists of five parts: (1) national radio & TV networks including Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Cable News Network (CNN), etc.; (2) local radio stations; (3) joint ventures; (4) TV stations owned and managed by the TV network; (5) and TV groups. The program production is undertaken by the radio and TV networks, TV stations and program production companies. The basic mission of the radio and TV network is to issue a program, while the local TV station is responsible for broadcasting a program. Similar to general TV stations, the organizational structure of the radio & TV network consists of the program department, marketing department,

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engineering department, finance department and news department. These departments are further divided into several subordinate units. The CBS radio & TV group sets up six major departments: CBS radio department, CBS TV department; CBS news department; CBS TV network department, CBS entertainment department and CBS sports department. Moreover, the CBS radio department consists of 15 subordinate units. As to the hours of the four different program sections, the programs provided by the radio and TV network occupy 65% of all program hours of subordinate TV stations, while the programs of local stations or joint ventures fill in the other hours. The programs of local TV stations mainly include the news at 6 am and 11 am, the talks at the noon and in the morning and children programs. Figure 13 shows the organizational structure of a major community TV station. 3.2.4 Manager Department of the Newspaper As mentioned above, every newspaper has its own operation system and editing system that complement each other and sustain the normal operation of the newspaper as a news media. This is the same case with radio and TV. Advertisement is the main source of revenue of American newspapers and accounts for 3/4 of the total income compared to the 1/4 from retail sales of newspapers on street. The newspaper of a larger scale comprises a more complex structure. The basic operation activities of large-sized newspapers are often undertaken jointly by several departments. The advertisement department processes the whole-page advertisements and arranges the classified

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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advertisements. The production department is responsible for layout and printing. The release department takes charge of the sale of newspapers, the release of newspapers to the subscribers through newsboy or post office and the release for retail sale on street. The general affairs department manages the finance, human resources and house maintenance. In the medium and small-sized newspapers, only a few departments involve in operation activities, but the functions of these departments are similar to those in the large-scale newspaper. Figure 14 reflects the representative structure and positions of the operation agencies of medium-sized newspapers. 3.2.5 Manager Department of the Radio Station A typical radio station consists of four departments, i.e. the business department, program department, marketing department and engineering (technology) department. Among them, the business department and marketing department are engaged in the operation activities. The business department assumes the responsibility to arrange for advertisements based on the contract signed with advertisers. This is a tough job since dozens of contracts must be fulfilled within certain hours and the time period, length and position of the advertisement vary in each contract. In order to coordinate the work and fulfill the task, the business departments of most radio stations are now using the computer. The marketing department is the source of revenue of the radio station, while other departments are utilizing the income created by the marketing department. This department sells the advertising hours to local and national advertisers. As determined by the scale of the radio station and the number of advertisers, the radio station may hire one local marketing manager to supervise local marketing work, or hire a national marketing manager to deal with the broadcasting of advertisements. Moreover, the marketing department in

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many radio stations also undertakes the mission of market investigation and promotion. The supreme management of a radio station is controlled by the general manager or the head of the station. The general manager employs department directors to supervise the work. Some large radio stations set up the position of the general manager and the head at the same time. In this case, the head of the radio station is responsible for daily work, including recruitment and dismissal, collection of advertising funds and motivation of employees’ enthusiasm, etc. The general manager shall manage the radio station according to local, state and federal laws and regulations and report the work to its radio station group (parent company), community and the federal, state and local legislature.

4  DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN … 

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3.2.6 Manager Department of the TV Station The top executive of the TV station is the general manager (also known as the head), who is responsible for maintaining the operation of the TV station. If this station is subordinated to a TV station group, the general manager will concurrently serve as the vice president of the TV station group. The TV station generally consists of five departments, the marketing department, engineering department, business department, program department and news department, while the operation activities involve the marketing department, business department and program department. The marketing department is deemed as the most important department of a TV station, supervised by the marketing general manager. In addition to advertisement marketing, the marketing department is also responsible for the scheduled broadcasting of advertisements and program arrangement, to assure the fulfillment of advertising contracts and the combination of advertisements and other programs. The marketing department is also responsible for the financial income and expense. The program department is managed by the program director, who leads several offices, purchases new programs as approved by the head and produce the program list. In most TV stations, the program department sets up three sections, including the largest production section, the community relation section and the promotion & sales section. The department generally bears three responsibilities: (1) creating and arranging the propaganda programs, films, special programs and advertisements of the TV station itself; (2) launching social public relation activities and (3) and promoting the TV station itself by publishing advertisements in other media. The marketing department is the most important among all these operation departments, and the heads of most TV stations had served in this department before their promotion. This is the similar case in the radio station. 3.3   Evolution of the Organizational Structure of Chinese Media 3.3.1 The Organizational Structure Before 1949 The organizational structure of the news media in China has been exposed to a hundred-year evolution. In particular, the foundation of the organizational structure has changed along with the alteration of the ownership. Before 1949, the media could be divided into two types, the private and the public. With Ta Kung Pao as the representative of private media, its organizational structure in 1942 is shown in Fig. 15. With Shanghai Central Daily News as the representative of public media, its organizational structure in 1947 is shown in Fig. 16.

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As indicated in the above charts of the organizational structures, there were mainly two kinds of management systems of the Chinese press before 1949, including the enterprise system of private proprietorship or stock management and the chief editor or proprietor responsibility system based on the investment of the party or government. The Shanghai Central Daily News had completed its shareholding reform in 1947, realized the separation between the ownership and management like all other private newspapers of the enterprise system and followed the general system of the Western press.

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3.3.2 The Organizational Structure After 1949 When the People’s Republic of China was founded, the media still consisted of two types, the private and the public. It was upon the completion of socialist industrial and commercial transformation when the media became all owned by the government and the state-run media became the only type of media in China. Meanwhile, the central government stressed on studying from the Soviet Union press. On March 29, 1950, Hu Qiaomu, the Director of the General Administration of Information of the People’s Republic of China, gave a speech in national conference on journalistic work and pointed out that China should learn how the editorial department of the Soviet Union newspaper was made up. The Pravda was made up by the foreign department, party life department, local newspaper department, propaganda department, economy department, agricultural economy department, military department, science and technology department, art department, book and newspaper review department, letter from workers, bulletin, local contact department and the secretariat. Certainly, the labor division on China did not need to be exactly same with the Pravda, and even the structure of

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Pravda was changing. However, China should think about why it was divided into these departments. This was because the newspaper was reflecting these aspects in actual life. However, the editorial department in China was not organized in this way, but was divided into the editorial department, interview department and review department. It suggested our shallow and general understanding of life.24 The press circle, particularly the leaders of news media, knew well that the criticism of Hu Qiaomu was not only his personal opinion. Therefore, the People’s Daily lost no time in sending a delegation to Moscow to learn experiences from Pravda, while Xinhua News Agency also visited and studied from the Tass news agency. From December 21, 1954 to March 2, 1955, the delegation of Xinhua News Agency carefully studied the experiences of Tass news agency at the Tass and complied the two thick books of Working Experiences of Tass after returning to China. In this book, the adjustment of the organizational structure of Tass news agency in December 1954 was introduced, and the organizational structure after the adjustment was listed (see Fig. 17). The International News Department is composed of the following teams: Western European Team Eastern and Northern European Team 24 Selected

Works on Journalism of the Communist Party of China, Vol. 2, 1st edition, Page 49, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1981.

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American Team Orient Team Far East Team Contribution Team Foreign Contribution Team Radio Listening Team Translation Team Information Team Secretarial Team The Soviet Union News Department consists of the following teams: Industrial Team Agricultural Team Party Life and Cultural Life Team Foreign Reporting Team Local Newspaper News Team Local Journalists Network Guidance Team Information Team Secretarial Team The Photography Department is composed of the following departments: Soviet News Team—Journalist Network Central News Team—Moscow Journalists Local Newspaper News Team—Club Photo Publishing Group Information Team—Background Library International Team Distribution Team Accounting Team General Affairs Team First Photo Workshop Second Photo Workshop Plate-making Workshop—Printing House Colour Photo Studio With the above structure as the model, Xinhua News Agency had adjusted and reorganized its own organizational structure. Before the Cultural Revolution, the basic pattern of organizational structure of Chinese media is shown in Fig. 18. This organizational structure of media clearly indicated that all news media were exposed to the absolute leadership by the Communist Party of China in socialist China and the collective leadership by the Party committee, editorial committee or social committee. The proprietor and the chief editor were the legal representative of the proprietor responsibility system or the chief editor

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responsibility system, who were responsible for leading the work of the news gathering and editing, operation and management departments, while the general secretary assisted the work of the proprietor and chief editor. This organizational structure of media had lasted for three decades from the founding of new China to the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of CPC. This system has not changed much since the Reform and Opening up, but the emergence of a few non-state-owned media has partially altered the pattern. Firstly, the newspaper or periodical founded by democratic parties has shown up; and secondly, the newspaper or periodical of joint venture or shareholding system has emerged. These emerging newspapers or periodicals undoubtedly apply the new pattern of organizational structure. Though this pattern can still hardly be drawn with a clear chart, it is definitely different from the traditional organization above. We believe that along with the intensified reform of the economic, political and journalistic system, the media adopting the new structure will be constantly increasing. 3.4   Comparison Between the Organizational Structure of News Media in China and the West 3.4.1 Ownership and Management In regard to Western media, the legal representative confirmed by the board of directors may not be a member of the board or the main shareholder, so the most media have separated ownership from management and adopted the

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principle of editing independence and operation independence. In this case, under the leadership of the chief editor and general manager, the editors and operators can better play their enthusiasm and creation and have relatively clear responsibilities and rights. This system is favorable for giving better play to the social functions of the media and acquiring maximum benefits. In regard to Chinese media. the official newspaper, national news agency, radio station and TV station are under the centralized leadership of the Party; the ownership and management are integrated; the proprietor, chief editor and station director are appointed by the ruling party and the government; and all employees assume the full responsibilities for the Party and the government but have no clear idea about their obligations and rights, which adversely influences their enthusiasm and creation to a certain extent. In this system, the news media can play a greatly positive role based on the correct guiding ideology, line and policy of the Party and government. Sometimes, the human resources and financial resources can be centralized to do great things and create the powerful public opinion environment. However, if the guiding ideology, line and policy of the Party and government were wrong, it would waste many resources and greatly damage the overall situation. 3.4.2 Editorial Department and Manager Department The Western media has separated the editing from operation and also separated the editorial department from the manager department very early and explicitly operated the media as a modern enterprise. Therefore, the operation and management department apply the independent policy and builds a special team to strengthen operation and management. With abundant fund, Western media can strengthen the distribution, increase the circulation, acquire considerable revenues from advertisements and then vigorously support the news editing and improve the media image. However, the Chinese media have always thought highly of editing than operation and paid more attention to the editorial department than to the manager department. Even until today, Chinese media still have not reached a consensus on whether the media belong to the modern industry. Therefore, in regard to the organizational structure of media, the operation sections of the manager department of the most media are placed at the third level. The traditional model of organizational structure of Chinese media is shown in Fig. 19. Chinese media have long been exposed to the existing state, mainly because they have been satisfied with the support by the government. They live on the financial allocation of the government and enjoy many preferential policies in terms of distribution, advertisement and tax, so they do not need to strive for advertisement or sales and many functions of the manager department are weakened. Despite the evident changes of the situation currently, the opinions and behaviors formed for a long time have not been fundamentally changed. When some media begin to pay attention to the operation, they have an ambiguous idea about the boundary between editing and operation, overcorrect the situation and wrongly lead to another extreme

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by having the journalists soliciting advertisements and performing the paid news. 3.4.3 News Right and Speech Right As a fundamental consideration of the organizational structure of Western media, it is favorable for the separation between the news right and the speech right. As mentioned above, Western journalism holds that the news satisfies the audience’s desire for news and acts according to the people’s right to know; while the speech reveals the political standpoint and proposition of the publisher. Therefore, the news independence is supreme. In practices, the chief editor, the head of the editorial department in name, is in charge of news, but he will not interfere with the news right or the speech inclination, since this is the independent job of the editorial-page chief editor. To display justice, the editorial-page chief editor also publishes the letters and comments of readers and publishes the speech opposing the newspaper editorial, in order to balance the editorial page. The speech balance here shows the administration right of the editorial-page chief editor.

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Being the mouthpiece of the Party and the government, Chinese media stress on the consistency between the inclination of news reports and the standpoint of speech. Not only objecting against “opposite editorial pages,” Chinese media also emphasize that all speeches and reports shall completely accord to the Party line. This idea and tradition of newspaper enables the media to correctly guide the public opinion of society. However, if any mistake of the direction of the Party and government, this consistent guidance will bring devastating damages to social life. 3.4.4 Management Level and Efficiency As to the organizational structure of media, the upper structure shall be simplified to avoid overstaffing and inconsistent policies; while the lower structure shall be set up based on practical needs with distinct labor division. The upper shall directly order the lower without too many intermediate levels to prevent any unsmooth communication or insensitive command. All departments shall closely cooperate with each other and coordinate the upper, the lower and the parallel level to complete the work. Examining the organizational structure of Western media with these standards above, it can be seen that most media separate ownership from management, set up only a few levels of management, clarify the responsibilities and rights of each position, apply simple procedures and enjoy a high efficiency. By comparison, the organizational structure of Chinese media has many disadvantages. As to the management system, there are too many responsible people for whom no distinct responsibilities and rights are entrusted, inconsistent policies and over interference on administration businesses, which adversely affects the enthusiasm of journalists. In regard to the functions, Chinese media set up too many management levels with a complex structure and too many employees and suffer from a low efficiency due to the insensitive command and struggle among different departments. Moreover, some leaders in the media know nothing about journalistic writing or management, or are fettered by old conventions without the innovative spirit, seriously impeding the development of journalistic undertakings. Two factors have mainly contributed to the differences between China and the west in the organizational structure of media. Firstly, the conditions vary between the two, leading to the different news ideas and practical operations. Secondly, the Western media emerged two hundred years earlier than Chinese media and therefore have accumulated rich experiences, so China, a country who just initiated the reform of market economy, shall learn from them and make best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages. Therefore, it is key to emancipate the mind, seek truth from the facts, strengthen the journalistic reform particularly the system reform and persevere to acquire practical achievements.

CHAPTER 5

Regulation and Supervision on Journalism and Communication in China and the West

The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. —Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1787) The class (ruling class) is a material strength as well as a spiritual strength dominating the society. The class controlling the material and spiritual means of production. —Karl Marx

Regulation means to adjust and control, i.e. to adjust a thing to adapt to the requirements and to control a thing to restrict its activities and ensure it within its scope of activities. Journalism and communication regulation is a kind of social regulation in terms of its social functions and implementation channels. As the main content of social regulation on journalism and communication, the state, government, political party, social group or industrial organization conducts compulsory management and control over the editing and operation activities of news media and the flow direction and rate by means of materials, laws, policies and regulations, etc., for the sake of their own interests and purposes. It is also a kind of soft regulation to improve the standard of news ethics, draw up the rules of news ethics and supervise the journalistic practitioners to voluntarily execute and implement the professional moral criteria of journalism. The owners and managers of news media can also effectively regulate on the journalism and communication behaviors of journalists through promotion and demotion and adjustment of the salary and welfare, etc.

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1_5

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All countries, in China or in the West, from ancient to modern times, exert necessary social regulation on journalism and communication behaviors. Quite a few similarities are seen in the regulation channels and measures. However, the social regulation in China and the West presents different forms, characteristics and results due to different national conditions and different journalistic system, culture and ethics. In this chapter, we will compare and analyze the general characteristics, journalistic system and new ethics of social regulation.

1  Analysis of Journalism and Communication Regulation in China and the West 1.1   The Stick and the Carrot Social Regulation in the United States The United States, the United Kingdom and France share quite a lot of similarities in terms of social regulation on news, so the United States is analyzed here as an instance. Adhering to the principle of objective and just news reports and news comments, the American press has been free from the direct control by the government and the party to a large extent. As a matter of fact, the American government has no power to perform the press censorship in peacetime. However, the government still can apply multiple measures to influence several links of news communication, so as to adjust and control the quality, quantity, flow direction and guidance of news. The government regulation is conducted in two ways, the hard regulation and the soft regulation. The hard regulation refers to the regulation mandatorily executed by the government based on its judicial administrative authority; while the soft regulation means the non-mandatory regulation by the government through other channels. Moreover, the interest group, advertiser and industrial association of media also impose certain regulation on journalism and communication behaviors. 1.1.1 Soft Regulation of the American Government on Journalism and Communication A symbiotic relation exists between the government and the press in the United States, so the soft regulation is more favored by the government. The Government Effectively Controls the Official Information Based on Its Huge Public Relation Network In the United States, either the federal government or the state government is made up by a large number of official institutions, which all set up their own public relation organizations to establish a favorable image. According to statistics, the federal government has 6000 people performing public relation activities, with an annual expense of 164 million dollars. Additionally, the White House has its own public relation organization. Previously, Richard

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Nixon had established a public relation team of over 60 people when he was in power. The public relation expenditure of the government reached as high as 436 million dollars in the fiscal year of 1985. The taboo of the press is the media being the mouthpiece of the government, but somehow, the media cannot extricate themselves from the soft regulation by the government due to the information source. As stated by Roger Hilsman, a professor from Harvard University, they wanted to be the critic against the government. They spare no effort to avoid becoming a tool of the government, but they know they are used by the White House, congressman and officials but cannot escape. The officials supply information for them and make use of them to spread the information to the public with their language. The Government Has Multiple Means to Directly Regulate Information 1.1.2 Major Means to Release and Disclose Information Include the President’s speech on radio or TV; the journalist reception initiated by the President, Secretary of State and congressman; the press release organized by the press secretary of the White House and government spokesman; the private journalist interview where the President and senior officials select the journalist of special background and provide the journalist an opportunity to release exclusive news. 1.1.3 Major Means to Hide and Conceal Information Include the confidentiality system, the press censorship in wartime and motioning the news agency to withhold the news. The previous two means fall into the category of hard regulation, while the latter one is often used in special cases such as the threats to the state security. They often bow to the government will in order not to be charged with treason. For example, as required by the government, the New York Times had withdrawn three reports, respectively, on the secret fly of U-2 spy aeroplane, the invasion of the Mercenary army into Cuba and the deployment of missiles in Cuba by the Soviet Union between 1960 and 1962. This obviously ran counter to the basic editorial policy of American news media. Win the Leading Figures in the Press over by Being Friendly All the presidents of the United States have put great efforts to establish personal friendship with the leading figures in the press, courteously received the press publishers and radio & TV owners and cultivated the agent or won some journalists over inside the media. All publishers of the New York Times have been drawn over by the government. President Theodore Roosevelt had personally received publisher Adolph Ochs; Lyndon Johnson had visited the newspaper office; Richard Nixon had been present at the mourning ceremony of publisher Ochs Sulzberger; Franklin Roosevelt had maintained a long-time friendship with the publisher’s family. Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and

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John F. Kennedy et al. had their friends working as an editor or journalist in the New York Times. Though these moves did not suggest how the newspaper ingratiate itself with the government, it practically helped the government understand the decision-maker and the decision-making process of media. Build an Electronic Image and Influence Public Opinion With the rise of the electronic media, the forms of communication between government leaders and other senior officials and the public have been exposed to drastic changes. According to scholar Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler, Franklin Roosevelt was the first president that made use of electronic media to create “personal superstition.” Since the early 1960s, television had replaced newspaper as the primary information source for the American public. In the view of Thomas Dye and Harmon Zeigler, the media likes dramatic personality in the electronic age. However, the US congress can hardly be personalized, the Supreme Court is cool and official organizations are unappealing. By comparison, it is the perfect opportunity for the President’s men to provide materials to the media thus to create the dramatic personality of the government. People will acquire the impression of the President from the TV screen by sitting at home, which often decides the end of the presidential election. The energetic candidate good at performance in front of the camera often beats those with the dual facial expression. The representative of the former type is Ronald Reagan. This phenomenon of “media president” and “media product” has altered the condition of power politics in the United States. The mass communication media election campaign directed by professional public relations and advertising experts has replaced the political party organizations in the political party election campaign. TV has aggravated the complicated situation of the rise and fall of a political party; has become the “backstage boss of election campaign” replacing the political party leaders; has encouraged people to vote according to their impression about the “image” of candidates; and has promoted the development of communication media election campaign through professional advertising technologies. Strike at the Press When Necessary with the Stick Though all presidents pay attention to the role of the press on supervising the government and have been friendly to win the press over, the relationship between the government and the press is not that harmonious on the whole. All presidents had expressed their discontent in and resentment against the press. President Thomas Wilson who had passed away even judged that: every report of the newspaper was not true. President Johnson attributed the “crisis of confidence” when he was in office to the press. Richard Nixon and his Vice President Spiro Agnew were at the deepest enmity with the press. During Richard Nixon’s term of office, the government had launched a rarely seen fierce attack on the press. In 1969, Spiro Agnew made a speech and claimed that the news media had been controlled by the liberal celebrities

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in the east and failed to express the ideas of ideologically conservative civilians. He implied that the public should apply certain measures to alter the situation. His speech had caused a great disturbance and strongly shocked he press. According to investigation, the news policies of major TV networks gradually changed in favor of the government, since they feared their licenses would be revoked by the government. As demonstrated by this incident, the government can obtain certain effect by striking at the press in proper time. 1.1.4 Hard Regulation of the American Government on Journalism and Communication Hard regulation is only an auxiliary means of regulation in peacetime, but is applied as the basic means of regulation in case of any threat to the state interest or in wartime. Hard regulation is carried out in several forms, including the administrative regulation, judicial regulation and resource regulation. News Censorship in Wartime In the United States, a bourgeois country ruled by law, the government shall not interfere the freedom of news and opinions communication of the press in peacetime. Only in wartime, the public and the press accept the news censorship. After the United States had been drawn into the World War I, President Woodrow Wilson issued an order to establish the Public Information Committee, which was responsible for news censorship and propaganda in wartime. After joining the World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt founded the news inspection bureau with an administrative order and signed the news censorship regulations in wartime. The Vietnam War was an outstanding exception. Since the United States had not officially declared war, there was no legal basis for the implementation of news censorship. Confidentiality System The President requires that certain materials are confidential to the government and shall not be disclosed with an administrative order. The congressman may use the materials with restraint if necessary. The President is also entitled to reject to provide certain materials to the congress for the reason of state security and administrative privilege, etc. The Information Freedom Act approved by the congress in 1966 and the supplementary act approved by 1974 had imposed certain restrictions on the confidentiality system and administrative privilege of the government, the confidential documents about national defense or diplomacy exposed to special order of confidentiality by the President are still not confined to these restrictions. The largest incident involving the confidentiality system was the “Pentagon Papers” in 1971. Punishment on Criminal Libel and Sedition The government is entitled to protect society and the public from libel and protect itself from the damage incurred by seditious actions. The criminal

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libel is defined as: the false and malicious attack on society that breaks the peace or disturbs the social order with violence. This kind of case extremely rarely happens. The government is also entitled to protect itself from the damage incurred by treason. Any media communicating the information that endangers state security will be suspected of being guilty of sedition or treason. Right after the founding of the US congress, the first batch of laws approved included the Alien Act and Sedition Act in 1798. In accordance with the Sedition Act, if the newspaper criticized the government and hurt the newly established government, it had committed a crime. However, Thomas Jefferson et al. held that the Alien Act and Sedition Act had infringed the constitutional right, so he repealed these two laws after he was elected as the President. When the government treats communication as a threat, the freedom of speech and the press is in danger. From the revocation of the Alien Act and Sedition Act to the breakout of the World War I, the government had not established laws to restrict the press freedom. However, along with the expansion of the state power and the breakout of the world war, American public allowed the government to break a rule to restrict the press freedom for the sake of state security in wartime. During the World War I, the congress approved the Espionage Act, which defined the release of any information that might be used by the enemy against America as a crime. A similar act had been approved again during the World War II. These acts had been repealed with the end of wars. However, with the advent of the Cold War and the nuclear age, the congress approved the National Security Act in 1950 to prohibit the disclosure of communications intelligence and the release of the confidential information related to the communications intelligence of the United States. Protection of the Judicial System The government is entitled to protect the judicial department from the interference by the mass communication media. If a journalist does not respect the court procedures, disturbs the court, attempts to influence court decisions or rejects to serve as a witness at court as the news source (in certain states), he will be convicted of contempt of court. In the history, several judges have made use of the power to demand the notebook, photo or video or audio tape from the journalist for case trial. However, 26 states of the United States have established laws to protect the journalist’s right not to disclose the source of confidential news. Restrictions on Court Reports The judicial department can restrict the court reports of media by refusing to open the court to the journalist. In 1975, a judge in Nebraska had ordered to restrict the reports on the trial of a murder for the reason that this case was too frightful to the year. However, in the following year, the Supreme

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Court decided that the above order had restricted the freedom of the press and breached the Constitution. In 1983, a judge from a local court of first instance issued an order to prohibit a famous TV program 60 Minutes of CBS from broadcasting a report on a case in New Orleans and claimed that this report would hinder the case trial. Finally, a court of appeal of New Orleans delayed the trial, thus to prevent any influence of the TV report on the jury. It is undoubted that the struggle between the restriction and the counter-restriction will continue. Protection of the Property Right The government also regulates on communication activities through the protection of the communicator’s property right. In the United States, the Copyright Law came into force in 1909 and was amended in 1976 to protect the rights and interests of writers, composers, photographers and painters. However, the fact and the opinion are not covered by the copyright law. Sometimes, the government exercises the power to protect private property to restrict the news media from approaching the site of the news. By now, several litigations have been launched against the journalists who entered the private place to report the incident such as a fire without permission. The press firmly holds that the journalist does not need the permission of the property owner before entering the site of the news, but the judicial decision procedures for this kind of case have not been explicitly established. The government also protects the property right by means of antitrust law (anti-monopoly law) against the communication media. For example, if the merger of a newspaper has eliminated the existing or potential competition in a region, it was considered as a breach of law in the past. However, considering the increasing economic pressure on the newspaper, the execution of the articles against newspaper merger in the antitrust law has been relaxed. The newspaper protection law approved in 1970 entrusted the newspaper with the special anti-monopoly right. Management of Media Advertisements The false and deceptive advertisements are controlled in following ways in the United States. Firstly, the consumer enjoys the right to be protected from the damage of the false advertisements according to the law of all states; and, secondly, several organizations of the federal government are entitled to manage the advertisements released in the print media and electronic media. Special Management over Radio and TV Distinguished from other news media, the radio and TV station owners in the United States must acquire the permit (license) issued by the government before founding the radio and TV station. After the permit has been acquired, the government can no longer examine or suppress the development of radio and TV.

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In 1927, the congress approved the act on the founding of the Federal Radio Committee (FRC), which was renamed to be the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) in 1934. It is responsible for radio, telephone, telegraph and TV industry. The FCC also controls the centralization degree of the radio and TV ownership to prevent monopoly. Previously, it regulated that the owner should only establish no more than 1 AM radio station, 1 FM radio station and 1 TV station in one listening/viewing zone; and the owner should not possess more than 7 media of any form nationwide, including no more than 5 VHF TV stations. This restriction had been relaxed later one. Each person or company could possess 12 AM radio stations, 12 FM radio stations and 12 TV stations (i.e. the “12-12-12” rule). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 had cancelled the upper limit of the number of radio stations owned by a company in whole America; and the limit that the coverage of the TV stations of a company should be lower than 35% had also been practically cancelled. According to explicit regulations at present, if the total number of radio stations in a city exceeds 45, then each radio company can have no more than 8 radio stations; and in a city with 30 to 40 radio stations, each company can have 7 at most; in a city with 15 to 29 radio stations, each can have 6 at most; in a city with fewer than 14 stations, each can own 5 to the most; and in principle, a company is prohibited to possess the radio and the TV station in the same city at the same time, unless considered as “complying with public interests” by FCC. The FCC also takes charge of the content of some programs particularly that about politics and public affairs. Article 315 of the FCC regulations provides that the radio and TV stations shall provide the equal time and opportunities for all presidential candidates to make their campaign speeches (i.e. the so-called “equal-opportunity principle” or “equal-time principle”). Its another rule requires that the radio and TV shall present all different opinions on a controversial issue of great significance (i.e. the “impartiality principle”). When the Supreme Court tried the case between the Red Lion Broadcasting Company and the FCC in 1969, the “impartiality principle” was confirmed as complying with the Constitution. The Supreme Court judged that the right of the public to listen to all different opinions prevailed over the right of the radio or TV owner to express only one opinion. The “impartiality principle” was abolished in 1987. 1.1.5 Regulation on Journalism and Communication by American Interest Groups and Advertisers Americans like to participate in all kinds of organizations, and most Americans have joined at least one official organization. The organizational interest group (also known as the pressure group or lobby) exerts the most direct and frequent influence on the government. There are a variety of interest groups in the United States, which can be classified into the industry and commerce groups, agriculture groups, workers

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groups, women groups, church groups, ethnic and national groups, public interest groups and single-issue groups, etc. The interest group is affecting the decision by lobbying the government decision-makers. It often adopts two ways of activities, the direct lobbying and indirect lobbying. The latter means to make use of news media to influence or generate social public opinion. The lobbyist can provide news, analysis or editorials to local newspapers and send useful newspaper clippings to a congressman. Moreover, the lobbyist can purchase the advertising pages of the newspapers at the congressman’s hometown. Half or whole page of advertisements of the Washington Post are purchased by the lobbyist every day. Under these circumstances, the news media only play a role as the intermediary between the interest group and the government and congress. Furthermore, the interest group can directly put pressure on the media to change their policies of reports and comments. Since the 1970s, the public are paying increasing attention to radio and TV. By 1975, the civilian interest group (also known as the media reform group) had been established in 30 states. These interest groups mainly requested the FCC to reject to renew the permit of some radio or TV stations. Though their appeals were seldom accepted, they forced the TV station to the long-lasting and expensive lawsuit and finally drove the radio or TV station to directly negotiate with the consumer group and reach an agreement between civilians and the stations. An interest group named the Action of Children’s Television (ACT) appealed to the FCC to prohibit advertisement broadcasting during the children’s programs. In this case, the three major TV networks had appointed the new directors for children’s programs. Therefore, when the members of the interest group disagree with the communication ideas of radio or TV stations, their criticisms often drove the FCC to mandatorily implement the “impartiality principle.” The women’s groups are imposing increasingly intensified pressure on media. Many women require the media making more balanced reports and ending the employment discrimination of media in multiple occasions. The Detroit WXYZ Station and National Women’s Organization (NWO) had signed an agreement and agreed to discuss women’s issues for 90 minutes in the prime time every year. To avoid the lawsuit, a TV station in Texas agreed to broadcast more programs about the minority ethnic groups and hire more black journalists. Advertisers constitute another force capable of regulating the news media. However, the regulation by the advertiser is performed in an ingenious, slippery and obscure manner. Theoretically, the news media in the United States are independent, and the more independent media will be more capable of extricating itself from the restraint of external forces such as the advertiser. However, as the advertisement revenue has become the most important source of revenue, it is impossible for the media to maintain complete

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independence. 33 to 50% of the revenues of newspapers and periodicals come from the subscribers, and the 100% revenue of the radio and TV station depends on the advertiser, so the latter is more often exposed to the invisible pressure from the advertisement investors. Generally, the advertiser that has signed a contract with the media dares not openly break the contract, otherwise the advertiser will be criticized by others and the offence to the news media will do more harm than good for the advertiser. However, this case has happened indeed. For example, the advertisers in a town of the Wisconsin State had pulled back their advertisements to protest against a newspaper for printing the underground newspaper; but the newspaper insisted on its original intention and won. In 1959, the CBS had broadcasted a drama in the program Desiru Theater, which described a scene that an American military officer warned the Hawaiian against the imminent attack by the Japanese right before the Pearl Harbor Incident, and the military denounced this officer disqualified and transferred him out of the Command. The sponsor of Desiru Theater was a large arms company, Westinghouse Company, which was not willing to offend the government and the military. Under the pressure of Westinghouse Company, the CBS had to close down this drama halfway. The news editing department of media is seldom manipulated by the advertising department. Despite the increasing economic pressure on the media, its editorial policy still remains largely independent. 1.1.6 Restriction of American Industrial Organizations on News Communication American constitutional amendment has endowed the press with supreme privilege, which protects the legitimate rights and benefits of the press but meanwhile indulge some irresponsible media with the abuse of the press freedom. From the end of the nineteenth century to the 1930s, the public criticized the yellow newspaper and periodical in a more and more sharp manner, and the criticism was even intensified by the 1960s and 1970s. Against the criticism by the public, the press had put great efforts to improve the journalistic undertakings, mainly manifested by the codes and rules of professional ethics formulated by the industrial association of the press. This is selfdiscipline for the whole press, but is heteronomy for each media alone. The first codes of professional ethics were the Codes for Journalists formulated by Doctor Walter William, the first Dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. In 1923, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) had drawn up the widely influential Journalism Regulations, renamed as the Declaration of Principles in 1975. The Society of Professional Journalists had approved the Moral Regulations 1926 and made amendments to it in 1973. In addition to self-discipline of the newspaper, other media also successively formulated the self-discipline regulations. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) had approved the Radio Regulations in 1937 and TV Regulations in 1952.

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Distinguished from most countries, the industrial regulations formulated by American industrial organizations of the press have no mandatory binding force on the press practitioners. In Sweden, if a journalist violated against the professional codes, he would be ejected from the press. However, the industrial regulations of the American press embody the basic values of the American press, explain the nature and social functions of American journalistic undertakings, social status and behavior standards of journalists and other fundamental problems, and therefore play an important guiding role in regulating the behaviors of news media and journalists. 1.2   Social Regulation on Journalism and Communication in Japan 1.2.1 Regulation by Law Before the World War II, Japan had made the newspaper law, publication law and film law, etc., and set up the news censorship to implement control over the freedom of speech. After the World War II, Article 21.2 of the new Constitution of Japan expressly prohibited news censorship and also prohibited the government from interfering or restricting the communication media through administrative means. The freedom of the press had been fully affirmed by law. The freedom of the press mainly consists of three parts, the freedom of interview, the freedom of reports and comments and the freedom of media communication. Japan has no special law or regulation on the press, and the protection and restriction of the freedom of the press is provided in scattered articles in the Constitution, civil law and criminal law, etc. In addition to Article 21 of the Constitution, the provisions on protecting the freedom of the press can also be seen in the Public Election Law (Article 148) that protects the freedom of the newspaper and magazine to report and comment on election, Article 230.2.2 and 230.2.3 of the Criminal Law that regulates on the “exceptions” for the crime of defamation and the laws restrict on the stocks of as well as the transfer of shares of the shareholding companies and limited companies engaged in release of daily newspapers. The privilege of the newspaper and news agency to interview the Diet is admitted in the rules of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors; and the Copyright law protects the editor’s copyright (Article 12) and provides the right to copy and quote other works when reporting on current affairs (Article 41). Moreover, the Post Law and Business Rules for Passengers and Luggage admit the “exception” of news expenses. The operation activities of news media are regulated by the Monopoly Prohibition Law, which stipulates “avoid illicit competition and guarantee fair dealing.” Furthermore, the Monopoly Prohibition Law also provides the “exclusive unfair trade law for the newspaper,” “the law on prohibition of illicit gifts and illicit commission” and “the restriction on supplying gifts in the press,” etc.

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Moreover, the law also imposes certain restrictions on interview and report. Firstly, about the restriction on court interview, it is the court that decides whether the shooting, sound recording or broadcasting is allowed in the court according to Article 11 of the Civil Procedure Rules, and the court is entitled to maintain the order and punish any action violating against the Criminal Procedure Rules (Article 215) or the court demand according to law. Moreover, Article 111 of the National Civil Servant Law and Article 62 of the Local Civil Servant Law stipulate that any attempt to seduce or instigate civil servants to disclose any secret will be punished and the interview activities are restricted. In regard to the report and comment, the criminal law has defined the crimes of “obscene performance,” “libel” and “injury to credit,” etc.; and the Prevention of Sabotage Act treated the support or instigation to the “crime of insurrection” and the instigation to the “foreign aggression” as an independent crime. Article 61 of the juvenile law restricts on the publication of the delinquenent juvenile. The libel and infringement in private life also constitute illegal act. The copyright law protects the economic and personality interests of the author by the regulation on prohibiting illegally making use of the works of others. 1.2.2 Regulation by the Government The Information and Culture Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for journalistic undertakings as the Japanese governmental authority. The Domestic Newspaper Office subordinate to the Bureau shall draft and implement the domestic propaganda plan for the reports on international conditions and diplomatic issues and collect and study on relevant information; while the Foreign Newspaper Office shall draft and implement the foreign propaganda plan for the reports on Japanese conditions and diplomatic policies. The Japanese press upholds the “impartial” “social independence” in news reports and supervises the government to a certain extent. The Japanese government also gives favorable publicity to the “freedom of the press,” admits the mutual independence between the press and the regime and poses as respecting news public opinion. Officials at different levels all pay special attention to the relation with the press and the evaluation of the press on themselves and the things under their administration. However, it does not necessarily mean that there is no interest, ideological or standpoint conflict between the news media and the government, and does not demonstrate the complete “social independence” of social media. Firstly, the government imposes necessary restrictions on the news reports through relevant laws and regulations. Any news media in breach of relevant laws will be charged and processed by the court. Secondly, the government manipulates public opinion through the press club. In Japan, the Diet, government (including all departments), judicial organizations, local administrations, political party headquarter and economic

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organizations, etc., all have established their “press club.” All media nationwide dispatch journalists to these press clubs, while the government, political party or economic group releases relevant information through these clubs and the journalists compile news based on the materials they provide. Relevant authorities even hold the so-called “brief meeting” at the press clubs regularly or irregularly to guide the direction of public opinion. Moreover, the government leaders or party leaders can directly influence the person in charge of the newspaper. Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs often invite the heads of newspapers to a dinner or discussion and informally express their opinions or give hints on certain major issues in these activities. By this way, they ingeniously assure that the reports on major issues are made as the government wants. Generally, the large newspaper offices in Japan are running radio and TV stations at the same time. When they striving for the establishment of new stations in local places, they need to acquire the approval for the wave band and frequency channel from the Prime Minister. Under these circumstances, the government can utilize the resources of the wage band and frequency channel to control the newspaper and allocate the resources to whoever “performs well.” 1.2.3 Regulation by the Political Party After the World War II, the Japanese government allows different political parties to promote their own thoughts, so most of the Japanese political parties founded their own newspapers as their mouthpiece to promote their own principles and policies, such as the Liberal Newspaper of the Liberal Party, the Socialist Newspaper of the Socialist Party, the Komei News of Komei Party, the Democratic and Socialist News of the Democratic and Socialist Party and the Red Flag Newspaper of the Communist Party. Meanwhile, the political parties also adopt various measures to attempt to utilize and control other news media. Same as the government, Japanese political parties also set up their press club at their headquarters. The political parties also exert an influence through the political department journalists of all newspapers. The editorial departments of some large newspapers have set up a political department especially responsible for the interview and report of political news. The journalists of the political department are always associated with the prominent figures of different political parties and schools. These journalists often acquire political materials through their connections with politicians, while the political parties and schools get the information about their opponents and deliver their own ideas through their connection with journalists. Therefore, the journalists at the political department of major newspapers have their own political background and show certain inclination in their news reports. Some people say the political department of the newspaper is like “a collective of the spokesmen of different schools.” In particular, the directors of the political departments of the

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newspapers have all established a good relationship with local rulers, while some journalists themselves have served as the adviser, consultant or secretary of some politicians; while politicians from different political parties or schools also tend to select their advisers or secretaries from the political department. In other words, only when the director of the political department has a good relationship with the local ruler, the newspaper can acquire valuable core political materials. Moreover, the political parties can also promote their own thoughts on newspapers as a form of opinion advertisement. 1.2.4 Regulation by the Capital Group As the news agencies in Japan are mostly run by civilian and are essentially enterprises for profit, the news media inevitably depend on capital groups. Firstly, the consortium directly invests on the journalistic undertaking. Jiji News Agency and even the five major newspapers in China are all controlled by the capital groups. With shareholders including newspaperman Murayama Michiko, Ueno Junichi, Murayama Saito and Murayama Fumiko, Asahi Shimbun has a close relationship with financial monopoly capital including Sumitomo Bank and Mitsui bank. The shareholders of Yomiuri Shimbun include organizations such as the Shoriki Health and Welfare Association and Yomiuri Industry as well as newspaper capitalists Shoriki Toru, Kobayashi Yosoji, Sakine Chozaburo and Mitsuo Shinodai, and it also had a close relationship with the Dai Ichi Kangyo Bank, Mitsui bank and Sumitomo Bank. The founder of Nihon Keizai Shimbun is Masuda takashi, the head of Mitsui & Co, and the newspaper has a close relationship with the finance industry and business circle and a deep relationship with Sumitomo Bank and Sanwa Bank. The main shareholders of Sankei Shimbun are composed of Tokyo Corporation, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Kansai Electronics Company and Osaka News Agency. Based on the close relationship between the newspaper industry and the finance industry, the financial leaders in Tokyo and Osaka established the Sankei Economic Support, and each of them sponsored Sankei with 100,000 yen per month. Mainichi Shimbun was deeply in debt between the 1960s and the mid-1970s, when financial leaders Nagano shigeo, Ashihara Kuwahara and Takikawa Minoh founded a new shareholding company in 1977 and raised fund of 4 billion yen for the newspaper. Japanese newspapers, large or small, all have borrowed from the bank, leading to the dependence of Japanese newspapers on financial capital. In 1960, the total assets of the Japanese press valued less than 100 billion yen, which grew to be 740 billion yen by 1982, but the equity capital of the press had seen no significant growth. Another special phenomenon in the press is that the newspaper with a larger circulation often has a lower proportion of equity capital, while the newspaper with a smaller circulation has a higher proportion of equity capital. It demonstrates that the more influential newspaper is exposed to the stronger control by financial capital.

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Moreover, the monopoly enterprises are containing the newspaper through advertisements. At present, the operation condition of the Japanese newspaper largely depends on the advertisement publication, and the advertising revenue accounts for approximately 50 to 60% of the total revenue of the newspaper. The first page of Japanese newspapers publishes advertisements of 20–30 rows every day, and the advertisements in other pages often take up a half page or the whole page. Some publications even decide the layout mainly based on the advertisements. The mass advertising is mainly purchased by the large enterprises and the consortium. The Japanese newspaper, which is essentially a capitalist enterprise, is tightly controlled by the monopoly capital. To repay the loan interest to the bank, the newspaper has no other way but to increase the sales volume and advertising revenue of the newspaper. However, as an advertisement media, the selling price of the newspaper is decided by its circulation. Therefore, the newspaper is doing everything to participate in the fierce competition and expand the circulation, otherwise it could not survive. 1.2.5 Regulation by the Advertiser Being an important media for the advertisement, the modern newspaper largely depends on advertisers and advertising groups. The majority of Japanese newspapers are concurrently operating their own advertising agencies, to guarantee the advertisement solicitation from the organizational level. Dentsu in Japan is the largest advertising company in the world. It reserves large pages in Japanese newspapers and magazines and half of the prime time of TV and radio for its advertisements. In the turnover of Dentsu, the TV, radio, newspaper and magazine account for approximately 70%. It reserves the advertising pages at the newspaper and then sells to advertisers, with 15% of the profits going to Dentsu and 85% going to the newspaper. The advertisement media in Japan largely depend on the support of Dentsu. Dentsu has established a Ninth Office especially responsible for delivering the advertisement businesses of Japanese governments at all levels. There is an ABC association in Japanese advertising circle, which conducts fair investigation on and verification of the circulation and distribution of advertisement media including newspapers and magazines. While the advertiser is actively trying to promote the commodity sales through advertisements, the advertisement media is making every attempt to improve its status in the competition. In the fierce competition, the advertiser discovers the advantages of the newspaper in focus publicity and enterprise publicity, etc. Among the four kinds of media, the magazine sees the most significant growth of advertisements, because the emerging men’s weekly, women’s magazine and popular science magazine, etc., can reach the special group of readers, achieve the special effect in advertising and draw the attention of advertisers.

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1.2.6 Self-discipline by the Industry The freedom of mass communication is endowed by the Constitution. However, as the communication media independent from the government, the Japanese press has its own complete management system to align the media behaviors to social codes. The self-discipline of Japanese press is made up by two parts: firstly, the regulation on the words and deeds of news media through journalistic ethics standards, and secondly, the industry censorship on the news reports. Self-discipline is mainly achieved through the press association. The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association was founded in 1946 with an aim to “improve the theoretical level of news, communication and broadcasting nationwide and safeguard common interests.” In July 1947, the Association formulated the News Moral Program as the code of conduct that Japanese press shall observe. The Program covers seven points: the press freedom; the limitation of reports and comments; the attitude of comments: justice and tolerance; guidance; responsibility, honor and quality. It regulates on the ethics for news reports and advocates the spirit of freedom, responsibility, justice and nobility among the whole journalistic staff. The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association also makes clear the attitude of the press toward kinds of issues in realistic journalistic activities (such as peer interview, late-night interview and aerial interview, the report on youth crime and abduction, the report and comment on elections, the criminal or civil lawsuit against reputation damage, the “right of privacy” of ordinary people, the infringement of copyright, the processing of photo evidences and external appointment contribution and the issue about the press club, etc.) or coordinate among all units of the press, by presenting the “unified view,” “countermeasures” or opinions. In regard to advertisement, the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association approved the Main Principles of Purification of Newspaper Advertising in 1947 in accordance with the spirit of the News Moral Program. These Main Principles had been replaced by the Moral Program of Newspaper Advertising in 1958, which had been exposed to comprehensive revision in May 1976. Moreover, the Guidelines for the Publication of Newspaper Advertisements had been drawn up. The Japanese government had cancelled the news censorship after the World War II to show its respect to the freedom of the press. Under the circumstances, the review on news reports has become a part of self-discipline of news media. The newspaper review is concurrently performed by newspapers themselves and the association. Before the World War II, only a small number of newspapers had set up their censors, but the number has seen a sharp rise after the war. In most cases, censors focus on the correctness of the report, the values, the human rights and the quality of the page, etc., and the results will be fed back to the front line through the directors’ meeting held every day or the daily or weekly report, so as to achieve instant results.

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The General Affairs Bureau of Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association has set up a censorship room, which is responsible to review the newspapers of the association members published every day and examine the content, accuracy and news values of the report. If finding any news report, article, advertisement or layout inconsistent with national laws or regulations or the ethnic guidelines of the Association, it shall be reported to the editor’s committee or the council of the Association to decide on corresponding measures through negotiation; or the relevant member unit will be warned, criticized by a public notice or withdrawn from the organization. The censorship of radio and television is performed by the censorship committee within the station itself. As stipulated in the Broadcasting Law of Japan issued in 1950, to guarantee the appropriate editing of domestic broadcasting programs, Japan Broadcasting Corporation should set up the central broadcasting program review conference and local broadcasting program review conference; and the general broadcasting undertaking (any broadcasting undertaking other than Japan Broadcasting Corporation) should establish the broadcasting program review agency alone or jointly with other undertakings. The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association also plays a part in supervising and reviewing radio and TV undertakings. Japan is exposed to the full freedom of the press and great limitations at the same time. The relevant laws and regulations and the “self-discipline” of the press are necessary and reflect the general will and requirements of the public. However, fundamentally speaking, this “self-discipline” is a product of capitalist social development and bourgeois democracy and legal system, which mainly embodies the will and demand of the bourgeois. It thus decides the nature of journalistic undertakings in China. 1.3   Social Regulation on Journalism and Communication in Germany 1.3.1 Control of the Information Source The German government has set up the Federal News Agency, while the state and local governments have established their official news offices, which are mainly responsible for providing the information on government activities and management to the press and delivering the measures and ideas of the government to the public. The Director of the Federal News Agency concurrently assumes two jobs, as the Director of the Agency and as the government spokesman under the influence of the Federal Prime Minister. Therefore, he has two roles: defending the government in front the press and praising the press in front of the government. Therefore, he is often stuck between a rock and a hard place due to his dual characters. In the Federal News Agency in Bonn, a Federal Journalists Reception is held each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, when all journalists dispatched from different media to Bonn, the

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Director of the Agency and spokesmen of all departments will be present. A journalist once talked about the dilemma that the Agency Director doubling as the government spokesman is faced with in this conference: it will be the best news for the bureaucrat in Bonn that a deaf-mute is holding this position, but the public are demanding information from him. If he says too much, he will offend the government; and if he says too little, the public will be discontent. For the government spokesman, the most important channel to acquire information is to attend the cabinet council in addition to a direct talk with government leaders. Moreover, the spokesmen of all departments also provide their work reports, opinions, statistical data and figure and table materials to the Federal News Agency for reference. The Federal News Agency publishes information to the press through not only the journalist reception but also the two publications of the Agency, To the Press and Bulletin of the Federal News Agency. These two publications mainly publish the declaration of the federal government president, the federal government prime minister and the federal government on current politics and matters of principle. In Germany, the government leaders can choose the government spokesman as they like, and they often regard the government spokesman as their own spokesman, which necessarily leads to certain contradictions. If the spokesman excessively stresses on the achievements of government leaders, the journalists will see him as a “court reporter” beneath contempt; and in a cabinet made up by several parties, the spokesman is often criticized for frequently commending the government leaders, but he has to defend his client due to his special dependence on the leaders. In Germany, the news media are often controlled by these spokesmen in terms of the information source. 1.3.2 Federal Inspection Office In Germany, the Basic Law prohibits the authority from carrying out any form of news censorship on any publication before its release. However, to implement the law of “preventing the spreading of writings that harm the youth,” the Federal Inspection Office has been founded. The Director of the Office was appointed by the federal government minister responsible for affairs of the youth and the state government. This Office shall make a special list of the published writings that harm children and young people (mainly the works abetting barbarism, instigating violence, crime or racial hatred or praising war) according to the proposals, except the daily newspaper and political magazine. Any regular publication put in this special list twice in a year is prohibited to contact the youth within three months, sell in the newsstand or be borrowed in the library or readers’ society. In the 1950s, the pornography, soldier’s brochure and the books about marijuana cooking or praising Nazism had been banned by the Federal Inspection Office. Since the early 1980s when the video tapes became popular, the Office has to crack down on these illegal works in a wider range and fight against those disgusting violent programs.

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1.3.3 Television Appraisal Council As required by Germany Constitution and laws, the public radio and TV stations in Germany have all established a radio or TV appraisal council. Made up by representatives from all social ranks such as the political party, trade union, church, federation of business owners, cultural organization and audience, this Council performs its function of social regulation on public radio and TV undertakings. Take Deutsche TV II as an example. The TV appraisal council of this station consist of 77 members, including the representatives from all states and parties as well as the representative of the Society of Jesus and Catholic Church, labor union, publication, charity, local government, environment, education, science and art. The TV appraisal council elects a chairman of Deutsche TV II through a vote every 4 to 6 years, provides suggestions for the programs and approves the annual financial budget. The chairman elected is responsible for both the programs and the station operation. Same with Deutsche TV II, a dozen of radio and TV stations under German Radio and TV Alliance have all established their own radio and TV appraisal council. Despite the smaller scale, their councils also cover the representatives from all circles. The members of the council exercise their supervision function as the representative of general interest instead of the representative of an interest group. This kind of supervision organization with diversified representatives is preventing the TV programs from having a bias toward any interest group, political party or government. In addition to the chairman and the radio and TV appraisal council, the public radio and TV station has established another organization, the management committee. Generally, with a small size (for example, the management committee of Deutsche TV II has nine members), the management committee is responsible for supervising the operator of the radio or TV station. It generally consists of the representatives from the parties or interest groups mentioned in the appraisal council. Since the TV station leaders can only sign an employment agreement upon the approval by the management committee, it exerts a significant influence on the chairman’s arrangement of personnel. As a matter of fact, the members of these supervision committees know well that they actually speak for different political forces. These committees, particularly the appraisal council, has become the main target of competition of all parties in Germany. For example, though only 12 of the 77 members of the appraisal council are directly appointed as the political party representatives by the Bundestag, nearly all of the members meet each other in the “circle of friends” of Christian Democrats or Social Democrats. According to the critics, the current TV appraisal council has transformed from the representative of the general public to the representative of all political parties. Some other critics believe that the TV committee can no longer fulfill its function of fair social control, because the committee does not understand the audience’s demands and the audience does not know about the committee.

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Another serious defect lies in that certain party groups are endowed with the privilege of directly appointing the member. In this case, these party groups only appoint some second-rate personnel as the committee members, and these people lack knowledge about journalism and are disqualified to supervise the program quality. At present, the personnel arrangement of the top posts of TV appraisal committees in Germany show the distinct division of political parties. For example, if a Social Democrat or a person supporting Social Democrat is selected as the chairman, the number two is generally from Christian Democrats, and vice versa. The TV regulation organization, the so-called public representative, has essentially become the staff of government regulation. 1.3.4 Regulation by Law Germany advocates and protects the freedom of the press, but the law explicitly opposes the abuse of press freedom by journalistic practitioners. Pursuant to Article 5.2 of the Basic Law, the freedom of expression, information and press “is subject to the restriction by common law and the law on protecting the young and personal reputation.” The common law includes the civil law and the criminal law. If a journalist abets soldiers to defect, damages the reputation of a dead man or slanders others, the journalist violates the criminal law and will be deprived of the expression freedom. Since each common law shows a restriction effect on the basic law, the interpretation of the common law shall safeguard the values contained in the basic law. For each specific case, due consideration shall be given to the different rights under the protection of law. As shown by the judicial practices of Germany, the restriction on the freedom of expression, information and press in the following cases may easily cause controversy: 1. The protection of personal reputation is involved; 2. The protection of human rights is involved; 3. The protection of company image and state image is involved. As stipulated in German laws, any civilian or journalist who creates or communicates any fact that cannot be proved to be true to belittle others will be convicted of personal abuse. If he behaves this way upon the full understanding of the fact, he will be convicted of libel. The laws in Germany protect the freedom of discussion and regard the expression of opinions as the foundation of democracy. However, the freedom of expression shall be used advisedly. For example, a pictorial once compared a TV announcer to a “milking nanny goat,” since her image would remind the audience of the “yoghurt flavor” in an article. The federal Supreme Court judged it as an abuse of criticism. In addition to the reputation protection, the freedom of report is also subject to the restrictions by general personality rights, which are provided by Article 1 (Personal Dignity) and Article 2 (Free Development of Personality)

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of the basic law. The personality right is only allowed to be offended only when the information is favorable for forming objective public opinion and the democratic will of all states and society. In this case, the essential basis of the measurement is the importance of information. Moreover, the personal private life enjoys absolute protection. To disclose the information about a company, the journalist shall weigh the issue carefully between two sides, i.e. judge which is more important, the public interest obtained when the public acquires information on the issue of general significance and the business interest of the company the reputation of which is damaged due to the disclosure. The court holds that the publication of the inspection results of commodities is allowed, but the following principles must be complied with before this kind of information is reported: 1. The individual or group engaged in the inspection conducts an investigation with a neutral attitude; 2. The inspection results must be correct; 3. The report on the inspection results must comply with the public interest acquired by providing information to the public (for example, the report shall not help a company to strike at its competitor); 4. The report shall not exceed the scope of just criticism. The media freedom is also restricted by the state security. As provided in Article 99 of the criminal law, anyone intentionally publicizing the state secret or disclosing the secret to anyone who has no right to know and endangering the security of the federal republic or certain state will be convicted of the crime of aiding the enemy. The Der Spiegel weekly had once been sued by the Adjustment Bureau for its article Partially for the Defense. Relevant articles in the criminal law had been revised in 1968. Article 95.1 of the new criminal law stipulates: “Anyone that publicizes the state secret or discloses the secret to anyone who has no right to know as instigated by a certain official organization and endangers the external security of the federal republic will be convicted of the crime of aiding the enemy.” To guarantee a “stage for fair competition” between the mass communication media and the person in the report, the journalism law and broadcasting law of the federal state provide the right of refutation. It renders the individual or legal person who believes they are damaged by the incorrect report and the administrative authority, court and parliament with the opportunity to express their opinions. However, they can only refute a factual proposition with another factual proposition but has no such right in the occasion of value evaluation. 1.4   Social Regulation on Journalism and Communication in China Currently, China generally imposes social regulation on journalism and communication through the political party, government, law, social group and industrial association, etc.

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1.4.1 Regulation by the Political Party China has not established the special press law, publication law, radio and TV law and journalist law, etc., due to the traditional conventions and incomplete legislation on news media in China. Based on long-term experiences, relatively complete policies and regulations have been formed in the system where the Party committee takes charge of the news media. Being the ruling party of China, the Communist Party of China is always in charge of leading the news media in China. In the Several Issues about the Journalism of the Party, Jiang Zemin pointed out: “The newspaper, radio and TV etc. of China is essentially the mouthpiece of the Party, government and people, which explains the nature of journalism and its extremely important status and role in the Party and country.” For this purpose, the Central Committee of the CPC proposed the following requirements in the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Current Propaganda Policies of the Newspaper, Magazine and Radio (1981-01-29): 1. The propaganda of the newspaper, periodical, news, radio and TV shall strictly observe the line, principles and policies of the Party applied since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee. 2. The newspaper, periodical, news, radio and TV shall earnestly promote the idea of adhering to the four basic principles. 3. The newspaper, periodical, news, radio and TV shall launch high-profiled propaganda of the construction of socialist spiritual civilization. 4. The newspaper, periodical, news, radio and TV shall correctly cope with the relation between praise and criticism and give priority to praise. 5. The literary and artistic works or the comments of the newspaper or periodical and the literary and artistic programs of the radio and TV exert significant social influence. Adhere to the correct direction of adhering to serving the people and socialism and correctly implement the policy of “letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” 6. Being the public opinion organ of the Party, the newspaper, periodical, news, radio and TV shall strengthen their construction of organizational discipline. They must unconditionally align themselves to the central government politically and shall not deliver any speech that violates against the line, principles and policies of the central government. They must accept and obey the leadership of the Party and shall observe the decisions and requirements of the Party Central Committee on any issue related to the line, principles or policies of the Party or major political theoretical issues. The Central Committee of the CPC required the follows in the Circular on Resolutely and Properly Rectifying the Work of Newspapers and Magazines (1987-03-29):

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1. To correct the ideological and political trend of the news and public opinion, the primary task is to rectify the newspaper and magazine and their publishing houses. This constitutes an important part of opposing bourgeois liberalization as well as a necessary condition to guarantee the smooth progress of the struggle. 2. The newspaper or magazine exposed to the following condition will be placed as the focus of rectification: a. The newspaper or magazine that has opposed the four basic principles and promoted bourgeois liberalization for a long time, committed a serious fault and exerted adverse influence; b. The newspaper or magazine of great significance and influence that leads the wrong ideological and political direction, deviates from the four basic principles, promotes and supports bourgeois liberalization, spreads extreme individualism, national nihilism and anti-patriotism, impedes national unity and violates discipline about foreign affairs; c. The digest-type newspaper or periodical that is keen on extracting, compiling, collecting and spreading the ideas of bourgeois liberalization and other wrong ideas; d. The newspaper or periodical that severely breaches the regulations of the central government and the State Council authority on the operation of newspapers and periodicals, does not satisfy the conditions for running a newspaper or periodical or fundamentally deviates from its original aim; e. The newspaper or periodical that promotes sexual liberation, sexual life and sexual psychology, presents a low literary or artistic style and dirty content, commits serious social ethical errors and causes adverse social effect; f. The newspaper or periodical about pornography or murder that shall be banned and the illegal publication that is privately compiled and printed and publicly or secretly sold. 3. As to the newspapers and periodicals considered as the focus of rectification, the ideological reorganization shall be performed and different practical and effective rectification measures shall be adopted in view of their different nature and degree of the mistake, different history, social status and influence and different conditions of their leaders and editing teams. The newspaper or periodical that has practically become a front to promote bourgeois liberalization and has no reason to exist shall be closed down. The newspaper or periodical that commits serious mistakes and incurs adverse influence on the masses shall be suspended for rectification, and then be closed down or continue operation based on the results of rectification For the newspaper or periodical that leads a wrong political direction, presents quite a few wrong speeches and shall not be closed down, its leading team

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shall be adjusted or added, and it shall be rectified without stopping publication. As to the newspaper or periodical that fundamentally deviates from its original aim, fails to satisfy the conditions for operation and exerts bad social influence, some of them shall be closed down or merged. In addition to the important documents issued in recent years mentioned above, the Communist Party of China also exerts regulation on news media through a few historical documents, mainly including: Decision of the CPC Central Committee on the Reporting System in Propaganda (1948-06-05); Regulations of the CPC Central Committee on Journalists from Xinhua News Agency Gathering International Reference Information (1953-07); Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Launching Criticism and Selfcriticism on Newspapers and Periodicals (1950-04-19); Reply of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee to the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the Issue of Party Newspapers Not Allowed to Criticize the Party Committee of the Same Level (1953-03); Circular of the CPC Central Committee on Local Governments Not Allowed to Express Opinions to Chinese and Foreign Journalists without Permission (1949-01-26); Instructions of the CPC Central Committee on Several Issues Concerning “Less Publicity for Individuals” (1980-07-30). 1.4.2 Regulation by the Government. The government of the People’s Republic of China has imposed regulation and control over the news media through administrative enforcement of law, material allocation, unified management of advertisements, financial appropriation and news censorship in 50 years. Administrative Regulations The historically important administrative regulations include the follows: The Interim Measures of the State Council of the Central People’s Government on Distributing Important News about the Central Government and All Organs under the Government in a Unified Way (1949-12-09); Regulations of the Ministry of Public Security of the Central People’s Government on Releasing News of Public Security (1950-07); Interim Measures of the General Information Administration of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the Central People’s Government on Releasing Newspapers by the Post Office (1950-02);

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Decision of the General Information Administration of the Central People’s Government on Constructing the Radio Broadcasting Network (1950-04-14); Instructions of the General Information Administration of the Central People’s Government on All Newspapers Keeping Confidential for State Secrets (1950-09-06); Interim Regulations of the State Council of the Central People’s Government on the Administration the Publication, Printing and Release of Books and Magazines (1952-08-16); Regulations of the State Council on the Management Rules of Local People’s Radio Stations (1955-09-12); Circular of the Ministry of Health on Authorizing the Release of News on Epidemic Situation of Infectious Diseases (1989-11-08); Interim Measures of the State Press and Publication Administration on Registration for the Press Release Held in Beijing (1993-09-08); Circular of the State Press and Publication Administration, Ministry of Radio and TV and Ministry of Culture on Investigating and Punishing the Illegal Audio-Video Publications (1993-02-09). Material Allocation For a long time, the newsprint and other papers, the printing house and relevant machines broadcasting facilities of radio and TV stations and the frequency channel and wave band resources necessary for news media are allocated by the government in a unified way in China. With the advent of the market economy, the supply of some materials has been opened to the public, but some are still subject to the unified arrangement by the authority. Advertisement Management As stipulated in the Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Advertisement and Propaganda Management (198511-15), any unit running the advertisement business (exclusively or concurrently) must apply for registration at the local industry and commerce administration, otherwise it is prohibited to run the advertisement business. The advertisement department set up by the journalistic unit can only run advertising businesses upon the approval by and registration at the industry and commerce administration. The journalists are prohibited to solicit advertisements under the name of interview or publicize the advertisement in a form of news release to collect fees. As provided by Article 46 of The Interim Regulations of the State Press and Publication Administration on Newspaper Management (1990-12-25), any newspaper office running an official newspaper must apply for the “advertising operation permit” to the relevant industry and commerce administration based on the “press registration license” before it runs the advertising

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businesses. Only the advertisement department and the professional personnel of the newspaper office can be engaged in the operation of advertisement businesses, while other departments or personnel shall never involve in the advertisement businesses. Financial Appropriation The newspaper, periodical, radio and TV subordinated to the Party and different government departments were initially founded based on the financial appropriation by the government. The more financial resources were invested on the more important media. In addition to the financial support, the newspaper and periodical of the Party enjoy various preferential policies on the issue cost and tax. News Censorship After the publication of the newspaper or periodical, the Party committee and the government will organize the experts and senior journalistic workers to read and review the news in accordance with the requirements of the Party and administrative regulations mentioned above. Any newspaper or periodical breaching the regulation or law will be punished according to law, while those abide by law and perform excellently in news propaganda will be commended. 1.4.3 Regulation by Law Though China still has no special press law, publication law or radio and TV law by now, there are quite a lot of regulations and rules on the supervision of journalism and communication, which are mainly divided into three levels. The first is the provisions on journalism and communication scattering in basic laws such as the Constitution, criminal law and civil law, etc.; the second is the provisions in special regulations on the supervision of news media formulated by the governmental authority and other relevant regulations; and the third is the provisions in the regulations on and codes for the news media formulated by local press authority. Among the three levels of regulations and rules, the most important ones include: Regulations on Publication Administration (1997-02-01), Interim Regulations on Newspaper Administration (1990-12-25), Interim Regulations on Press Administration (1988-11-24), Regulations on Radio and TV Administration (1997-09-01), Regulations on Electronic Publication Administration (1998-01-01) and Regulations on Printing Administration (1997-05-01). Moreover, among the above, the main legal documents about the monitoring and control of journalism and communication include the follows: 1. Basic Policies and Principles for Journalism Article 22, 35, 51 and 53 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China; and Article 7 of the Interim Regulations on Newspaper Administration.

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2. News Release and Press Release Release of big news; Press release and journalist reception; Release of the condition of a major disaster, earthquake and infectious disease. 3. Regulations on News Reports Report on the leader’s activities, commemorative activities and foreign-related activities; Report on emergencies; Judicial report; Report on news and public opinion supervision. 4. Regulations on Prohibition of Publication According to Article 25 of the Regulations on Publication Administration (1997-02-01) issued by the State Council, any publication shall not contain the follows: any content that objects against the basic principles of the Constitution; any content that compromises national security and sovereignty and territorial integrity; any content that harms the security, honor and interest of the state; any content that incites the separation of nationalities, encroaches on the customs and habits of minority nationalities and undermines national unity; any content that discloses the state secret; any content that promotes pornography, superstition or violence and harms social morality and excellent ethnic culture and traditions; any content that slanders others; and other contents prohibited by laws and regulations. 5.  Regulation on the News Report Not Allowed to Infringe Personal Rights and Interests Pursuant to Article 38 and 51 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, Article 138 and 145 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 22 of Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Punishments in Public Order and Security Administration, Article 99, 100, 101, 102 and 120 of the General Principles of Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 30 of Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of the Minors and Article 38 and 39 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Women, the detailed regulations are provided to protect the personal rights and interests including the right of name, right to portrait, right of reputation and right of fame and punish any infringement of these personal rights and interests. These also constitute the main legal regulations on journalism and communication activities.

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6. Confidentiality Regulations The detailed regulations on the confidentiality responsibilities and disclosure punishments of journalism and communication are provided in Article 53 and 54 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, Article 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 20–26 of Law of the People’s Republic of China on Keeping Confidentiality of State Secrets, Article 4 and 10 of Rules for the Implementation of the above law, Article 14 of the Statistics Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 15 and 30 of Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Military Installations and the Regulations on Confidentiality of News Publication (1992-06-12) issued by the National Administration of State Secrets Protection, Central External Propaganda Group, State Press and Publication Administration and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television. 7. Regulations on the Management of the Press, Radio Station and TV Station The Regulations on Publication Administration and Interim Regulations on Newspaper Administration provide specific regulations on the founding of a newspaper, the duties of the units operating and managing the newspaper, registration and alteration of newspaper publication, management of “Weekend Edition” of a newspaper, internal press management, journalist license management, release of the journalist license, foreign capital or joint-venture newspaper, import and release of foreign newspapers and construction of the book, newspaper, periodical, audio and video group, etc. The Regulations on Publication Administration and Interim Regulations on Periodical Administration provide specific regulations on the founding, registration and publication of a periodical, the duties of the units managing the periodical, construction of the periodical journalist stations, release of the journalist license, annual inspection and punishments on any violation against the regulation. Regulations on Radio and TV Administration, Circular on the Relay of the Central Radio and China Central Television programs (1993-12-08), Regulations on Cable TV Administration (1994-02-03) and Regulations on Management of Ground Receiving Equipment of Satellite TV (1993-10-05), etc., provide specific regulations on the founding of the radio and TV station, the complete relay of the Central Radio and CCTV programs, cable TV management, satellite TV receiving management, joint-venture TV station and management of broadcasting of foreign TV programs, etc. 8.  Regulations on the Management of Foreign Journalists and News Agencies in China and the Interview by Journalists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan at All Parts of the Motherland

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Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Journalists and Foreign Permanent News Agencies (1990-01-19) issued by the State Council provide specific regulations on the identity, rights and interests, rules, application procedures and equipment setting of foreign resident journalists in China, foreign journalists for short-term interview in China and foreign permanent news agencies in China. The Circular of the Ministry of Radio and TV Forwarded by the General Office of the State Council on the Request for the Centralized Management on the Interview and Shooting of the Radio and TV Journalists from Foreign Countries or Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan provides specific regulations on the temporary shooting, cooperative shooting or general shooting by radio and TV journalists from foreign radio and TV agencies and foreign production agencies in China. Administrative Measures of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Hong Kong and Macao Office of the State Council on the Management of the Interview by Hong Kong and Macao Journalists in mainland (1989-09-18), Opinions of the Taiwan Office of the CPC Central Committee, Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Central External Propaganda Group on the Management of Interview by Taiwan Journalists at All Places in China (1993-04-08) and Regulations of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on the Interview by Taiwan Journalists in Mainland China (1996-12-01) provide specific regulations on the application, rights and interests and responsibilities of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Journalists for Their Interview in Mainland China. 9. Regulations on Advertisement Management Consisting of 6 chapters and 49 articles in total, the Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China constitutes the major legal basis for the publication of advertisements on news media. As required in Several Regulations of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and State Press and Publication Administration on the Publication and Operation of Advertisements by the Newspaper, Periodical and Publishing House (1990-03-15), the newspaper or periodical approved by the Administration Department of the State Press and Publication Administration with a domestic uniform number (CNXX-XXXX) published nationwide or internally is considered as the official publication. The newspaper or periodical office that publishes the official publication can apply to the administration for industry and commerce with the Press Registration License and operate advertisement businesses on the official publications upon the approval in accordance with the advertisement management laws. The newspaper or periodical shall note “advertisement permit license No. XXX” on each issue. The newspaper or periodical with “the license for internal newspaper or periodical” shall not be engaged in the advertisement business. Law of the People’s Republic of China on Tobacco Monopoly, Law of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition and Law of

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the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests provide special regulations on the publication of advertisements. The Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China imposes strict restrictions on the publication of advertisements of drug, medical care and medicine practicing. Regulations on Veterinary Drug Administration (1987-05-21) issued by the State Council, Circular of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries on Management of Pesticide Advertisements (1987-12-31) and Regulations on the Supervision of Cosmetics Hygiene (1989-09-26) formulated by the Ministry of Health and approved by the State Council provide the explicit requirements on the advertisement of the veterinary drug, pesticide and cosmetics. The Circular of the Ministry of Radio and TV and State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Further Strengthening the Management on TV Advertisement Propaganda (1988-01-20) stipulates that the TV station shall not publish any advertisement in a form of news report to collect fees, and the TV station shall not insert the advertisement in the middle of program or superposing subtitle advertisement on the picture of TV programs. 10. Operation and Management Regulations The Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China and Several Regulations of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Press and Publication Administration on Trademark Registration of the Names of the Newspaper and Periodical (1987-02-06) provides explicit provisions on the right to exclusive use of commodities of the newspaper and periodical. Regulations of the Ministry of Finance on Strengthening the Financial Management of the Revenues of Government-affiliated Institutions (1992-07-23), Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection and Interim Regulations on the Value-added Taxes in the People’s Republic of China, etc., explicitly regulates on the tax and tax relief of news media. According to the Interim Measures of the State Press and Publication Administration and State Administration for Industry and Commerce on the Paid Services and Operation Activities of the Newspaper, Periodical and Publishing House (1988-03-16), the newspaper, periodical and publishing house may perform the paid services and operation activities after fulfilling the approval formalities stipulated by the government but shall accept relevant supervision and pay tax according to law. 1.4.4 Regulation by the Group News media in China are also subject to the regulation and supervision by various social groups. For example, different democratic parties, people’s groups such as the labor unions at all levels, women’s federation and the Communist Youth League, all kinds of academic groups and research organization, enterprises and government-affiliated units are supervising news

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media from different perspectives. They are performing soft regulation on the media and communication activities through multiple forms including subscription, comment, article writing, selection, letter, praise and criticism, etc. In recent years, the public opinion poll and media survey are emerging in an endless stream, evidently suggesting the increasing pressure from the group regulation. 1.4.5 Regulation by the Industry The industry regulation on Chinese news media is conducted through the construction of professional ethics, selection of news awards and audience appraisal, etc. Since the Reform and Opening up, the Chinese press has constantly strengthened the construction of professional ethics for journalism, successively with the themes of struggling against bourgeois liberalization, upholding the four basic principles, opposing the paid news and keeping to the direction of serving the people and socialism. Various nationwide and local awarding activities are carried out represented by China News Award, Fan Changjiang News Award and Taofen News Award, which constantly improve the ideological quality, work style construction and professional skills of journalists and editors. Many news media have published their supervision hotlines to mobilize the people to supervise and criticize the work style and moral standards of journalists and editors. On January 19, 1991, the First Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Council of All-China Journalists Association approved the Code of Professional Ethics for Chinese Journalists, which is the first complete and comprehensive code of professional ethics for journalism and an important standard for industry regulation. 1.5   Similarities and Differences Between the Social Regulation on Journalism and Communication in China and the West From the social regulation on journalism and communication in the United States, Japan, Germany and China, it can be seen that in any stage of the history, the state, political party and various pressure groups in both China and the West are performing mandatory management (hard regulation) and effective guidance (soft regulation) on journalism and communication behaviors. The common view on social regulation among the people is that the freedom of the press is precious and constitutes one of the mainstays of democratic countries, but shall not be abused. Therefore, the social regulation on news media plays a necessary and important role in protecting the freedom of the press and preventing the abuse of the press freedom. From a positive perspective, the regulation and supervision on news media will promote the effective operation of news media, advance the prosperous development of journalistic undertakings and enable the news media to serve the social development and human progress in an all-round way. As a profound lesson drawn from the political shake-up in some states, when the necessary regulation on news media is loosened or abandoned, the

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media operation will be exposed to anarchy and be utilized by some classes, ranks or political parties. Therefore, the legitimate and appropriate regulation is extremely necessary for the news media, either in China or the West, either in the past or at the present. It is a common phenomenon for the political party and government to perform regulation on news media according to law. The political party and government shall constantly adjust their relationship with the news media, maintain their good images during regulation, maintain the rational, appropriate and effective regulation on media and shall never relax or stop the regulation, otherwise they are neglecting their duties for the people and law. The channels to perform social regulation on news media are similar in different countries, mainly including: Regulation by law (laws, regulations, news censorship and news review) Regulation by the political party (policies, disciplines, instructions and reviews); Regulation by the administration (i.e. regulation by the government); Regulation by the group (establishments and pressure groups); Regulation by the industry (self-regulation by the industrial organization); Regulation by the resource (allocation of the means of production of news, news information, advertisement and fund and intangible assets including the trademark and the sponsor reputation); Regulation by tax (cash deposit, business tax and stamp duty, etc.) Regulation by market (entry of domestic and foreign books, newspapers and magazines and the electronic media market and various preferential policies). In general, it is difficult to judge whether the social regulation on news media in China and the West is advanced or backward, progressive or reactionary, through the above eight aspects. In view of the protection and the freedom of the press and the prevention of the abuse of the press freedom, these measures of regulation are all necessary. The real questions are what measures have been adopted in the regulation, how they are implemented and whether these measures have truly protected the freedom of the press and effectively prevent the abuse of the press freedom. In other words, the specific analysis and historical and practical investigation shall be conducted on the existing regulation system, mechanism and measures. In regard to social regulation on news media, China and the West show differences in terms of the regulation mechanism and characteristics. 1.5.1 China Gives First Place to Regulation by the Political Party, and the West Takes Regulation by Law as the Principal Method As indicated by the news legal system history, the social regulation on news media in China is performed through legal and administrative measures and, more importantly, through a series of documents approved by the CPC

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Central Committee and the Propaganda Department, the resolutions and decisions issued by the Central Committee and the talks and instructions of central leaders. These documents, resolutions, decisions, talks and instructions constitute the major “legal” basis and guideline to guide the operation and development of Chinese news media. By comparison, Western countries are imposing regulation on media mainly through the special press law, publication law, radio and TV law, journalist law, other laws on news and the case law. Except the small number of political party newspapers, the regulation on media by the political party (including the ruling party) is rarely seen and shows little effect in Western countries. The causes that lead to the great difference are evident. Firstly, the Western newspaper industry has already passed the development stage of party newspapers, but the political newspapers and periodicals are still dominating as the main part in China. Secondly, the legal society has been existing in the West for over two centuries. By comparison, China had ignored the news legislation and replaced the laws with the Party and administration for a long time, and only led the road of running state affairs according to law after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC, so the legal system is still incomplete by now. Thirdly, the West has accumulated rich experiences on the news legislation and regulation on news communication with law and has established a complete legal system for journalism; but the news legislation in China still has a long way to go. The good news is, the Party and the government has been attaching great importance to the news legislation in China in the two decades after the Reform and Opening up; the regulation on news by law has become a common sense among the people; a series of administrative regulations on news have been made; and the voice of formulating the special press law, publication law and radio and TV law have been raised. We are confident in the future of news legislation in China. 1.5.2 The Regulations on Preventing the Abuse of the Press Freedom Are Relatively Complete in China, While the Regulations on Safeguarding the Freedom of the Press Are More Complete in the West The basic laws and common laws of China have explicitly stipulated the civil rights in the freedom of the press, but as a matter of fact, the common laws and particularly the administrative regulations provide the more detailed and practical provisions on preventing and cracking down on the abuse of the press freedom. The existing administrative regulations related to news media provide the detailed, specific and practical provisions on the professional ethics that the media must abide by and the social responsibilities that the media must bear, such as the application conditions of the newspaper or periodical, prohibited content, political requirements and punishments, which are necessary to assure the media to carry out communication and operation activities strictly in accordance with the aim of the newspaper. This is of great

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significance for Chinese media to successfully get through the transition from the planned economy to the market economy and from the disordered to the orderly operation. Meanwhile, these requirements also embody the great concern for journalists. The fact shows that it is necessary to formulate and implement administrative regulations to prevent and crack down on the abuse of the freedom of the press and the results are generally favorable. The legislation and supervision in this aspect shall not be relaxed at the same time. In case of any omission in legislation or law enforcement, the pirated and illegal publications would be exposed to unchecked spreading. This task must be fulfilled firmly and unremittingly. In the West, the basic laws, common laws and special laws provide detailed and complete regulations on protecting the civil rights in the press freedom and cracking down on the news infringement. For example, in Germany, the basic laws comprehensively define the freedom of the expression, information and press and propose specific protection measures; and the press law and broadcasting law of the state specify the citizens’ right of refutation more concretely to render the citizen the opportunity to refute or correct the misunderstanding or misinformation. Certainly, the West also behaves hypocritically sometimes in legislation. For example, the TV appraisal council in Germany, seeming to be creditable, has actually become a tool for the political party to control the media. It has become a prominent issue of legislation in Western countries that they protect freedom in the basic law but restrict freedom in common laws. However, China can still learn from this Western practice, i.e. to specifically regulate on the citizens’ news rights and crack down on any infringement under the just and effective basic law, thus to assure the implementation of the press freedom of the public and legal entities under the protection of the Constitution. It is a serious disadvantage of Chinese legislation that no special press law, publication law and radio and TV law has been formulated, the basic law has not provided detailed regulations on the press freedom of citizens and legal entities and the common laws have not comprehensively stipulated on the protection of such freedom throughout more than five decades after the founding of new China. 1.5.3 Difficult Judicial Interpretation of the Party Regulation in China and Practical Administrative Regulations in the West Regulation on news media in China mainly relies on the regulation by the political party, while the party regulation stresses on documents and leaders’ speeches. Some documents (about the principles, policies and guidelines of news regulation) are not as explicit, concrete and practical as laws and regulations, so the judicial interpretation is difficult in case of any news lawsuit and violation of discipline. For example, in 1953, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee circulated the regulation that the party newspaper should not criticize the Party committee at the same level. This was originally a reply of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee to

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the report submitted by the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but was later spread as a common policy and discipline nationwide. Soon it was further expanded to the idea that the Party newspaper should not criticize the Party committee at the same level as well as the government at the same level and some leaders of the Party committee and the government at the same level. This document had even been used as the “legal basis” for some leaders and cadres to reject and suppress the supervision by public opinion. In view of this, this kind of documents shall be replaced by the explicit and concrete law as soon as possible. It is said that the first social supervision law of the new China is being drafted and discussed now. We believe we can see the end to the system of “replacing government by the Party and replacing law by the power” soon. The administrative regulations on news are relatively comprehensive, complete and practical in the West. For instance, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 of the United States specifically regulates on the quantity of stations, formalities for application and punishments, etc. In this way, it is convenient for the citizens and legal entities to found the stations according to law and for the law enforcement officials to enforce the law in a fair manner and determine the punishment according to law. This Act has protected the healthy and orderly development of radio and TV undertakings in the United States. For another example, the German laws on the protection of citizens’ personality right and the punishment of the infringement by journalistic practitioners are also explicit, clear and comprehensive, laying the foundation for the law observance and law enforcement. We shall learn these favorable experiences from the Western legislation. 1.5.4 The Regulation by the Group Is Emerging in China and Is Intensifying in the West As news media have long been regarded as the mouthpiece of the Party and the government and the front to promote Marxist propaganda, various social groups, including the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, democratic parties, mass groups, social groups, enterprise and government-affiliated institution groups and science, education, culture and health groups can hardly exert any pressure or influence on media. Along with the deepening reform of the economic and political system, the progress of state democratization and socialization of media, the relation between social groups and media are changing. These groups themselves have founded a great number of books, newspapers and periodicals and will even run electronic media including the network in the future. At present, enterprises and government-affiliated institutions are joining and investing on the communication industry and cooperating with media to run newspapers, periodicals and programs. In general, the regulation on media by social groups is rising in China, but is still much weaker compared to the regulation by the political party and the government.

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The case of the West is different, as the regulation on media by social groups is intensifying. In the United States, American Congress imposes great pressure on the media. In Germany, many of the 77 representatives of the TV appraisal council of Deutsche TV II come from various pressure groups. Since 1997, a batch of international media are merged and reorganized, suggesting the ambition and strength of mega corporations. When examining the social regulation on Western media, the attention shall be paid to not only the regulation by law and by administration but also the regulation measures and strength by pressure groups, because the latter form of regulation will be possibly recreated in China. It is an important matter of extreme significance and sensitivity that must be thought highly of to guide the regulation by social groups to a legal, rational, orderly and effective way, no matter in the West or in China.

2   Comparison Between the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in China and the West The news legal system is established by the ruling class based on its own interest and will through the organs of political power, to regulate on the relations among all parties related to journalism and communication and on the legal system of journalism and communication. The news legal system not only vigorously regulates on and protects the press freedom of civilians and news media but also effectively prevents and punishes on the abuse of press freedom. 2.1   The News Legal System in the United States 2.1.1 Characteristics of the News Legal System in the United States There is no special law or regulation on the press in the United States. In the view of Western scholars, America implements the “direct protection” of the press freedom and the press management. In other words, America believes that the freedom of speech and publication is the basic right of the people and the relevant regulations shall be directly and clearly provided by the Constitution, while the Congress of the government is not allowed to formulate any special law that may hinder the speech and publication freedom. Among Western countries, the countries of the common law system including the United States and the United Kingdom mostly adopt this “direct protection.” The relevant provisions in American Constitution is quite typical. The Constitution approved by the Constitutional Convention of the United States in 1787 initially had no provision protecting the speech and publication freedom. Until 1789 when American Congress approved the First Amendment to the Constitution, it provided as follows: “The Congress……

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shall not formulate the law that deprives the people from the freedom of speech or publication.” In the United States, not only the federal Constitution but also the state Constitution provide such stipulations. For example, the Constitution of the State of New York specifies: “Every citizen enjoys the freedom to write, narrate or publish their opinions on any topic but shall bear the responsibilities for abuse of this right. The government shall not formulate any law to restrict or abolish the speech and publication freedom.”1 By comparison, the countries of the continental law system such as France and Germany apply the “indirect protection.” They admit the freedom of speech and publication as the basic rights of citizens, but meanwhile hold that the congress can formulate special laws to protect the speech and publication freedom. Though the United States applies the “direct protection” and has not made any special law on publication or the press, the abuse of speech and publication freedom in the United States is still subject to legal restraints. As said by Oliver Wendell Holmes, a famous leading judge of the Supreme Court in the United States, “Even the most rigorous protection of speech freedom does not protect a person’s right to call a false alarm of fire in a theater to create panic.”2 As another significant difference to the countries of the continental law system, the legal system in the United States and also in the United Kingdom adopt the case law system. Many laws of America are contained in the judicial adjudication reports, and the judicial decisions considered as the basis of laws in early stage are generally referred to as the “case law.” Americans hold that each judicial decision is actually making a law for the future to certain degree. Therefore, some people say that American judges are invoking laws while making laws. This is the same case with the news legal system in the United States, as many legal regulations on news media are embodied in the case laws in different periods. 2.1.2 Main Content of the News Legal System in the United States Legal Provisions on the “Right to Publish” The common law system and the continental law system are vastly different in the publishing right of the publication. The countries of the continental law system mainly apply the pre-publication application and registration system, while the United States of the common law system adopts the repressive system by which the publication needs no approval, the content needs no examination, but the publisher shall bear responsibilities in case the publication violates against laws. 1 Xu

Jiashi, Legal Issues of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 8, Taipei, Student Book Store, 1975. Zongdong, Laws and Regulations on Journalism and Communication, 1st edition, Page 7, Taipei, San Min Book, 1978. 2 Zhang

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However, even in the history of American journalism, there had once been controversy on whether the newspaper or periodical could enjoy the freedom of publication without restriction or the threats by the punitive measures of the government of court. Principle of “Clear and Present Danger” As mentioned above, the United States do not restrain or examine the publication in advance, but will punish it after publishing if the publication endangers the security or dignity of the state, the public or other people. During the law enforcement, a basic principle to decide whether to impose legal punishments on a publication is the famous principle of “clear and present danger.” The major content of this principle is that: the key to each case lies in whether the words of the defendant constitute the clear and present danger that shall be prevented by the Congress in a special environment. Once this danger is seen, the publication is considered as accomplishing a crime. Legal Provisions on “Libel” Libel refers to the illegal infringement of the reputation right of others. The Supreme Court of the United States once defined libel as follows: “Libel means the damage to the dignity of others without legitimate reasons, so anyone intentionally spreading the false record that damages the reputation of others shall bear general breaching responsibilities.”3 It is commonly agreed that libel is against individuals or legal entities. According to this definition, the libel is only committed upon the three conditions below: 1. The news has already been published; 2. The news is not completely true; 3. The reputation of others has been damaged by the news. Regulations on the Criticism Against the Government and Officials The press shall observe the traditional principle of “fair comment” when criticizing the government and officials, and may be charged with libel if violating this principle. However, through a series of case laws, the right of American press to criticize the government and officials is expanding, mainly manifested by the follows: 1. The principle of “absolute right” of the criticism against the government. Unless the newspaper overthrows the government through violence or other illegal measures, all criticisms of the press against the government shall not be punished by law. 3 Xu

Jiashi, Legal Issues of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 236, Taipei, Student Book Store, 1975.

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2.  Expansion of the right to criticize the government and officials. Traditionally, American should observe the principle of “fair comment” when criticizing the government and officials. However, this traditional principle had been altered by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court made in 1964, when the principle of “actual malice” was established, the right of the press to criticize the government officials was expanded and the press enjoyed the right to criticize officials in a way same to what they did to the government. This case law emphasized that any discussion of public issues should be unrestrained, bold and legal. In regard to the case about the criticism against government officials, unless the critic is proved to maliciously use materials that are known to be untrue or intentionally ignore whether the materials are true, these critics would not be charged with libel. Laws on “Obscenity” No standard had been set up on what was obscenity until 1957 when the Supreme Court tried the “Roth vs U.S. case.” Roth was convicted for selling obscene newspapers and magazines; and Roth instituted an appeal, but the Supreme Court supported the original decision and gave a standard of obscenity: “whether the materials cater to the obscene interest of ordinary people on the whole based on the current social norms.”4 However, the Supreme Court revised this standard when trying the “Miller v. California case” in 1973. The judgment of this case ruled that only the works lacking “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific values” could be convicted of obscenity and put forward that the “current social norms” that the jury depended on to judge whether it was obscenity should be the norms of the state or the local place. “Fair Trial” The controversy between the freedom of the press and the fair trial has lasted long in the United States and attracted wide attention due to the assassination of President Kennedy. In 1969, American Bar Association and American Society of Newspaper Editors had reached an agreement on “fair trial” on the premise of not harming the freedom of the press. Laws on the Confidentiality of News Source In most countries of the world, there are written regulations providing that the doctor, lawyer and clergy shall keep confidential for their professional secrets. The right to keep confidential for professional secrets is also admitted in America. As agreed by the majority of the press, journalists shall also enjoy the right to keep confidential for the information source, to dispel the 4 [US]

Edwin Emery, Michael Emery, The Press and America, 1st edition, Page 719, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1982.

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interviewee’s misgivings and promote the interviewee to provide information and materials. However, this wish of the press has not been widely supported by the legal profession. According to the case law of the Supreme Court, the journalist is also obliged to appear in court to answer the questions proposed by the Grand Jury about the criminal case……Every citizen bears the obligation to serve as a witness at court, appearing in court upon the summons of the court and talking about what he knows. This is more important than the interests safeguarded by the First Amendment to the Constitution mentioned by the journalist……Someone requests us to endow them with the privilege that other citizens do not have, and we reject to do so. “Wartime News Censorship” The United States had not established the wartime news censorship before the Civil War. After the breakout of the Civil War, the representative of the press signed a document and promised not to spread any information favorable for the enemy, and the military undertook to provide all possible facilities to help with the journalists’ interview. During the World War II, the United States had issued the Code of Conduct of American Newspapers in Wartime, which listed the details of materials that were prohibited to publish. On this basis, it brought convenience to the editors to examine the news content and avoided any threat to state security. 2.2   Main Content of the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in Germany 2.2.1 The Constitutional Basis of the News Legal System in Germany The following two provisions in Article 5 of the basic law of Germany constitute the legal basis for relevant press laws in Germany: 1. Everyone enjoys the right to express and communicate his own opinions through language, text or image and to freely acquire information from available general information sources with nothing standing in the way. Protect the freedom of press and publication as well as the broadcasting freedom of radio and TV. News Censorship is prohibited. 2. The above right is only subject to the restrictions by the common laws and the laws protecting teenagers and personal reputation right. The press laws of all states of Germany provide the legal status of the newspaper or periodical. Many regulations are applied to all mass media, such as the right to request the public authority to provide information, etc. These regulations mainly aim to protect the following three freedoms:

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1. Freedom of Expression A judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany made in 1958 summarized the political significance of the expression freedom as follows: “As the most direct performance activity of an individual in society, the basic right to freely express opinions is the most precious among all human rights……It is the absolute prerequisite for free and democratic political system, since the rational discussions and opinion confrontation can only continue based on this basic right. This is the necessary blood to sustain the democratic system and, to a certain extent, the foundation of all freedoms……”. 2. Freedom of Information As stipulated in Article 5 of the Federal Basic Law of Germany, everyone enjoys the right to “freely acquire information from available general information sources with nothing standing in the way.” The freedom of information makes a prerequisite for the democratic system. Only with the complete information can citizens make correct choices (for example, citizens can only vote conscientiously upon the full understanding of all candidates). Therefore, following practices are considered unconstitutional: a. Depriving the citizens of the right to subscribe foreign newspapers and periodicals; b. Prohibiting the people from listening to the radio; c. And making the official list of prohibited works, etc. 3. Freedom of Press According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the freedom of press is not only a personal right. Article 5 of the Basic Law protects the whole journalistic undertaking as an indispensable organization for a democratic country. The freedom of press complies with not only the interest of the media but also the interest of all citizens. Therefore, it is unconstitutional if the state allocates the quota of newsprint or blocks and controls the news sources through the approval procedure based on its political views. In addition, the basic law also prohibits the authority from performing news censorship in any form over publications before publishing. Only when a certain media violates against the criminal law of the basic law, the publication that has been released can be detained upon the court ruling. The pre-publication review conducted by the publisher, station director, chief editor or other person in charge recognized by the publisher and the radio & TV organization does not constitute news censorship. The freedom of press not only protects the media from government interference. In the trial of “flashlight” case in 1969, the Federal Constitutional Court emphasized: “The aim of the freedom of expression is to safeguard the free rational activities and formation of public opinion in the free democratic society instead of protecting the economic interest. On the contrary,

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for the sake of the news system safeguarding freedom, the independence of the media shall be protected, so that it will not be interfered by economically influential groups with unrighteous measures in terms of news production and communication. The economic pressure on media will bring severe harm by impeding the communication of opinions and news and damaging the fair opportunities during the formation of public opinion. However, the communication and fair opportunity is exactly what the Constitution protects.” 2.2.2 Main Content of the News Legal System The Authority Is Obliged to Provide Information As stipulated by the laws of all states in Germany, the public authority bears the obligation to provide information. The economic groups such as shareholding companies or interest groups and individuals can decide whether to disclose information to the journalist at their discretion. According to Article 4.1 of Berlin Press Law, “When the press demonstrates it is fulfilling the public responsibilities, the government is obliged to provide information to the representative of the press.” Should the authority refuse to provide information or provides false information, the press may ask for the loss compensation. However, as provided in Article 4 of Berlin Press Law, the authority may refuse to provide information in following cases: 1. The information that shall be kept confidential pursuant to the confidentiality regulations; 2. The information that shall be kept confidential for a long term of temporarily as its disclosure or early disclosure may damage or endanger public interests; 3. When the information communication will impede, delay or endanger the legitimate activities of the judicial organization; 4. When the private interest that shall be protected will be damaged by the information disclosure. It is the power of the government to decide which information accords to the four conditions mentioned above. Therefore, the controversy between the authority and the press on the right to acquire information and the obligation to provide information is essentially inevitable. Journalists often suspect that the authority would refuse to provide information to conceal the errors in work of some departments. However, for the information on the arrest or house search to be implemented, the authority can refer to Article 4.3 of Berlin Press Law to refuse to provide information. There is no controversy on this issue. The Right to Refuse to Provide Evidence According to Article 53 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Germany, “The professionals that assist or have assisted with the preparation,

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production or communication of a regular publication or radio or TV program are entitled to refuse to provide the evidence on the author, supplier or source of the contribution or materials, and to refuse to provide the evidence about the activities they participate, only if they can prove that these contributions, materials and information are used for the purpose of news.” Since then, the press can refer to another legal provision to guarantee its performance of social functions. On this basis, the journalist can refuse to disclose the information source in the court. To fulfill the function of news media in providing information, the journalist shall interview the public instead of merely depending on the information provided by the government. Since people do not like to be talked about or fear of being excluded by society or colleagues, they only agree to cooperate when they are kept anonymous in many cases. Right of the Editorial Department to Keep Confidential In order to prevent the criminal inspection authority from adopting the means of mandatory search to acquire information and to protect the secrets of the editorial department, a regulation on prohibiting detention has been formulated. However, this regulation cannot protect the editorial department for sure. Whenever the journalist is suspected of participating, instigating or assisting a crime, helping the criminal in the evasion of legal punishment or accepting the proceeds of crime, the judge can give orders to detain the materials in the editorial department, which will disclose the identity of the information supplier. Until now, the right of rejective testify still cannot protect the materials acquired by the journalist through investigation. Due to this flaw, in the conflict between the court and press photographers or press cameramen who had interviewed a demonstration, the court ordered them to hand in the materials they recorded. To prevent being suspected as police, or a helper of procuratorate or a detective, the journalist requires protecting the materials acquired from investigation with the right of rejective testify. Right to Covert Interview Under certain circumstances, some journalists use a false name and identity to slip into a company or certain organization, thus to obtain materials that they can hardly obtain with their real identities. This covert interview has been controversial all the time. Some people do not accept this way of interview, as they believe the journalistic activities shall never be conducted based on deception; and if this covert interview is applied too often, the nature of journalistic undertakings will be suspicious to the public. Meanwhile, another view holds that it is appropriate to adopt this method under certain conditions. According to the judgment of Hamburg local court in 1978, “when this matter involves the interest of the overwhelming public interest” and there is no other way to disclose the illegal activity of a company or the authority, the covert interview can be applied.

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Laws About the Public Radio & TV Institution In Germany, the radio and TV programs are under the management of the state, while the affairs related to transmission technology are subject to jurisdiction by the federal legislation authority. Among the 12 public radio and TV institutions in the former Federal Germany, 9 were founded in accordance with the laws of different states. Two radio stations bearing special missions (Voice of Germany and Germany Radio Station) were incorporated based on a federal law. The Deutsche TV II was jointly established by all states of the former Federal Germany. The internally diversified structure of the existing public radio & TV institutions can be considered as a model of integration. The comprehensive and integrated radio and TV institutions aim to assure the diversified opinions based on the candidates with extensive information and opinions. The comprehensive and diversified opinions will balance the role of the leadership and the diversified supervision committee in the programs. Restrictions on the Freedom of Expression, Information and Press Pursuant to Article 5.2 of the Basic Law, the freedom of expression, information and press “is subject to the restriction by common law and the law on protecting the young and personal reputation.” The common law includes the civil law and the criminal law. If a journalist abets soldiers to defect, damages the reputation of a dead man or slanders others, the journalist violates the criminal law and will be deprived of the expression freedom. Since each common law shows a restriction effect on the basic law, the interpretation of the common law shall safeguard the values contained in the basic law. For each specific case, due consideration shall be given to the different rights under the protection of law. The restriction on the freedom of expression, information and press in the following cases may easily cause controversy: The protection of personal reputation is involved; The protection of personality is involved; The protection of company is involved; The protection of country is involved. 1. Protection of personal reputation. Any civilian including the journalist who creates or communicates any fact that cannot be proved to be true to belittle others will be convicted of personal abuse. If he behaves this way upon the full understanding of the fact, he will be convicted of libel. However, the libel in the criminal law is not based on the statement of the fact, but is convicted when spreading or communicating certain idea or appraisal of value. 2.  Statement of the fact and appraisal of value (opinion). The factual statement is only accepted when the authenticity of the factual content is verified by the court based on evidences, otherwise it will

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constitute the criminal charge. This rule also applies to the journalist. Controversy is often seen on whether it is a factual statement that needs proof or an expression of opinion (this opinion shall be favorable for promoting the rational discussion on important issues that the public are concerned with and shall be protected no matter whether it is valuable or correct). This is because the two different situations will be judged based on different standards: the basic law protects the right of expression of opinions but does not cover the incorrect factual statement. 3. No abuse of criticism. The freedom of expression shall be used appropriately. Abuse of criticism is prohibited. 4. Protection of personality. In addition to the reputation protection, the freedom of report is also subject to the restrictions by general personality rights, which are provided by Article 1 (Personal Dignity) and Article 2 (Free Development of Personality) of the basic law. The personality right is only allowed to be offended only when the information is favorable for forming objective public opinion and the democratic will of all states and society. To judge whether the public interest plays a dominant part in this information and whether the personal freedom shall be restricted in specific case, the importance of the information shall be considered as the main basis, supplemented by other factors. Meanwhile, personal private life, particularly the sexual life of man and woman, enjoys the absolute protection. Any media shall not report on this topic unless the person discusses about his/her love life publicly. The business secret of a company or a business can be revealed. For example, when a company adding certain prohibited material in the food, the media can warn the public of this health hazard. Any videotape or audiotape recording the non-public talk or the note recording personal life that infringes personal privacy shall not be published unless otherwise agreed by the person in the record. Personal private life can only be reported when major public interest is involved. It is illegitimate to pry into the indoor secrets of celebrities to satisfy the public curiosity or for sensationalism or visual addiction. 5.  Protection of the company. When disclosing the information of a company, the journalist shall also weigh the two sides of the matter, i.e. judge which is more important, the public interest obtained when the public acquires information on the issue of general significance and the business interest of the company the reputation of which is damaged due to the disclosure. The court holds that the publication of the inspection results of commodities is allowed, but the following principles must be complied with before this kind of information is reported: The individual or group engaged in the inspection conducts an investigation with a neutral attitude; The inspection results must be correct;

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The report on the inspection results must comply with the public interest acquired by providing information to the public (for example, the report shall not help a company to strike at its competitor); The report shall not exceed the scope of just criticism. 6. Product inspection. The basic right of the expression freedom also covers the freedom to publish the comparative results of product inspection. Providing information to consumers constitute the foundation for the transparent market, which complies with not only the consumers’ interests but also the interests of economic undertakings themselves. 7. Report on large companies. The responsibilities regarding to the public interest borne by large companies, which exert significant influence on national economy, are more important than the fact that the business owner conceals the adverse facts. In particular, some companies deny the hearsay about their merger or auction until the transaction is completed. 8. Appraisal of the value of restaurants. The negative evaluation of a restaurant is also protected by the freedom of opinion and expression. 9. Protection of the country. The freedom of media is not only confined to the restrictions by individual rights, but also restricted in case of any threat to state security or disturbance of public order. As stipulated in Article 95.1 of the criminal law, “Anyone that publicizes the state secret or discloses the secret to anyone who has no right to know as instigated by a certain official organization and endangers the external security of the federal republic will be convicted of the crime of aiding the enemy.” 10. Military secret. News media shall not publish any military secret such as the military equipment or tactical scheme of defense. It does not necessarily mean that the public discussion on the national defense policy is prohibited. Anyone (even including the enemy) knows well that the attack has no chance to succeed if the security policy is effective; and conversely, people do not want anyone to attack them. 11. “Premature judgment.” On one hand, the media shall protect the suspect from completely illegitimate public exposure to prevent the damage to the reputation of the suspect, since the reputation will not be repaired even if the suspect is acquitted later; and, on the other than, the media is obliged to provide information to the people in democratic society and many things will be concealed if no report by news media. 12. Photograph. The laws have set two barriers for photograph: prohibit takings pictures of military facilities and court trial and prohibit shooting obscene videos. Moreover, the art copyright law approved in 1907 had provided the portraiture right, by which the citizens can be protected from any shooting without prior consent. However, the shooting of the figures that make up the modern history, such as

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politicians, artists, scientists, local leaders and people associated with famous events, comply with the public interests of providing information to the public, and the release of these photos do not need the prior consent of these figures. Furthermore, the release of these photos shall not damage the legitimate interests of the photographed (such as the photo of an athlete with trousers falling down during his running, etc.). Right of Refutation To guarantee a “stage for fair competition” between the mass communication media and the person in the report, the journalism law and broadcasting law of the federal state provide the right of refutation. It renders the individual or legal person who believes they are damaged by the incorrect report and the administrative authority, court and parliament with the opportunity to express their opinions. However, they can only refute a factual report with another factual report but has no such right in the occasion of value appraisal. Anyone whose personal interest is affected by a report can exercise the refutation right, but the groups such as “doctor” group and “woman” group have no right of refutation. The refutation must be published at the same position where the original report was published in a newspaper or magazine, with the same layout and font size. In other words, the refutation shall not be placed at the noteless position for concealment. Before the publication of the refutation, the editor shall not add, revise of delete anything of the refutation even he believes it is inconsistent with the fact. However, this regulation cannot stop editors from putting an introduction at the beginning or adding a comment at the end of the article, i.e. the formidable “editor’s note.” Sometimes, the newspaper attempts to avoid directly assuming the responsibility of correcting the mistake by publishing the letter from the party concerned in the report. Anyone agrees with publishing his letter automatically waives his right endowed by law. However, people often doubt that even an official refutation cannot make up the damage incurred by the false report. In most cases, a citizen can hardly achieve success by using his right of refutation. If the publisher refuses his requirement, he is often unwilling to lodge a long-lasting lawsuit and pay the high expense. The trying a case the court shall give due consideration focusing on whether it is a “factual report” or “value appraisal.” 2.3   Main Content of the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in Japan 2.3.1 Evolution of the News Legal System in Japan In Shogunate period when the newspaper firstly emerged, the tile news and any publication involving current affairs were prohibited, only the official

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newspaper of Shogunate or the newspapers run by Shogunate and the newspapers run by foreigners who enjoyed the extraterritoriality were allowed to release.5 On February 1869, Meji government had formulated the first written law on press in Japanese history, Newspaper Press Regulations. The Regulations allowed the release of newspaper upon the condition of the licensing system and the post-inspection system. It provided the opportunity for the emergence and development of modern newspapers in Japan. Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo Daily News, Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, etc., were all founded in this period. Soon, with the debate between the “theory of aggression to Korea” and the “theory of civil rights,” the Meji government transformed its policy from protecting to suppressing newspapers and formulated a series of laws about news. The Newspaper Release Rules was formulated in October 1873, which prohibited the newspaper from defaming the state system, criticizing politics and disclosing information. The Newspaper Regulations issued on June 20, 1875 was the first time of Japan to set up the provisions on criminal punishment and punished the newspaper “breaking the law” by “prohibiting its release” or “suspending its release,” etc. The Slander Law published on December 8, 1875 was regarded as the first “reputation damage law” in Japanese history, mainly to prevent the so-called libel against the Mikado, royal families and officials. These laws above composed the “Four Laws on Speech.” In the 1880s, in view of the fierce struggle among political parties and the emergence of liberal civil rights movements, the government revised the Newspaper Regulations to further strengthen the journalistic control. The Newspaper Regulations after revision is known as “the cruelest news law in Japanese journalism history.” Though Article 29 of the Constitution of the Japanese Empire issued in the late Meji period stipulated “Japanese people enjoy the freedom of speech, writing, publication, assembly and forming an association as permitted by law,” Japan had not seen the real freedom of press due to the restrictions by the “Four Laws on Speech.” It was until May 1909 when the Newspaper Regulations re-published by Japanese government became the most fundamental press law of Japan before the World War II, which remained valid until the defeat. After the start of the Japanese War of Aggression Against China, in addition to the above “Four Laws on Speech,” Japanese rulers had approved a series of laws to restrict the press freedom, imposing harsh suppression over the newspaper. For example, the General Mobilization Order of the State published in May 1938 provided “as demanded by mobilization of the state, the specific content of newspapers and other publications shall be restricted or prohibited according to law in wartime.” Later, Japanese government 5 Tile

news in old Japan was a special form of print. News was carved on tiles, and then the tiles would be burnt and used by people to print the news on paper.

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successively issued the Restriction Order on Newspaper Publication, Law on Temporary Ban of Speech, Publication, Assembly and Forming an Association and Special Criminal Law in Wartime, etc., to force the newspaper to follow the will of the ruling class. All pages of all newspapers were advocating the “holy war” and promoting the “imperial army” and “military exploits,” making the newspaper the cheering squad for the war of aggression. In August 1945, Japan surrendered and was occupied by the United Nations. The headquarters of occupation troop successively issued orders to rectify Japanese journalistic undertakings in an all-round way. The previous laws on speech restriction were repealed and the officials in charge of the press in wartime were dismissed, laying the foundation for the construction of American-style freedom of press. After the World War II, Japan has not formulated any separate press law other than the Broadcasting Law. Japan has developed to be one of the few countries which protect the most extensive scope of speech freedom. The provisions on protection and restriction of the speech and publication freedom are scattered in the Constitution, criminal law, civil law, public election law, copyright law and juvenile law, etc. 2.3.2 Content of the News Legal System and Relevant Case Laws Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan enforced in May 1947 stipulates: “The freedom of assembly, forming an association, speech, publication and other ways of expression is under protection and shall be free from inspection or encroachment on the communication secrets.” Article 12 provides: “Citizens shall put unremitting efforts to protect the national freedom and right under the protection of the Constitution; and shall bear the responsibility to use such freedom and right to promote public welfare instead of abusing it.” These two regulations are of great significance for the development of the press freedom in Japan after war. According to general laws anssd regulations, the provisions on the protection and restriction of the press freedom mainly consist of the following aspects: 1. Defamation This is the provision most relevant to the daily activities of journalists and editors of the newspaper. Article 230 of the criminal law stipulates “Anyone disclosing the fact and defaming others, no matter whether the fact is true……” However, Article 230.2 also provides the exemption article: “When it is associated with public interests and seeking for public welfare, the authenticity of the fact shall be verified. If it is proved to be true, it shall not be penalized.” The purpose of public welfare of the news report is undoubted, but it is quite difficult to prove the authenticity of a fact. In 1969, the Supreme Court once stated: “If the fact that injuries the reputation cannot be proved to be true but it has the ‘most rational reason’ for misbelieving, it does not constitute defamation.” This case law makes it easier for the newspaper to provide the proof.

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The civil law also has provisions about defamation in addition to the criminal law. The cases of newspaper charged with defamation are tried based on the civil law more than those tried with the criminal law. The criminal law regards the “intention” as a necessary condition, but the civil law treats “intention or fault” as a necessary condition. Therefore, the newspapers are often charged with no enough attention to their obligations. Though there is not “exemption” clause in the civil law like that in the criminal law, the controversy on defamation in the civil suit often refers to the criminal provision. Therefore, it is still an important factor for the newspaper to demonstrate the authenticity of the report. 2. Private Life The legal concept of private life has not been defined in the existing laws of Japan, but the case law admits the right to private life. As a social right, it has been listed as the object under the protection of law. Moreover, the portraiture right was listed in the scope of private life according to the decision of Tokyo High Court in 1968 and the statement of the Supreme Court in 1969: “Though the ‘portraiture right’ has not been provided in existing laws, it is one of the national rights under the protection of law. In regard to this right, the people enjoy the following ‘interest’: not being photographed and not having the portrait published without prior consent. Though it is mentioned as an ‘interest’ instead of ‘right’, it shall be respected.” 3. Public Election Law As stipulated in Article 148 of Public Election Law, “Any provision on the restriction of election campaigns provided in this law will not prejudice the freedom of the newspaper and magazine to publish the report of and comment on election. However, the newspaper and magazine shall not make use of the report freedom to publish any false report to impair the fair election.” The former sentence claims to protect the freedom of report and comment, while the latter sentence contains this right with restrictions. Japan has been exposed to controversy between these two sides for several times, while the lawsuits against the election reports are mostly about this issue. In the fear of influencing the public election, the newspaper loses their enthusiasm and even checks its own freedom protected by law. In 1966, the Black Mist Scandal took place in Japanese politics, leading to extensive politics “purification” campaigns. The editor’s committee of Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association made the following statement based on the will of the whole press: “We shall substantially admit the newspaper’s freedom of report and comment of the election. As proved by the cases until now, the reports on the ideas, policies, candidates’ experiences and political views etc. of the political party and the supporting or opposing comments are free from any restriction as long as the fact is not fabricated

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or distorted……In regard to general reports and comments, the election law admits the freedom of news without limitation. Therefore, the attitude towards the reports of and comments on election is not a legal issue but is determined based on the editorial policy of news.” This representative statement had been acknowledged by law in a verdict of the Supreme Court made in 1974, finally becomes the basis for actions of all newspapers joining the Association and is considered as the conventions in practical reports. 4. Juvenile Law As to the report on the crime committed by a juvenile under 20 years old, the Juvenile Law of Japan provides in Article 61: “The report or any other publication about the juvenile sent to the family tribunal or charged with crime shall not publish the information on the name, age, occupation, residence or appearance of the juvenile based on which the juvenile can be inferred.” Japanese newspapers observe this regulation strictly in daily activities. However, the newspaper had been once exposed to chaos of the report on serious juvenile crime. For example, in the “Joint Red Army Incident” in 1972, two brothers of the five criminals were under age. 40 newspapers had not published the names of the two, 22 newspapers had disclosed their names and 4 newspapers only revealed the name of the elder brother. To create consistency among the newspapers, the editor’s committee of Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association established a policy as the basis of judgment. The major premise is: “The name and picture of the delinquent under the age of 20 shall not be publicized on newspapers.” However, considering the “priority to social welfare,” it should be regarded as a different matter if the delinquent is on the run (who likely will commit the crime of murder or arson again) and is wanted and other institutions require cooperation in search. However, most people of the press are inclined to respect Article 61. 5. Provide the Photo Evidence In Japan, the search authorities and tribunals sometimes will request the reporting organ to provide photos, films or interview records. This is another major issue for the report circle. Since the existing laws in Japan provide no regulation targeting the reporting organ, this issue is mainly associated with the freedom of report specified in the Constitution. As a typical case, in 1969, Fukuoka Local Tribunal requested four TV stations in Fukuoka to hand over the TV films of Hakata Station Incident (November 1968). These four TV stations refused to hand over the films and brought a special lawsuit to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit based on the reason “to realize the fair judgment required by the Constitution” and “it is not a fundamental threat to the speech freedom stipulated by the Constitution for the Tribunal to request the TV stations to provide evidence photos.”

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After the Hakata Station Incident, the editor’s committee of Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association made the representative statement: “Considering that the freedom of report and interview will be subject to severe restrictions after the evidence is provided, this behavior shall be avoided in principle. This kind of issue shall be treated case by case, depending on the balance between ‘public judgment’ and ‘report freedom’. We hope that the court will completely respect the above principle in judgment.” 6. Confidentiality of State Secrets In Japan, the freedom of the press is still subject to the restrictions of Damage Prevention Act and National Civil Service Law and shall not disclose state secrets. The Nishiyama Hasumi incident taking place in June 1971 was a typical case of this issue. When the Japan-American negotiation on the return of Okinawa was drawing to an end, Mainichi Shimbun journalist Nishiyama Moto had acquired three confidential messages through Hasumi Kikuko, a female civil official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He revealed the lie of Japanese government in the report and raised doubts about the negotiation. The government panicked, and then discovered the source of disclosure of the confidential message, magnified the relationship between Nishiyama Moto and Hasumi Kikuko and lodged a lawsuit to the court. Finally, Nishiyama Moto and Hasumi Kikuko were arrested and sentenced for the crime of “violating the National Civil Service Law.” Despite the confidentiality of the information source in Japan, this case shows that the source cannot be kept confidential if the interest of the government is infringed. With the development of radio undertakings, on May 2, 1950, Japanese government issued and enforced the Radio Wave Law, Radio Law and Law on Establishment of Radio Supervision Committee, collectively known as “Three Laws on Radio.” These laws constitute the basic legal basis for the management of radio undertakings. Consisting of 9 chapters and 116 provisions, the Radio Wave Law provides the legal regulations on the technology of radio stations, including the approval formalities, equipment, personnel and facilities, etc. The Radio Law, comprising 4 chapters and 59 provisions, respectively regulates on the organization, operation and principles for program editing of Japan Broadcasting Corporation and non-government radio stations. The Law on Establishment of Radio Supervision Committee provides the organization and power of the radio supervision committee with 30 provisions. In a word, before the World War II, Japan had successively made several press laws to control the news publication and grossly interfere the journalists’ work and speech freedom. After the World War II, the news agencies started to independently run their own businesses, embracing greater autonomy and modern bourgeois press freedom. In a sense, Japanese press has acquired new life.

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2.4   Evolution and Main Content of the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in China 2.4.1 Historical Evolution of the News Legal System in China The news legal system in China originated from the early years when Chinese people started to explore the capitalist road and save the country. In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Hong Renxian proposed the ideas of building the newspaper office, permitting the sale of newspapers and setting up the position of the newspaper official in his New Administrative Paper. These ideas had been mentioned in the works of Wang Tao, Chen Chi and Zheng Guanying et al. subsequently. In the Hundred Days of Reform, Kang Youwei had publicly proposed to abolish feudal cultural autocracy and construct the thoughts of news legal system centering on the freedom of speech and publication. Since then, it had become a common political slogan of the reformists to abolish “speech prohibition” and “newspaper prohibition.” Upon the peak of the Reform Movement, responding to a memorial to the throne on transforming the Current Affairs Newspaper to an official newspaper, Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty issued an imperial edict as follows: The newspaper office, which aims to propaganda state and understand the conditions of the people, must be run by the government. The three propositions put forward by the minister are appropriate, and I suggest we follow his suggestions. Firstly, transform the Current Affairs Newspaper to an official newspaper and send Kang Youwei to supervise the transformation and report the situation to the government. The newspaper produced by the offices of this newspaper in Tianjin, Shanghai, Hubei and Guangdong shall be sent to the Court of Censors and the university. The university shall read all relevant affairs on the newspaper. All newspapers shall mainly describe the advantages and disadvantages in details and broaden knowledge, report the fact about Chinese and foreign current affairs without any taboo and help the government to know more and learn more. The budget for running the official newspaper shall accord to the agreement.6 This imperial edict, dated July 26, 1898, can be deemed as the first decree on lifting the ban on newspapers in modern China, as well as the first legal regulation related the modern newspaper. On August 9, 1898, Kang Youwei reported to the throne with the Request to Establish the Rules for Chinese Newspapers, which was the first proposal to formulate the special press law in China. However, the reformists fled in all directions due to the failure of the Reform Movement, and the memorial of Kang Youwei and the reply by the Emperor Guangxu had not been

6 Ge

Gongzhen, The History of Newspaper Studies in China, 1st edition, Page 39, Beijing, China Press, 1985.

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implemented. Until 1906, the press legislation was placed on the agenda again. From 1906 to 1911, the Qing government had formulated and issued a series of laws and regulations on the newspaper supervision, mainly including the Special Law on the Print of the Qing Dynasty, Regulations on Newspapers, Interim Regulations on the Newspaper Office, Law of the Qing Dynasty on the Newspaper (later revised to be the Imperial Law on the Newspaper), Ten Provisions on the Half Price of News Telegraphs Sent by the Telegraph Office, Rules for Sending and Receiving the Telegraph and the Half Price and the Rules for Copyright, etc. With a form of Western press law, these laws and regulations were essentially protecting the feudal culture, the typical model of traditional Chinese values aided with modern Western ideology. The Republic of China was founded in 1912. Nanjing Provisional Government issued the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China which stipulated that the people enjoyed the freedom of speech, writing, publication, assembly and forming an association, repealed the Law of the Qing Dynasty on the Newspaper and temporarily applied the Rules for Copyright before the copyright law of the Republic of China was formulated. Despite the controversy on the Interim Law on the Newspaper of the Republic of China, the news legal system at the early stage of the Republic of China presented the distinct bourgeois features. After stealing the power acquired through the Revolution of 1911, the Northern Warlords including Yuan Shikai had successively issued the Newspaper Rules, Publication Law, Regulations on News Telegraph, Telecommunication Rules, Regulations on Revision of Newspapers, Copyright Law, Detailed Regulations on the Procedure of Copyright Registration and the Fees, Newspaper Act, Letter on Prohibiting Radical Publications from Russia, Rules for Printing Management and Operation and Interim Regulations on Installation of Radio Receivers, etc., within merely 16 years. Though these laws and regulations adopt the free news system in form, they were similar to the regulations on supervision of news media in the Qing Dynasty in substance, which had suppressed people’s freedom of speech and publication and put down revolutionary newspapers, magazines and activities. The Nanjing National Government of the Republic of China adopted the news control and the system of ruling the country by the party. For this purpose, Kuomintang and the National Government had formulated and issued a series of laws and regulations on news supervision, mainly including the Regulations on Guiding Party Newspapers, Regulations on Guiding General Newspapers, Regulations on Publication Review, Principles of Publication Regulations, Measures for the Registration of Daily Newspapers, Criteria for the Review of Publicity Materials, Standards for News Inspection, Measures for News Review in Important Cities and the News Policy of the Kuomintang of China, etc., formulated by the central committee of Kuomintang; the Publication Law, Regulations on the Administration of Radio Stations, Telecommunication Regulations, Copyright Law, Rules for the Implementation

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of Copyright Law, Prohibition of Obscene Publications, Interim Measures for Banning Unhealthy Tabloids, Amendment to the Publishing Law, Rules for the Implementation of the Publishing Law, Journalists Law, Rules for the Implementation of the Journalists Law and Standards for Prohibiting News in Wartime, etc., issued by the National Government; and some basic laws and special decrees such as the Program of General Mobilization of National Spirit, Criminal Law of the Republic of China, Law on the Emergency Treatment of Crimes against the Republic of China, Martial Law, Outline of the General Mobilization and Propaganda Plan for Bandit Suppression and Regulations on Punishment of Rebellion, etc. In the 22 years of its rule over China, the Nanjing National Government had set up a news legal system with the party rule prevailing the rule by law centering on news control. The press law under the people’s regime firstly emerged in the Red Revolution Base in the 1930s. In February 1934, Ruijin Central WorkerFarmer Democratic Government of Jiangxi Province issued the Outline of Chinese Soviet Constitution. Article 10 of the Outline stipulated: “The Chinese Soviet regime aims to protect the freedom of speech, publication, assembly and forming an association of workers, peasants and the masses…… Any anti-revolutionary propaganda and activity and the political freedom of exploiters are definitely prohibited under the Soviet regime.”7 After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the relevant clauses on journalistic undertakings in the Common Programme (1949) approved by the First National People’s Political Consultative Conference and the first Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (1954) formulated by the First National People’s Congress constitute the general program to guide the development of journalistic undertakings in China and protect people’s freedom of speech and publication. As provided in Article 49 of the Common Programme, “Protect the freedom of reporting true news. Prohibit making use of news to defame others, damage the interest of the state and the people and instigate world war. Develop the people’s radio undertakings. Develop the people’s publication undertakings. Attach importance to publishing popular books and newspapers benefiting the people.” According to Article 87 of the Constitution, “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoys the freedom of speech, publication, assembly, forming an association, march and demonstration. The state shall provide necessary materials to assure the people of these freedoms.” On the basis of the above general program, the laws and regulations on press and publication formulated right after the founding of new China mainly include the follows: Draft of the Interim Measures for Registration of National Newspapers and Magazines (1950), Interim Measures for Registration of Periodicals (1952) and Interim Regulations on the Administration the Publication, Printing and Release of Books and Magazines (1952), etc. In this period, the Central Committee of the CPC issued two 7 Fang

Hanqi, Zhang Zhihua, Brief History of Journalistic Undertakings in China, 2nd edition, Page 274–275, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1995.

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important resolutions on journalism: Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Launching Criticism and Self-criticism on Newspapers and Periodicals (1950) and the Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Improvement of Newspapers (1954), which practically played the role as the press law. These policies, laws and regulations had guaranteed the adjustment and development of journalistic undertakings in the early days of the new China and contributed to the consolidation of the emerging people’s democratic power and the restoration and development of the economy. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee in 1978, along with the shift of the focus of national work from class struggle to the construction of socialist modernization, increasing attention has been paid to the construction of the socialist legal system, including the legal system of press and publication management. The State Press and Publication Administration was re-established in 1987, which stressed on law-based administration. For over a decade, China has formulated more than 30 laws, regulations and documents on the press, mainly including the Interim Regulations on Periodical Administration, Interim Regulations on Newspaper Administration, Regulations on Publication Administration, Measures for the Implementation of Administrative Punishments in Publishing Management, Regulations on Electronic Publication Administration, Regulations on the Administration of Internal-Material Publications, Regulations on Printing Administration and Regulations on Publication Printing Administration, etc. In this period, the administrative department of electronic media has released the Regulations on Radio and TV Administration and some other laws and regulations on the supervision of electronic media. The national legislature has issued the Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the State Copyright Bureau has published the Measures for the Implementation of the Administrative Punishments in Copyright. The legislature and the administration of press and publication have jointly released a batch of decrees and regulations on cracking down on pirated goods and Prohibiting illegal and obscene publications. Since 1980, some people of the legal profession and press have appealed for the formulation of press law and initiated the theoretical studies on press law. As decided by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress with Peng Zhen as the chairman, the Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Public Health Committee of the National People’s Congress and the Journalism Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences dispatched their men to establish a press law research laboratory at the Journalism Institute to research and draft the law. After the re-construction of the State Press and Publication Administration in 1987, this Administration started to lead the drafting of press law and officially organized the press law drafting team. Meanwhile, the Administration also established a press law drafting team in Shanghai, so that the multiple drafts of press law can be compared and learn from each other. By 1988, the three drafts of press law, respectively, drafted by the press law research laboratory, the State Press and

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Publication Administration and Shanghai drafting team had been successively completed, and started the advice solicitation and revision. Later, the revision and discussion on the drafts had been suspended due to the disturbance of some domestic and foreign political incidents and some other causes. After Li Peng presided over the National People’s Congress, the formulation of press law was proposed again and was incorporated in the program of legislation of the National People’s Congress. The 2010 Working Plan published by the State Press and Publication Administration also included the legislation of press law and publication law. Therefore, the press law and the publication law of the People’s Republic of China will be possibly released in the first decade of the twenty-first century. 2.4.2 Main Content of the News Legal System in China News Media Apply the Approval and Registration System, and the Information Administration Exercises Its Approval Right According to Law As stipulated in Article 10 of Regulations on Publication Administration, the following conditions shall be met for the founding of a publisher: 1. The name and the articles of association of the publisher; 2. The sponsor and necessary superior authority recognized by the publishing administration of the State Council; 3. A definite scope of business; 4. Registered capital over 300,000 Yuan; 5. Fixed workplace; 6. An organizational structure adapting to the business demands and the professionals in editing and publishing with qualifications required by the government. In addition to the conditions mentioned above, the publisher shall also accord to national planning over the total number, structure and layout of publishing organizations. As stipulated in Article 9 of Regulations on Radio and TV Administration, the following conditions shall be met for the founding of a radio or TV station: 1. Radio and TV professional complying with national regulations; 2. Radio and TV technical equipment complying with national regulations; 3. Necessary basic fund for construction and stable financial support; 4. Necessary workplace. In addition to the conditions mentioned above, the radio and TV station shall accord to national planning over the construction and technical development of the radio and TV station.

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The Information Administration Exercises the Management Right over the Daily Work of the Publisher and the Radio and TV Station According to Law Firstly, formulate and examine the prohibition regulations of the publisher and radio and TV station. According to Article 25 of Regulations on Publication Administration, any publication shall not contain the following content: 1. Opposing the basic principles confirmed by the Constitution; 2. Endangering national unity or sovereignty and territorial integrity; 3. Endangering the security, honor and interest of the state; 4. Inciting the separation of nationalities, encroaching on the customs and habits of minority nationalities and undermining national unity; 5. Disclosing state secrets; 6.  Promoting pornography, superstition or violence and harming social morality and excellent ethnic culture and traditions; 7. Slandering others; 8. Other content prohibited by laws or regulations. According to Article 26 of the Regulations, the publication targeting the juvenile readers shall not contain any content that instigates the juvenile to imitate any behavior violating social morals or illegal act, or harms the physical or psychological health of the juvenile with phobia or cruelty. According to Article 20, should the untrue or unfair content of the publication lead to the infringement of the legal rights or benefits of citizens, legal entities or other organizations, the publisher shall correct the mistake publicly, eliminate the influence and bear the civil responsibilities according to law. Should the untrue or unfair content of the newspaper or periodical lead to the infringement of the legal rights or benefits of citizens, legal entities or other organizations, the party concerned is entitled to require the relevant publications releasing the correction or defense of the mistake in the latest issue of newspaper or periodical; and if the publication refuses to publish the correction or defense, the party concerned can bring the lawsuit to the people’s court. Article 32 of Regulations on Radio and TV Administration also shares the similar prohibition provisions. Article 33 provides that the radio and TV station shall conduct pre-broadcasting review and rebroadcasting review over the radio and TV programs in accordance with Article 32 of the Regulations. Secondly, the quality of the newspaper or periodical and the programs of the radio and TV station shall be subject to the management according to law. The department responsible for news propaganda of the Central Committee of the CPC and the administration for news and publication formulate the regulations on reading and approving, and the position in charge of reading and approving shall be set to read and approve the newspapers, periodicals

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and programs that have been published or broadcasted. The key of reading and approving lies in that whether the newspaper, periodical and program completely implement the policies and principles of the Communist Party of China, abide by the Constitution and laws and comply with their original aims and policies as well as whether the news report is authentic and fair. Meanwhile, review shall also be conducted on the newspaper policies, aims, content, printing, advertisements and distribution, etc., pursuant to the standards for quality management; and any disqualified newspaper or periodical shall be shut down or revoked. The corresponding review and approval system shall also be established for the radio and TV sector. The review and approval system in China mainly conducts quality inspection after the release of news and imposes criticism, education or administrative punishment on anyone violating the law or regulation. This is fundamentally different to the news censorship performed prior to the release. Administration of Information The administration of information exercises the right of administrative punishments on any publisher, radio or TV station that violates against laws or regulations. Article 45 to 53 of Chapter 6 Legal Responsibilities of Regulations on Publication Administration have provided the punishments including warning, fine, confiscation of illegal income, close of the publication and revocation of the registration certificate, etc., against the actions of establishing a publisher or being engaged in the publishing, printing, copy or release of the publication without a permit, pirating or reproducing the publication, the publisher selling or leasing the name, book number, periodical number or edition number of the publisher or transferring them in other form, releasing a publication by counterfeiting a publisher’s name or the name of the newspaper or periodical, printing or copying the publication without completing the required formalities or violating the Regulations by printing, copying or releasing oversea publications; and the publisher shall bear civil responsibilities according to law in case of any infringement of the legal rights and benefits of other publishers. The worker of relevant publication administration is convicted of crime for abuse of authority, dereliction of duty or playing favouritism and committing irregularities shall bear corresponding criminal responsibilities; and if not convicted, the worker shall be imposed with administrative sanctions. Article 47 to 53 of Chapter 5 Penalties of Regulations on Radio and TV Administration have provided the punishments including warning, fine, confiscation of illegal income and special equipment, tools and carriers used for illegal activities and revocation of the license, etc., against the act of establishing the radio station, TV station, education TV station, cable radio and TV transmission network or radio and TV station without license, establishing radio and TV transmitter, relay station, microwave station or satellite up-link

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station without license, establishing the radio and TV program production unit or producing TV plays and other radio and TV programs without license, producing or broadcasting any program containing the content prohibited by Article 32 of the Regulations or providing such program to foreign countries, changing the name, logo, scope of programs or number of programs without prior approval, leasing or transferring the broadcasting hours, replaying or broadcasting radio or TV programs by breaching the regulations, broadcasting overseas radio and TV programs or advertisements longer than the specified hours, broadcasting the radio or TV program produced by a unit that has not acquired the business license to produce radio and TV programs or the TV play produced by a unit that has not acquired the license to produce TV plays, broadcasting overseas films, TV plays and other radio and TV programs that have not obtained the approval, the education TV station broadcasting the programs prohibited in Article 44 (i.e. the education TV station shall broadcast a variety of education programs according to relevant national regulations and shall not broadcast any film or TV play irrelevant to the content of education), holding the radio and TV program exchange and transaction activities without approval, leasing or transferring the frequency rate and frequency band, changing the technical parameters of the radio and TV transmitter and relay station without approval, the Radio and TV transmitter or relay station broadcasting the programs made by their own or inserting advertisements without approval broadcasting radio and TV programs through satellite transmission without approval, importing and relaying the foreign radio and TV programs through satellite transmission without approval, making use of the cable radio and TV transmission network to broadcast programs without approval, performing the site selection, design, construction and installation of the radio and TV transmission network without approval, occupying or interfering the special frequency rate of radio and TV and intercepting, interfering or descrambling the radio and TV signal without approval and other actions that endanger the safe broadcasting of radio and TV stations or damage radio and TV equipment, etc. The station illegally incorporated shall be shut down. In case of violation against the regulations on public safety administration, the public security organ will impose administrative punishments according to law. When a crime is committed, the legal responsibilities shall be investigated. The worker of relevant radio and TV administration is convicted of crime for abuse of authority, dereliction of duty or playing favouritism and committing irregularities during radio and TV management shall bear corresponding criminal responsibilities; and if not convicted of a crime, the worker shall be imposed with administrative sanctions. Legal and Administration Regulation on News Operation by Other Government Authorities In addition to the management by the administration of information according to law, the operation activities of news media also accept the supervision

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by other relevant government authorities at the same time. The advertisement and other several operation activities are subject to the management by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the release of newspaper and periodical is subject to the management by the posts and telecommunications department, the copyright is managed by national copyright department and the news confidentiality accepts the management by the confidentiality department of the Party and the government. Above departments shall perform management and exercise authorities according to relevant laws and regulations such as the advertising law, postal law, copyright law, law of the People’s Republic of China on keeping confidentiality of state secrets and statistic law, etc. As stipulated in the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, “The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the faithful representative of the interests of the people of all nationalities in China and the core of leadership in building socialist core in China.” The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China explicitly provides the core leading role of the Communist Party of China in all socialist undertakings. Therefore, in addition to the Constitution, laws, regulations and the rules of the administration of information and other governmental departments, the programs, guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of China are playing an important and decisive guiding and regulating role in journalistic undertakings and journalism and communication activities in China. This is the feature as well as the advantage of the news legal system in China. This feature has been explained in details in Section 5, Chapter 4 of this book and will not be further discussed here. Through five decades of exploration and practice, China has formed the news legal system centering on the policy regulation by the Party, which has been introduced in Section 5, Chapter 4 of this book in an all-round way. As a traditional country of statutory law, China has not formulated the special press law, publication law, radio and TV law and journalist law by now, while the administrative regulations pay more attention to the supervision of news behaviors than to the protection of the speech, publication and press freedom of citizens and legal entities. However, the necessary legal system of journalism has been established and the news legislation has achieved great progress through the 20 years of Reform and Opening up. We have reason to believe that the basic law on news media and journalism and communication in China will be more complete and perfect in 10 years, and a socialist news legal system with Chinese characteristics will be soon established. 2.5   Comparison Between the Legal System of Journalism and Communication in China and the West The news legal system is established by the ruling class based on its own interest and will through the organs of political power, to regulate on the relations among all parties related to journalism and communication and on

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the legal system of journalism and communication. The journalistic scholars and practitioners in China and the West share the common view or similar view on this definition. As proved by the formulation and practice of the news legal system in China and the West, it is generally agreed that the news legal system embraces two functions, protecting the freedom of press endowed to citizens and legal entities by the Constitution and preventing the abuse of this right. Only following the legal track can the healthy operation of news media and news communication be achieved. China and the West also have a similar understanding in this aspect. Through the examination of the history, literature and practices of the news legal system in China and the West, it can be seen that both parties apply different measures and present different characteristics in terms of the application of the news legal system and journalistic ethics and the focuses, mainly manifested by the following points: 2.5.1 Rule of Law and Rule of Man From a historical view, Western developed countries applied the law as a weapon to supervise and regulate news media and news communication earlier than China. According to the records of journalism history, the United Kingdom was the earliest among Western countries to control the newspaper. In 1528, Henry VIII had given an order that foreign businessmen should not run printing houses in the United Kingdom. In 1530, the King issued another order to allow Thomas Hilton to sell the Bible, which was the first case of the system of special permission in the printing and publication sector. Later, France and Germany also adopted the system of special permission on the publication industry. Due to the demands of the newspaper development long the historical trend and the impact by the storm of revolutions, the system of special permission was then abolished in these countries and had been replaced by the laws protecting the freedom of publication and press. The Law of the Freedom of Press, the first press law of the world, emerged in 1776 in Sweden. In 1881, French government issued the Law on the Freedom of Press and Publication, which had been considered as a model for the press law in many other countries for its completeness and depth. Since then, it has become an important characteristic of the political culture in Western countries to manage news media, regulate the social relations in the journalism and communication activities, protect citizen’s freedom of press and crack down on any abuse of the freedom of press according to law. Due to the complex historical and practical conditions, since the Soviet Union, most socialist countries have paid little attention to news legislation but depended on the discipline of the Party and administrative measures to supervise journalistic work. From the socialist revolution in October 1917 to June 1990, the Soviet Union had not formulated any press law. Similarly, 50 years from the founding of new China, the press law still has not been established owing to various obstacles. From 1949 to 1978, the regulation

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on news in China was mainly ruled by man instead of by law, while the law here referred to the documents of the Party and speeches of leaders. The State Press and Publication Administration of the State Council was founded in 1987, which has formulated more than 40 administrative regulations on the press administration, suggesting the great progress of the construction of legal news system in China. However, there is still no special law on press by now, such as the press law, publication law and radio and TV law, etc. 2.5.2 Legal System and Party Discipline In regard to the management of and regulation on news media and journalism and communication activities by law, the major basis shall be the laws and regulations on the press formulated by the national legislature, or, in the non-statutory-law country, the case law recognized by the legislature and deemed as playing a role similar to laws and regulations. This is common in Western countries ruled by law. Even the official newspaper of the political party or other group shall accept the legal supervision and operate within the scope specified by law. The discipline of the Party is binding on the official newspapers sponsored by or affiliated to the party, but it shall be noted that the discipline of the party and even the party organization itself shall be placed under the supervision by law. From the construction of the news legal system in the United States, Germany and Japan, etc., as mentioned above, it can be seen that Western countries embrace a complete news legal system and rich experiences on legislation and judiciary. These laws, regulations, case laws and experiences effectively safeguard the values of Western society and social stability of Western countries. The role of the political party (either the ruling party or the out-party) in supervising the media and discipline of the party is indifferent and is weakening, so it is rarely mentioned in the information introducing the media regulation. However, the situation is different in China. Among the forces that regulate on news media in China, the leadership, policies and disciplines of the Party occupies the first place and plays a decisive role, superior to the regulation by law. China has been to the situation of “replacing government by the Party and replacing law by the discipline” for a long time. There are several reasons. Firstly, the Party had already led the development of many media in the bases and liberated areas before the establishment of the national political power. At that time, it was impossible to cultivate a complete news legal system, and after the founding of new China, this old system was adopted nationwide. Secondly, China had been ruled by feudal autocracy for so long a time. Though the issue feudal land relations had been settled after the founding of new China, the feudal consciousness had not been fundamentally wiped out and the consciousness of democracy and law was weak. Under these circumstances, due importance had not been attached to the legal system construction including the news legal system. The third reason is the rigid way of thinking. China considered the news legislation in capitalist countries as the absolute “evil,” regarded the regulation on news by

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disciplines in socialist countries as the absolute “good,” excluded the Western method of news management by law, denied the social functions of the bourgeois news legal system and had insufficient understanding about the urgency and importance of legislation in a socialist country. Fourthly, the news regulation by disciplines of the Party obtains certain effect sometimes, and the authority considers it easier to continue to use this system that had been adopted for decades. When the reform of political system and the news reform have not been placed on the agenda of rule of law, many people are satisfied with the old system and therefore slow down the progress of news ruled by law. Since the Reform and Opening up, particularly the establishment of the State Press and Publication Administration, the news legislation in China has been apparently facilitated, and the law enforcement of journalism has been intensified. However, the construction of the press law still needs collective wisdom and a long time. There must be many obstacles before we fundamentally change the situation of “replacing government by the Party and replacing law by the discipline.” 2.5.3 Protection and Management In regard to the legal principle, the lawmaking has two aims, protecting the right and freedom and preventing the abuse of the right and freedom. Therefore, the news legislation shall also consist of two aspects, protecting the freedom of press and preventing the excessive use of the press freedom. One of the differences between the legal news system in China and the West lies in the main purpose of lawmaking, whether it focuses on protecting the freedom of press and publication of citizens and legal entities or preventing the abuse the freedom of press and publication, i.e. the management of news media and the regulations on the journalism and communication behaviors. By comparison, the West stresses on the former one, while China emphasizes the latter one. Western countries expressly provide the freedom of a natural person to run a newspaperman and most of them apply the registration system. The restrictions on the qualification for running newspapers are relatively relaxed. Quite a few countries provide sufficient speech freedom, protect the citizen’s right to know through legislation and even establish and protect the internal press freedom of the media by making laws. The laws and regulations on the above areas are regarded as the focus and core of news legislation. The citizen’s freedom of speech, publication and press provided by the basic laws including the Constitution have been implemented and assured by a series of press laws. Western countries also provide detailed regulations on restricting the abuse of press freedom, oppose and crack down on news slander and infringement of privacy or copyright and regulate on the communication of obscene content through the edition division and some other methods. The Constitution of China also establishes citizen’s freedom of speech and publication. Though the speech and publication freedom cover the press

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freedom, there is no definition of press freedom provided in laws, except the basic law of Hongkong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region, and also, there is no special law that protects citizen’s press freedom and rights. The existing laws and regulations on news media, such as the administrative regulations on the newspaper, periodical, radio and TV station mentioned above, mainly focus on supervision and regulation instead of protection of press freedom. Currently, China mainly opposes news slander with the criminal law and civil law, etc., and has no special law on the news infringement to restrict the slander and privacy violation. No legal foundation can be found for many cases related to news. The regulations on prohibiting the obscene and politically reactionary illegal publications and pornographic publications are relatively complete with clear legal explanation and strong practicability. Certain experiences on the legislation and judiciary have been accumulated in this aspect. 2.5.4 Theory and Practice of Internal Press Freedom Internal press freedom is a special concept in Western news legal system, also known as the editing right and reporting right. Th editing right refers to the right of news media to internally decide the final contributions. Generally, the chief editor, the supreme leader of the editorial department of media, enjoys the right to select and decide on the contributions. In other words, the editing right belongs to the chief editor. However, the chief editor cannot read and decide all contributions due to his limited energy, so he often entrusts some editors to exercise this editing right. In other words, general editors also enjoy part of the editing right. In case of any controversy, the opinion of the chief editor will prevail. The “reporting right” refers to the right of media to decide what news and how to report. The reporting right denies the right of the owner in this aspect. The Times of the United Kingdom was the first newspaper that separated the editing right and reporting right from the ownership, which was simulated by many other Western newspapers. In 1919, a journalist from a private newspaper in Japan led all others to propose the requirement of “editing right,” “Shareholders shall not interfere with the content of the editorial, and the report shall be made upon the separation of the editing management from capital.” In 1947, the newspaper publishers and editor’s association in Japan approved a resolution and decided that newspaper employees were entitled to reject any report hindering public interests the owner ordered to publish. Since 1954, some newspapers in Europe started to launch the movements to strive for the reporting right. This movement was firstly carried out in Le Monde of France, which struggled against the owner’s interference in reporting and proposed that the editorial department enjoyed the right to decide what to report and how to report. In Italy, many newspapers sent their representatives of the editor and journalist committee to negotiate with the owners or the outside and proposed a requirement that major affairs of the newspaper should be discussed and

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approved by the committee. The major affairs included the change of ownership, appointment and dismissal of important editors, confirmation on the political line, processing of news and important matters about the labor union of the newspaper. The Federal Germany refers to the editing right and reporting right as the “internal press freedom.” In 1972, the Publication Law Section of German Bar Association decided the follows: It was suggested to provide the internal order of publishers by making laws, so as to protect the publication freedom, the free and comprehensive information flow and the formation of public opinion. The law shall reduce the right of the publisher to decide the standpoint of reporting to the minimum. As to the merger issue of great practical significance and other issues that exert significant influence on the basic policies of the newspaper based on the basic standpoint of the newspaper, the publisher shall negotiate with editors before making any decision. Therefore, any change of the staffing of the editor can only be made upon the agreement by relevant department directors and editors. When choosing the chief editor, the publisher shall firstly listen to the opinions of the representatives of the editors. Since the chief editor needs the special trust of editors, the chief editor cannot be appointed or dismissed without the consent from the most of editor representatives. The United States also adopts the internal press freedom system. 39 states have expressly provided the internal press freedom in law, while another 11 states admit the certain autonomy of newspaper employees though no explicit regulation is formulated. In the West, in addition to private press enterprises, the employees of government-owned media also embrace certain autonomy. However, there is no concept of internal press freedom in China. Since the news media are all state-owned assets operated by the state, the autonomy that the news media internally enjoy is extremely limited. It is a convention of China to fix the aim and policies of media through legislation and ethical norms (such as setting the policy of serving the people and serving socialism). However, nowadays, the media are proposing increasingly intensified requirements on the autonomy. According to the slogan of system reform of “external liberalization and internal invigorating” put forward since the Reform and Opening up, the “internal invigorating” here covers the operation and management right as well as the power to decide what to report and how to report. In 1986, the Seminar of Chief Editors of Provincial Newspapers once proposed the requirement on entrusting the chief editor with the right to choose contributions, but the requirement was denied soon. This requirement has been proposed again with the advent of the 1990s. In the areas and media exposed to smooth progress of journalistic reform, the chief editor has basically acquired the final right to select the contributions and the main editors (such as column or special edition chief editors) also have certain selection right, except for a few important contributions and editorials. Therefore, despite no concept of internal press freedom in China, the internal autonomy of media is constantly growing along with the deepening of the political system reform and journalistic reform in China.

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3   Comparison Between Journalism and Communication Ethics in China and the West The journalism and communication ethics refer to the principles of journalistic morality, code of journalistic morals and code of conduct on communication that the journalistic practitioners must observe which is formulated by the journalism and communication circle or issued by the press administration and recognized by the journalism and communication circle. The journalism and communication ethics mainly undertake social functions to supervise the professional behaviors of journalistic practitioners and urge them to voluntarily implement self-control relying on the strength of moral constraints and social public opinion, in addition to the mandatory regulation on journalism and communication activities by means of law. By integrating the news legal system and journalistic ethics, i.e. combining the journalistic heteronomy and journalistic self-discipline, it not only improves the efficiency of the news legal system, but also achieves the optimum result of social regulation on journalism and communication. The news legal system is a hard measure of social regulation, while the journalistic ethics constitute an indispensable soft measure of social regulation. 3.1   Journalism and Communication Ethics and Journalistic Selfdiscipline in the United States 3.1.1 Sprouting of Journalistic Self-discipline in the United States American cheap newspapers prospered in the 1850s, represented by The Sun run by Benjamin Day and New York Herald founded by James Gordon Bennet. In 1851, Henry Raymond created the New York Times. The New York Times was also a cheap newspaper, but, distinguished from other cheap newspapers, it did not cater to a vulgar taste or attract readers with sensationalism. Henry Raymond was determined to defeat other newspapers relying on exaggeration of crime news with his pure and simple principles of running a newspaper. When Adolph Ochs took over the New York Times in 1896, its sales volume had dropped from 20,000 per day right after its founding to 9000 per day. However, Adolph Ochs adhered to what Henry Raymond insisted on. In the late nineteenth century when the yellow news dominated the market, Adolph Ochs had risen superior to the wave of yellow news set off by The World and New York Daily and persisted in fighting against yellow news with lofty news policies, independent and fair comments and correct and concrete news materials. Adolph Ochs laid special emphasis on “appropriateness” and refused to publish anything he believed inappropriate. Therefore, since October 25, 1896, the New York Times had published its famous newspaper motto: “Publish all appropriate news” on its editorial page, which was moved to the headline of the first page of the newspaper.

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In this wave of yellow news in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the New York Times had performed as a mainstay of the newspaper industry and finally won the favor and respect of readers, and its circulation had risen to over 80,000. By persisting in fighting the yellow news, the New York Times had become the pioneer of journalistic self-discipline among American newspapers. In the early twentieth century, Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of The World, became retired of the popular yellow news and quitted the competition with William Randolph Hearst. In 1903, he invested heavily on founding a journalism school at Columbia University. His famous remark has been inscribed on the pedestal of the bronze statue of Joseph Pulitzer erected in front of the School of Journalism of Columbia University: Our state and our newspaper industry are bound together in a common cause. The newspaper industry must be capable, selfless, well-educated, rational and courageous to defend the truth, thus to safeguard social morality. Otherwise, the government selected by the people will enjoy undeserved fame. The abuse, sensationalism, hypocrisy and peremptoriness of the newspaper will lead to the decline of both the state and the newspaper industry. The future of the state is decided by the journalists.8

It indicated that as early as in the early twentieth century, the farsighted newspapermen started to realize the importance of journalistic self-discipline. 3.1.2 Journalistic Self-discipline Organizations in the United States The American Society of Newspaper Editors was founded in 1922. Initially, only the daily newspaper editors in the city with a population above 100,000 were admitted to this Society, but now the most newspapers in the United States have jointed it. The Journalism Regulations approved in the annual conference of the Society in 1923 had been regarded as the common moral standards of American press for quite a long time. However, this Society is not a pure journalistic self-discipline organization. The journalistic self-discipline organizations had not yet been developed in the United States by then for two reasons. Firstly, the American newspapermen objected to any interference according to the theory of press freedom. Secondly, it was not very realistic to build a nationwide newspaper appraisal council on the vast land of the United States. Therefore, distinguished from other countries, America had not established any newspaper self-discipline organization such as the newspaper appraisal council. This situation only changed until the 1960s.

8 Li

Zhan, Journalism, 12th edition, Page 196–197, Taipei, San Min Book, 1994.

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In 1963, Barry Bingham, the publisher of Louisville Courier Journal and Louisville Times in Kentucky, suggested founding the local news appraisal council, which had drawn wide attention. In 1967, the Milett Foundation established by the American Newspaper Guild sponsored the construction of two experimental newspaper appraisal councils, respectively, in two small cities, Cairo and Spartanburg in the south of Illinois. Though they were only experimental organizations, they were an important milestone on the road of establishment of newspaper appraisal council. 3.1.3 Code of Journalistic Morals in the United States In 1911, Doctor Walter William, a professor of the Missouri School of Journalism, formulated the Codes for Journalists, which mainly held that the news reports should be authentic, correct and fair, be independent from the influence of prejudice of others and never evade their responsibilities due to for coercion or interest. The Journalism Regulations complied by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1923 exerted an ever greater influence and has been considered as the commencement of the consciousness of social responsibilities among the collective of American newspapermen as well as the common moral standards of American press for quite a long time. It mainly consisted of seven articles, including: 1. Responsibility. Every newspaper worker shall bear the sense of responsibility. Any journalist who makes use of his power to achieve any selfish or base goal fails this lofty career. 2. Freedom of press. Defend the freedom of press as an extremely important right of mankind. 3. Independence. The newspaper is only loyal to the public interest and bears no other obligation. This is a crucial point. 4. Honesty, authenticity, accuracy. Being loyal to readers constitutes the foundation of all newspapers. 5. Justice and impartiality. Separate the news report from the articles presenting opinions. The news report shall not contain the opinion of anyone or any prejudice. 6. Fair treatment of all parties. The newspaper shall not publish an unofficial charge that may damage a person’s reputation or moral quality without giving an opportunity for the accused to defend himself. The correct way is to give such an opportunity to the accused for any serious accusation outside the judicial procedure: a. The newspaper shall not infringe private rights or emotions, unless guaranteeing the newspaper is doing so for the public rights but not for the curiosity of the public.

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b. The newspaper bears the right and the obligation to fundamentally correct any serious factual mistake or opinion mistake, regardless of the origin of the mistake. 7. Integrity. A newspaper will be considered as dishonest if it talks about the lofty purpose but encourages despicable behaviors, such as describing a crime or an immoral behavior in details. The publishing of details of the crime apparently does no good to the public. The Society of Professional Journalists also formulated the Moral Regulations in 1943, which mainly contained the follows: 1. The primary responsibility of journalists is to report the correct and impartial fact to the public. 2. The journalist shall understand that everyone is equal before the law. Therefore, the news report shall be correct and fair, independent from the influence by the political, economic, social, racial and religious prejudice. 3. When reporting a piece of news on crime, the journalist shall treat the criminal suspect as innocent before he is convicted. The writing of the crime news shall not lead to any misunderstanding or prejudice of readers. 4. The news about any individual or group with a special association with the newspaper shall be published as well. 5. The journalist shall keep confidential for any secret. 6. News shall be all processed by the news department not by the operation department. 7. The journalist shall behave decently during the interview to present the independence and dignity, and shall not behave in a way that leaves a flattering and profit-oriented impression to the interviewee. In 1973, the Society of Professional Journalists approved a moral standard, sharing the similar spirit with the Journalism Regulations approved by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1923. However, the latter one was formulated mainly for the newspaper work, while the former targeted the codes of journalistic morals of all media, which included the following content: 1. Responsibility: The public is entitled to know the event that is of great significance to them. Therefore, the primary mission of the mass communication tool is to realize the right of the public. 2. Freedom of press: Defend the freedom of press as an essential right of the people in the free society. 3. Moral principles: The journalist only bears the obligation for people’s right to know and does not bear any obligation for other interests.

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4.  Accuracy and Objectivity: Being loyal to the public constitutes the foundation of all newspapers. 5. Fair treatment of all parties. 3.2   Journalism and Communication Ethics and Journalistic Self-discipline in Germany The moral constraints on journalistic practitioners are mainly imposed through the German Press and Publishing Commission and its activities. 3.2.1 German Press and Publishing Commission To escape from the state supervision and responsibly exercise the right in the freedom of press, German press established an organization, the German Press and Publishing Commission founded in the Federal Germany in 1956. This is a voluntary organization laying emphasis on journalistic self-discipline and construction of journalistic ethics. Its staff include: 1. 10 journalists nominated by German Journalists Association and Media Trade Union; 2.  And 10 publishers designated by the German Newspaper Publisher Group and German Magazine Publisher Federation. Anyone may turn to this Commission for help. Free from state interference, this Commission undertakes following missions: 1. Point out the defects of the press and put great efforts to eliminate these defects; 2. Review the public complaint against each newspaper and criticize the newspaper if the complaint is proved to be true; 3. Report the changes to the organizational structure of the press and prohibit any phenomenon that impedes the free information exchange among the citizen and the independent formation of public opinion; 4. Propose suggestions on journalistic issues to the lawmaker, government and public and present its position. The German Press and Publishing Commission does not force others to think highly of its decisions but exerts its influence as people voluntarily accept its measures. The significance of these decisions depends on the prestige of the Commission, and the Commission is also trying to build its prestige based on its work. One of the missions of the Commission is to criticize the defects of the press. The German Press and Publishing Commission declares its position against the laws and regulations made as the press is involved in many of its decisions; condemns the mixing of the report and the advertisement; drafts

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resolutions on opposing corrupt practices such as inviting guests and giving them gifts; submits the reports on the conditions of merger in German press; and declares that the following behavior is prohibited, “The press member is entrusted by secret police to provide information.” The Commission also sets the journalism rules on the press and stipulates that the press shall work in the following way: 1. It is the supreme standard of the press to respect the truth and make factual reports to the public. 2. When it is necessary, carefully examine the authenticity of any information or message that is published through a form of text or picture. Do not distort the original meaning during the processing, titling and picture explanation of the contribution. The quotation of literature shall be consistent with the original text. Any information, hearsay or conjecture that has not been proved shall be clearly noted. When publishing symbolic pictures, clarify that these pictures are not used as evidence pictures. 3. Never adopt dishonest means to gather messages, information materials or pictures. 4. Considering the responsibility of the press for the public, the publications of the editorial department shall rise superior to the influence by private interests or commercial interests of outsiders. The publisher and editors shall prevent the above influence and clearly separate the articles of the editorial department from the publication with an advertising purpose. The text, pictures and symbols of advertisements shall be marked as advertising. 5. The journalistic undertaking shall respect people’s private life and privacy. However, when the personal behavior involves public interests, it can be introduced to the news for discussion. Protect the personal rights of any party not concerned in this matter from any damage by the publication. 6. Any text of picture publication that hurts certain groups morally or emotionally no matter in terms of the form or the content is deviated from the responsibilities of the press. 7. Never discriminate anyone for the gender, ethnic group, race, religion or social or national cause. 8. The report on an outstanding investigation or trial shall discard the prejudice. Therefore, the press shall avoid being one-sided or prejudiced by first impressions in the text or title before or during the court trial. A suspect shall not be assumed guilty before the judgment of the court. The report on juvenile crimes shall try not to mention the name of or publish identifiable picture of the juveniles considering their future, as long as it is not a serious crime. Without a significant and justified reason, do not publish a report before the official judgment by the court.

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3.2.2 Examples of the Complaints Dealt with by the German Press and Publishing Commission In daily life, the Complaint Acceptance Team of the German Press and Publishing Commission mainly punishes the behaviors violating “journalistic rules.” For example: A female journalist of a satirical magazine Titan claimed that she had an induced abortion, so she “turned to” the priest for help and published the talk between the priest and her on the magazine; Hellsfeld Newspaper described the local performance of a woman artist as: “In the Goebbels age……people might spank her on her bare buttock and ask her to sleep in hunger” (This description might connect the sex with Fascist violence); Alguel Advertisement reported the investigation process of a criminal lawsuit under the title of “Officers Bully Apprentices,” but the article failed to point out which were the suspected facts and which were hard facts; Bild reported a police manhunt under the title of “Wolfrashausen’s Death Shooter, Who Comes, Has a Look and Shoots.” In this manhunt, a young man was shot to death by the police. Since the investigation of this case had not been completed, the complaint team believed that this title was a pre-judgment on a public officer which was not allowed; Westfalen Blatt put the members of the minority nationality on a par with the criminal in an article about the people applying for asylum and the members of the refuge. The article stated: “What happened to the people applying for asylum……If something happens, those people who throw pebbles have been thrown back in the last one week. The Romanian beat the Albanian soundly, or the opposite, or the Serb fight against the Croatian or the Bosnian…..You can find anything that you can find at a criminal’s……”The complaint reception team of the Commission held that these general and indiscriminate appellations of the minority nationality had violated the “journalistic rules.” Most newspapers and magazines voluntarily accept the criticisms by this self-supervision organization. However, the critics believe that the Commission is essentially “a lion without teeth,” because it has no real power. They doubt about the role of the Commission. In their opinions, relevant provisions of laws have provided enough regulations on preventing the abuse of the freedom of press. 3.3   Journalism and Communication Ethics and Journalistic Self-discipline in Japan 3.3.1 Code of Ethics for Journalism in Japan Before the World War II, very few people of Japanese press had been aware of the necessity of journalistic moralization, but the moral movement involving

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the whole press had not been formed due to their small voice. This was mainly because the press was subject to the shackles of a series of speech regulations at that time and had no spare energy to consider about autonomy and restriction, etc. After the World War II, Japanese press got the freedom. The Constitution of Japan formulated at that time also protected the freedom of speech, publication and all other forms of expression. Meanwhile, the restriction on abuse of press freedom was also proposed. Therefore, the press had to fully understand the boundary between rights and obligations and attempted to achieve self-discipline without crossing the boundary. Moreover, the occupation authority put forward to develop American-style “free and responsible” journalistic undertaking in Japan and hoped the Japanese press to establish an independent associated agency to regulate on journalistic morality. Under these circumstances, Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association was established on July 23, 1946. On the day of its founding, the News Moral Program that all members of the Association should comply with was approved. This Program was amended on May 15, 1955. Its main content included: the press freedom; the limitation of reports and comments; the attitude of comments: justice; tolerance; guidance, responsibility and honor; and quality. Covering these seven aspects, the Program had formulated the self-discipline rules on the interview report, respect the interviewee and other people and the accompanying interview, late-night interview, juvenile crime and abduction, etc. In regard to the sale of the newspaper, Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association formulated the Program for Newspaper Sale on December 16, 1954. In December 1955, Japan Fair Trade Commission also issued the Law on the Unfair Trade of Newspapers. These measures placed restrictions on the unfair competition among newspapers, such as the free supplement, accessory gifts and adding pages randomly. However, as a matter of fact, these unfair trades have been always existing without interruption. As to advertisements, the Main Principles of Purification of Newspaper Advertising had been approved as early as in 1947. It had been replaced by the Moral Program of Newspaper Advertising in 1958. Later, based on the changes of consumers’ opinions and advertisements, the Moral Program of Newspaper Advertising had been exposed to comprehensive revision in May 1976. Moreover, the Guidelines for the Publication of Newspaper Advertisements had been drawn up, which stipulated: purify the content of advertisement; do not infringe the freedom of press and report; do not damage the reputation of others; do not publish the false advertisement; and do not harm social morality and customs, etc. It shall be noted that, in the view of Japanese press, it not only embraces the freedom to approach to the information source, acquire news information, report and comment on the fact and speak for the people, but also adheres to keeping confidential for the news source as the supreme principle and sticks to this professional ethics even if it will be punished by law. Theoretically, the Japanese press refuse to admit the restriction of the

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provision on keeping confidential for state secrets on the press freedom. Therefore, the press and the state power often run into conflicts in practices. Generally speaking, while Japanese press is putting great efforts to protect is freedom of press, it is also forced to meet or voluntarily meets the demands of the capitalist system, avoids any conflict with the national laws and even aligns its words and deeds with the regulations. For this purpose, many organizations of the press have formulated their own “programs,” “standards,” “outlines” and “agreements,” etc., to coordinate their own journalistic behaviors. The Japanese refer to them as the “independent regulations” and regard them as a manifestation of press freedom. 3.3.2 Journalistic Ethics Appraisal Organization in Japan In the capitalist society, Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association essentially plays as a buffer organization between the news unit and the government as well as among different news units. Meanwhile, the Association is also a self-discipline appraisal organization of the press. This Association has been playing a great part in journalistic undertakings and activities after the World War II. It declares the attitude of the press or coordinates the relationships among different news units by presenting the “unified view,” “countermeasures” or “opinions.” Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association has set up the Review Office under the Affairs Bureau, which exerts strict review on member newspapers (certainly also paying attention to non-member newspapers) in accordance with the moral programs and general laws. If any inappropriate content is found in member newspapers, the Office will submit a report to the editor’s committee or the council of the Association to decide on corresponding measures through negotiation; or the relevant member unit will be warned, criticized by a public notice or withdrawn from the organization. By now, the members of the Association include not only newspapers, but also news agencies, NHK and major non-government radio and TV stations. The “Program” has become the standards for the words and deeds of all workers in the press. For this purpose, many news organizations have set up the internal review department. Reviews shall focus on the correctness and quality of the report and meanwhile consider about the human rights, etc. The results will be fed back to the front line through the directors’ meeting held every day or the daily or weekly report, so as to achieve instant results. 3.4   Journalism and Communication Ethics and Journalistic Self-discipline in China 3.4.1 Review on the Construction of Journalism and Communication Ethics in China Chinese journalistic workers were earlier than the general public to attach importance to the construction of journalists’ moral quality and professional

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ethics. According to a famous saying of Shao Piaoping, a newspaperman in the period of the Republic of China, “character is the primary factor.” He stated in his Applied Journalism: The diplomatic journalists utilize their interpersonal skills to communicate with important figures from all circles. They may be highly honored by society, but also may easily degenerate. This is because they are holding great power and are surrounded by all kinds of tempts. At their positions, a false step may cause a lifelong regret. Therefore, character is the primary factor contributing to the spiritual strength of diplomatic journalists. The character here includes personality, integrity, justice, courage, honesty, diligence, tolerance and all other morals that the journalist shall comply with. Neither riches nor honors can corrupt him; neither poverty nor humbleness can make him swerve from principle; and neither threats nor forces can subdue him; and no matter what happens, he will always stick to his ideal. These are essential qualities of diplomatic journalists.9

With the advent of modern newspaper in China, moved by the significant role of the journalism and communication, the practitioners started to discuss the significance of professional morals consciously or unconsciously and explained several ideas of journalistic ethics. Early newspapermen had made their discourses about it. According to Wang Tao, the journalist should be “fair” when recording a fact and shall be “impartial when expressing opinions.” Zheng Guanying said: “The journalist shall pay only attention to the truth of the world and show no interest in personal benefits, so he will reject any gift or bribery. If any journalist confuses truth and falsehood for personal interests and disturb people’s thoughts, the people shall appeal to local authority for punishment on such a journalist.” Liang Qichao pointed out: “The journalist shall be impartial to either party when writing comments…… and shall focus on correctness when recording a fact. Any hearsay without proof shall not be recorded. In case of any error of the report, it must be corrected. Meanwhile, the report shall be direct and shall conceal nothing for the matter related to the overall situation. Also, the journalist must be upright and never attack others for personal interest, belittle others or take revenge on others. These are the universal moral requirements of all newspapers.”10 Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, higher requirements have been proposed on the professional morals of the journalistic workers in new China. With love for their profession, journalists are regarded as the “social activist,” “untiring explorer,” “fair social judge” and “professional investigator and researcher.” The discourses of Marxist classic writers on the basic qualities of journalistic workers have become the motto of the 9 Yu

Jiahong, Ning Shupan, Xu Peiting, Tan Qitai, Journalistic Archives, 1st edition, Page 388, Beijing, China Press, 1987. 10 Journalism History Research Office of Fudan Journalism School, Collected Works of Chinese Journalism History, 1st edition, Page 66–67, Shanghai, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1987.

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journalists. As pointed out by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the workers of the Party newspaper or periodical shall not only present general political qualities such as firmness, courage and honesty, but also embrace wisdom, clear and definite thinking, good style and rich knowledge.11 As required by Vladimir Lenin, the daily propaganda and publicity shall all direct to the real Communism. The official newspapers and periodicals controlled by the Party shall be presided over by a reliable Communist definitely loyal to proletarian revolutionary cause. Mao Zedong emphasized that the fundamental issue for the operation of the newspaper should be the revolutionary thoughts of the newspaper workers and the principles for politicians to run newspapers should be applied here. The journalistic ethics in China have been presented to the public as a form of “creed,” “standard” and “norm,” which provide regulations for the journalistic workers to abide by under the supervision by the masses. After the founding of new China, the Party and the government had proposed requirements on the moral qualities of journalistic workers for several times, but no complete code of professional morality had been formulated. In 1981, the News Bureau of the Propaganda Department under the Central Committee of the CPC and the central news unit jointly drew up the Codes for Journalists (trial draft), which was the first code of journalistic ethics in China in virtue of the deepening of the Reform and Opening up. On January 19, 1991, the First Plenary Meeting of the Fourth Council of All-China Journalists Association approved the Code of Professional Ethics for Chinese Journalists, which was the first complete and comprehensive code of professional ethics for journalism. Based on the changes of situation and practical demands, it was further amended in April 1994 and January 1997. 3.4.2 Code of Ethics for Journalism in China At present, the major code of journalistic ethics in China is the Code of Professional Ethics for Chinese Journalists. This Code provides that Chinese journalistic undertaking constitutes an important part of the socialist undertakings with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The journalistic workers shall adapt to the demands of situation development, study hard on Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, firmly adhered to implementing the basic line and principles of the Party, persevere in arming the people with scientific theories, guide them with correct public opinions, shape their outlook with noble ideas, inspire them with good cultural works, firmly master the correct direction of public opinion, serve the people, serve socialism, serve the general situation of the whole Party and country and strive hard to promote the construction of socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization and achieve the great goal of socialist modernization in China. The Code 11 Collected

Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Page 304, Vol. 4, Chinese 1st edition, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1958.

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emphasizes it is of great significance for giving full play to the guiding role of news public opinion, building a journalistic team with strong politics, excellent business capability, strict discipline and positive working style and guaranteeing the healthy development of journalistic undertakings to inherit and carry forward the good traditions of the Party’s journalistic work, construct favorable professional morals and safeguard the seriousness and reputation of journalism. Every journalistic worker with the ideal, ambition, integrity and professionalism will set up basic requirements on their own, including establishing a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values and voluntarily abiding by journalistic ethics. The Code provides the regulations and requirements on professional ethics from six aspects: 1. Serve the people wholeheartedly Serving the people is the core of socialist moral construction, the concentrated reflection of socialist morals and the fundamental aim of Chinese journalism. Under the leadership of the Party, journalistic workers shall play a role as the link between the Party and government and the masses and adhere to the consistency of responsibility for the Party, the state and the masses. Put great efforts to deliver the principles and policies of the Party and government to the masses in a timely, accurate and extensive manner, provide information necessary for the masses to participate in political, economic, cultural and social life and understand the world, passionately propaganda their great creations and devotions in the socialist construction and accurately reflect their wishes, appeals and justified requirements. Support the correct ideas and behaviors that are consistent with the people’s interests, be brave in criticizing and disclosing any wrong word or deed or corruption in violation against the people’s interest and positively and correctly play a role in supervising the public opinion. Firmly establish the mass viewpoint, do mass work well with enthusiasm, maintain close ties with the masses, attach importance to the contributions provided by the masses, properly deal with the suggestions, criticisms, complaints and offense reports from the masses in a form of letter or direct visit, and organize various activities that serve the masses. 2. Adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion The journalistic workers shall strengthen their political consciousness, overall situation consciousness and responsibility consciousness and adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion. The news report shall carry forward the main theme of patriotism, collectivism and socialism and mobilize and unite the people of all nationalities to devote themselves to the great cause of the construction of motherland and revitalization of China. Uphold unity and encourage stability, adhere to the policy of giving precedence to positive

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propaganda, create the public opinion that is favorable for promoting the Reform and Opening up, building the socialist market economy system and developing social productivity, the public opinion favorable for strengthening the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and construction of democratic legal system, the public opinion favorable for inspiring and encouraging the people to work hard and be a pioneer in innovation for the sake of state prosperity, people’s happiness and social progress, the public opinion favorable for promoting the people to distinguish right from wrong, supporting the true, the good and the beautiful and suppressing the false, the evil and the ugly, and the public opinion favorable for state unification, national unity, people’s happiness and social and political stability. The news report shall not propaganda pornography, murder, violence, ignorance, superstition and other content of low quality that harms people’s physical and psychological health. 3. Abide by the Constitution, laws and disciplines The journalistic workers shall behave within the scope permitted by the Constitution and laws and voluntarily abide by the Constitution, laws and propaganda disciplines. Adhere to promoting and implementing the theories, lines, principles and policies of the Party. Do not utilize the public opinion tool under control to propaganda any content deviated from the decision of the central government. Safeguard the civil rights stipulated by the Constitution, do not disclose the privacy of others, do not slander others, acquire information through legitimate and fair measures and respect the statement and justified requirements of the interviewee. Protect the dignity of judiciary. Do not publish any report that confirms on the crime or discusses the case before the court brings in a verdict for the case tried by the judicial department and shall follow the judicial procedure to report any case heard in public. Strictly observe and correctly promote the national policies and religious policies of the government and firmly safeguard the national unity and the stable politics. Keep confidential for the secrets of the State and the country and voluntarily safeguard the interests and security of the country. 4. Safeguard the authenticity of news Truth is the life of news. Journalistic workers shall persevere in the principle of seeking truth from facts, go deep into the grassroots level, the reality and the masses, strengthens investigation and research, report the fact, tell the truth, not resort to deceit and not fabricate or distort the fact to achieve a sensational effect. Analyze an issue from an all-sided way, prevent any subjective or one-sided report and seek the general and substantial truth of a thing.

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Gather, edit and publish news objectively and fairly. Do not seek personal interests or small-group interests, vent personal spite with public opinion as a tool or make unjust reports. Be careful and responsible to avoid any false report. In case of any false report, the journalistic worker shall take the initiative to bear the responsibilities and correct the error timely. 5. Keep to a clean and honest style of work The journalistic worker shall keep to a clean and honest style of work, repress the erosion by money worship, hedonism and individualism, resolutely oppose to the malpractices such as the “paid news” and create the new atmosphere of the industry. The journalistic worker shall not demand, accept or borrow the money, assets, securities and credit cards, etc., of the interviewee; shall not demand or accept the gift money in any form when attending different meetings and activities; shall not earn remuneration by concurrently working in any enterprise or government-affiliated institution; shall not form groups to conduct interview; and shall not use the position to seek personal gains. The news report shall be strictly separated from the operation activities. The news unit shall not make advertisement in a form of news; and shall not assign a mission of “income” to the editing department. The journalist and editor shall not be engaged in advertisement or other operation activities. Adhere to integrity and self-discipline and advocate the style of diligence and frugality. The journalist shall not propose any special requirement on personal life to the interview area or the unit. The journalist shall voluntarily abide by the financial discipline and system and shall not hanker after vainglory, keep up with the Joneses or squander public funds. 6. Carry forward the team spirit One major advantage of socialist journalism lies in the great solidarity and cooperation. An equal, united, friendly and interdependent relation shall be constructed among the peers in the press. We advocate learning from and supporting each other while carrying out healthy business competition. Respect the copyright of peers and other authors and oppose copying or plagiarizing others works. Safeguard the dignity of the motherland and the dignity of Chinese journalists during the communication with the foreign press. 3.5   Brief Comparison Between Journalism and Communication Ethics in China and the West Journalism emerged as a new social profession in the West approximately 200 years earlier than in China, so the journalism self-discipline developed

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in the West earlier than in China. In 1874, in view of the internal corruption of and external attack on the press, the Swedish Public Opinion Association (also known as the Publisher Club, later renamed as the Publisher Association) had formulated the working standards of journalism, which was the earliest document on journalism self-discipline. In 1914, the Swiss Press Association adopted a resolution to provide the code of ethics for journalism. In 1908, famous scholar Walter Williams founded the first journalism school in the whole United States, the Missouri School of Journalism, and he adhered to the moral education of students as one of his school missions. For this purpose, he formulated the Codes for Journalists in 1911, which consisted of eight articles and provided the conduct standards for journalists, this sacred profession. In 1923, the American Society of Newspaper Editors passed the Journalism Regulations written by Richard Wright, the founder of New York Global, in the annual conference of the Society, which covered seven parts, the accountability, press freedom, independence, credit, impartiality, integrity and dignity. In 1934, American Journalists’ Guild approved the Moral Regulations that comprised two resolutions and emphasized the journalists’ social responsibilities. In 1954, the International Convention on Journalistic Ethics drafted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council was issued to the journalist associations of all member countries by the General Assembly of the United Nations. In the same year, the International Federation of Journalists approved the Declaration on Principles of Journalists’ Conduct. These two international codes of professional self-discipline explicitly provide the moral obligations of journalistic workers. Despite the certain role of above moral codes in the behaviors and writings of journalists, they cannot stop the decline of journalistic ethics in the West. The journalistic self-discipline is useless compared to the complete and powerful law heteronomy. In addition to the stress on the construction of the moral codes for journalism, the news review system also rose in the West. In this system, the renowned representatives from the press, the legal profession and other walks of society make up the review panel, conduct civilian review on controversial journalism and communication behaviors according to the code of ethics for journalism and assure that the press performs its due social responsibilities and moral obligations. This is an evolved form of journalistic s­elf-discipline. The news review organizations firstly prospered and succeeded in the United Kingdom and later Western countries followed the example and further developed this system. The review panel meeting is also known as the press honor court, press moral court and press ethics committee, etc. There have been only a few achievements on the theoretical study of journalism ethics in the West. Two factors contribute to this situation: firstly, journalists in the West paid more attention to practical work; and secondly, the journalists’ ethical qualities have been declining. Either the Obligation Theory constructed on the basis of German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theories or the Goal Theory represented by British scholar John Mill had failed to reach an ideal theory. Later, a professor from Harvard University

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of the United States proposed a “Potter Box” theory, which constructed the journalistic ethics from four perspectives, the scenery, values, principles and loyalty, but could not improve the Western journalistic ethics theoretically and practically or raise the scientific level of the studies of the journalism ethics. Due to the fierce business competition among Western news media and the low personal quality of some journalistic workers, the professional ethics are exposed to numerous issues in the West, such as using unscrupulous divisive tactics to grabbing news, fabricating false reports, inducing crimes, news slander, invasion of privacy and interference with justice, etc. The moral self-discipline issue can hardly be solved in the Western press. The journalistic self-discipline had been paid attention to right after the emergence of the modern press in China. Scholars were very enthusiastic about the construction of journalistic ethics, and many works about journalism studies had opened a special chapter for journalistic ethics or self-discipline. After the founding of new China, the Party and the government required that the journalistic workers should serve the people wholeheartedly with their pens. Many documents of the Party and the government explicitly provided the honorable tasks and moral obligations of journalistic workers. Journalists in China carried out professional self-discipline consciously following strict requirements. Despite the extremely difficult material conditions and the movements and even political persecutions launched by the ultra-Leftists, dozens of thousands of journalists had borne disgrace and heavy burdens, pushed aside all obstacles and difficulties, completed the tasks of propaganda reports excellently and spared no effort to serve the people. Under these circumstances, the professional moral standards of Chinese journalists had been raised to a high level. It was after 1981 when the journalism professional ethics were regulated systematically in forms of “codes,” “rules,” “regulations” and “ordinances.” Though China was later than the West in the regulation construction, these regulations have soon become the common will and conscious actions of over 500 thousand journalistic workers in virtue of the vigorous promotion by the Party and the government and general recognition by journalists. The start of the studies on journalism ethics was not late in China, but only a few specialized works discussing it. Except the Taiwan area, the first special work on journalism ethics was only published in September 1995 (Zhou Hongshu, Outline of the Ethics for Journalism). Since then, another two books about ethics have been published and several postgraduates’ theses on this topic are in progress. In recent years, professional ethnics of journalism in China have been exposed to some new issues, including the false reports and, more seriously, the paid news (“dollar news”). The central government and the press attach much importance to these issues, hold national telephone or television conference discussing these issues every year and organize all the media to apply

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resolute measures to avoid the occurrence of the issues. The phenomena of paid news have been reduced in some media recently, but some are using more cunning and covert measures. It takes our arduous efforts to correctly establish the new values and professional ethics for journalism during the course of the construction of the new socialist market economy system in China. By comparing the historical process and experiences of journalism and communication ethics and journalistic self-discipline in China and the West, the following brief conclusions can be reached: Firstly, the codes for journalism and communication ethics in China and the West were constructed under different political and economic backgrounds, so different manifestations of moral imbalance were seen in China and the West. In the West, the news media is regarded as the fourth power independent from the legislative, judicial and administrative power, while the news media in China has been the propaganda tool of the Party and the government. Therefore, as Western journalists are mainly responsible for the media owners, their moral imbalance is manifested as the behaviors of the media or the organization. In China, the news media is responsible for the Party and the government. Based on the correct governing behaviors and moral standards of the Party and the government, if the news media stick to the same moral standards with the Party and the government, they will be correct in most communication behaviors to a great extent. In this case, the moral imbalance of journalists is mainly their personal behaviors, i.e. personal faults and moral deficiency of individuals who violate the moral norms of the press for personal interests. Secondly, the serious moral imbalance of journalism and communication is a product of the prosperous commodity economy, particularly after the press steps from the free development to the monopoly operation period. The phenomena of moral imbalance of news media have extensively emerged in the monopoly period both in China and the West, but the temporal density and the degree of moral imbalance of news vary in China and the West. After developing from the free competition to the monopoly and merger period, Western news media started to cook up false reports to arouse “sensation,” attract readers with yellow news and promote their media commodities with sensationalism, in order to seize the market and compete with opponents. In this case, though these media have acquired some market shares, their social images have been injured, so they are gradually replaced by third-rate tabloids. Therefore, the mainstream journalistic culture in Western society is still developing in a healthy and prosperous manner. After the transformation of Chinese news media from the planned economy to the market economy, the moral decline that occurred in Western news media about a century ago starts to rise in China. It is no surprising to see these issues, but it is

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necessary to issue the control measures as soon as possible thus to solve the moral imbalance that took decades for Western media to overcome within a relatively short period. Thirdly, despite the similarities of the false news, paid news and sensational reports of news media in China and the West due to journalistic moral imbalance, the specific reasons and manifestations show significant differences. With false news as an example, the false news in Western media is intentionally fabricated for the sake of the interests of the media, which is a behavior of the whole organization; but in China, the false news is cooked up by individual reporters who collect fees from others to cheat the public and the media. As to the paid news, Western media often pay money to the news roles to take the “exclusive news,” which is called the “chequebook news”; but in China, the news media often trade the page and program time for money from the news roles. Therefore, we shall apply effective measures targeting the specific causes and manifestations of journalistic moral imbalance of Chinese media, to practically solve these questions fundamentally and achieve the moral standards of journalism. In conclusion, lessons can be drawn from the previous moral imbalance of news media in the West. We shall learn from the rich experiences of Western news media in the market economy, put great efforts to avoid the moral imbalance phenomena that have shown up in the market operation of Western news media and attempt to take the successful road of news media marketization with Chinese characteristics and advantages.

CHAPTER 6

Practice Views of Chinese and Western Journalism and Communication

We do not debate a lot to counter our enemy. More often, we just faithfully report the facts of our revolutionary work. ——Mao Zedong Journalists need a natural discernment to judge what is important and what is not. The so-called news nose, though seemed to be a kind of nature, is not true. It has something to do with intelligence, but like other talents, it needs to be accentuated by reasoning and cultivated with experience. ——Casper Yost

Journalism and communication is a regular flow of information. Its process includes a series of interrelated segments with news disseminators, news media, news receivers featuring the most basic and indispensable main parts. The news disseminators continuously transmit news information to news receivers through news media, which constitutes the simplest process of news dissemination. In the transmission, news disseminators are the initial and most active behavioral subject. This chapter mainly examines the similarities and differences of Chinese and Western news practices from the perspective of news disseminators. News practice is featured by the professional affairs undertaken by journalists to advance news dissemination. From the characteristics of the occupation, journalists are engaged in outer work, while editors involve internal work. From the newspaper industry, the professional affairs can be divided into interviewing, writing, editing and commenting on news. From the angle of radio and television, besides the four tasks above, there are also program hosting and broadcasting, etc. In addition, absorbing and organizing advertising is also an important task in news practice.

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According to the journalism cosmology of materialistic theory, news facts are the origin of news. Without facts, there is no basis for news, and there is no object in communication. Therefore, the search for news sources and the measurement of the collected facts have become the primary research subject on news processing in Chinese and Western journalism and communication. News commentary, especially the editorial hailed as the “flag” of the news media, is the soul of every news media. Thus, the emphasis on news commentary, especially editorial, has also become a significant research topic in the practice of Chinese and Western news practices. Layout and programming are a silent language. From news disseminators to every journalist, they express their special stances, opinions and feelings through special layouts and programming. Hence, the programming turns out to be another topic in the comparison of Chinese and Western journalism and communication practices. The last topic to be valued and studied is advertising. Advertising revenue features the blood of modern news media. Chinese and Western journalism and communication share the common ground in loving advertising and elaborating on it. However, there are many different ideas and methods in specific practices. The above four aspects: news, commentary, programming and advertising are the main research contents of this chapter.

1  Similarities and Differences Between Chinese and Western News Sources and Processing News dissemination employers and employees in both Chinese and Western countries attach great importance to the status of news in the media. American scholars claim that news is the heart of the newspaper. Chinese scholars emphasize that news is the key role of newspapers. The news resource is a prerequisite for ensuring the quantity and quality of news, and successful processing of the news makes it possible that the value of news is assured and enlarged. It is precisely in these two aspects that there are plenty of useful explorations and profound expositions from Chinese and Western news practice circles and journalistic academic communities. 1.1   Attitude of Chinese and Western News Media Toward News Source News source can be defined by both broad and narrow meanings. In terms of the narrow meaning, a news source refers to the provider of the latest facts. It can be a government, a political party, a group, a company or its spokesperson. It also can be a qualified and authoritative person, or it can the subject or the witness of the incident. In the case of reporters interviewing on the spot, the reporter himself is the source of the news. With regard to the broad one, news source means not only the provider of the news facts, but also the general facts of the news that constitute the basis of the news. The latter is

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derived from the opinion that the news fact is the understanding on the news origin. Western journalists are much concerned about the news source. They have a jargon: no journalist can exceed his news sources, and the quality of journalists’ news depends on the quality of the source. As American scholar Jack Hayden wrote in How to Be a Good Journalist, Journalists must rely on news providers. It is said that journalists are no better than those who provide them with information. This is true. But news sources require long-term elaboration. One way to find a news source is to chat, talking about sports or the weather. This may not seem important to you, but journalists need to do it a lot. Once news providers are familiar with you and has a good impression on you, they will take the initiative to provide you with news. Sometimes, as they trust you so much, they might call you at a time that is inconvenient for you. This is an aspect you as a journalist should not complain about.1

In addition to this, in the West, many news sources not only necessitate friendship, but also require money to support. For news providers, they do not provide the news to the reporter for nothing, but always have different purposes. Some are to seek money, making money with news, while others are to promote their own performances, or to test the reaction of the audiences, even providing false news to mislead the audiences. In this regard, the Western media does not follow and report everything the news sources offer. Within the context, they attach more importance to reliable and valuable sources, carefully selecting and maintaining the sources. News sources can be public or anonymous. Public ones can be press conferences at the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol. In addition, each journalist also has his own news sources that are only available for him, such as a bureaucrat’s appointment, a party’s banquet and a private conversation. Since the public sources provide mostly common news, it is difficult to get exclusive news, and those hidden and reliable sources turn the treasures of journalists. They always strive to maintain the secret connections and invest a certain amount of energy, time and even money. Sometimes, considering the interests of parties or groups, some sources, especially the news publishers of the government, political parties and groups, will also meet with reporters from individual media or journalists with close ties. They will reveal some valuable news to these journalists, making the news exclusive. In this case, in order not to give up such opportunity, some journalists from highly competitive media will actively collaborate with each other and not offend exclusive news provider. This is why the media in the Western countries are fiercely competitive, but their journalists maintain good relations. 1 [US]

Jack Hayden, How to Be a Good Journalist, 1st edition, Page 23, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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It is often the case that some Western news media inspire and guide news sources to provide news to the media by using social conscience, public rights, etc., or make news sources willing to deliver news by means of high-quality reports and good communication effects. These methods are feasible and effective for governments, political parties, and social groups to provide news that involves public interest, citizens’ right to know, and social credibility beneficial to improve news sources. When news sources are interrupted or lacked, and necessary news cannot be obtained, the Western media will arrange for the reporters, with their willingness, to get into some companies, groups or gangs that are difficult to enter. By doing so, they will be immersed in the internal investigation and become direct news providers. Some reporters often become famous for this. Trying to protect news sources is the basic principle of the Western media and the minimum professional ethics of journalism. In Western countries, many news media often dispute or sue with administrative and judicial authorities to protect news sources and refuse to provide information. In the daily news dissemination, the media sometimes do not directly account for the message provider in the news lead owing to the protection of the news source or the request of the source, but title the providers with “a well-informed person” and “according to an insider who do not want to be named,” etc. This also shows from one aspect that the media regards the news source as its lifeline and reflects the media’s love and respect for the news source. In the United States, there are 28 state legislation that give journalists the right to protect news sources to a certain extent. In short, the Western news media advocate journalists to know the news on the spot and by himself, and uphold the slogan “news comes from shoe sole.” They emphasize the importance of first-hand materials, while attaching great importance to the digging and maintenances of sources and the full usage and protection of them. This is a very prominent feature in Western journalism and communication practice. The Chinese news media also value news sources. The party and the government require the reporters should often visit the places of party, government and leading organs at all levels, while going deep into the grassroots and fully understand the masses. Moreover, the reporters are required to precisely understand and master the pathway, principles and policies of the party and the government in a timely manner; to thoroughly understand the objective reality and the thoughts, emotions, voices and demands of the people. These regulations are indicative that the ruling party and the government in China require journalists to be close to and familiar with the news source. The Chinese news media demand the journalists not only to care about the actual work, but also to be the most active participants in the actual and practical work, that is, become one of the direct news sources. The party and the government require journalists not only to be an observer of the mass movement in full swing, but to directly participate in the mass movement and become a participant, reflector and singer of this great movement.

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Some leaders of the news authorities also demand that journalists should not become “bourgeois reporters” and stand outside the masses, but actively involve themselves in the timely reporting of the great achievements of the people. In the process of leading journalism work, the Communist Party of China regards leading millions of people to concern and participate in news dissemination as the biggest difference between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The party takes the mass correspondent as the most important and indispensable news source. As the editorial Carrying out Correspondents’ Work in Yan’an Liberation Daily writes, We can never achieve excellent results in our newspapers without a wide range of correspondents, both party members or non-party ones, who live in the middle of the masse and participate in actual work. Because our newspapers are the newspaper of the party and the newspaper of the masses. The interests and the emotions of the people are the basis for the party’s policy decision; the opinions and the actions of the people are also the yardstick for testing our policies and work; The party educate the people not by preaching vacant principles and rigid dogmas with the party standing high above the masses. On the contrary, they should stand in the masses and improve the people’s cognitive ability through analyzing the living facts that the masses hear and see. It is our newspaper that undertake such a task, which is the basic point that differentiate our newspapers from the newspapers of the general bourgeoisie. Therefore, our newspapers not only necessitate competent editors and excellent journalists, but especially need those who live in the middle of the masses and participate in various practical work. In the sense, being a correspondent, writing a manuscript for the party newspaper, caring and helping the correspondent’s work are not only the newspaper office’s hopes and demands for each working comrade, every working organ, but also the responsibility and obligation for every working comrade and every working organ.

China’s journalism and communication workers are required to reach both the upper levels and grassroots. How is it achieved? There are clear regulations from the party and the government. In the process of taking instructions and policies from party committees as important news sources, how to properly handle the relationship between the news media and the party and government leading organs? As Hu Qiaomu expounds in the article Improving the Work of Newspapers, What kind of relationship should we establish with the leading organs? It should be seen that newspaper itself is an important leadership work. Stalin said that there is no other tool on the planet that can be as flexible as a newspaper to connect party with class. With such a significant responsibility assumed, the editorial department, editorial staff and journalists of newspaper should be aware of their influential position—the staff of newspaper must fully understand themselves and value their work. They are supposed to contemplate the problems exposed to them and have their own opinions, before they can handle the

296  B. TONG problems with confidence. Only in this way can they tackle with many people and problems that come to the newspaper every day. They should take their work as a pivotal social force, and cultivate themselves into observers and critics in politics, work and ideology. Our newspaper staff must be more aware of their work responsibilities and regard their work as a sacred responsibility. Confronted with the phenomena observed, the work dealt with, and the people exposed to, they should be committed to a “thoughtful” spirit, instead of being politically and ideologically irresponsible and thinking journalism to be just a simple technical job. When newspaper staff contact with leadership departments, they also should go to the leading organs to request, negotiate, report the situation and make comments in a responsible manner, instead of having no clear, certain and well-prepared opinions and merely receiving the orders in the leading organs. Leading organs can be beneficial to newspapers and vice versa, for the newspaper itself is a large-scale investigation agency, research institution and supervisory department. Concerning the relationship between newspapers and leading organs, newspapers are not only limited to receiving orders, but based on relevant research, newspapers can make many suggestions to leading organs. If newspaper staffs are irresponsible for the independent work, the leading organ will feel that such a newspaper office is as good as dead and can provide nothing but trouble. Such situation must be improved.

In the process of taking the thoughts and emotions from the masses and the grassroot correspondents as important news sources, how to properly handle the relationship between the news media and the grassroots? As Hu Qiaomu also discusses in the article, Our contact with the leading organs is to keep contact with the masses. Newspapers should bear a responsibility to direct the interests, the enthusiasm and the spirit of the masses to a place that is more suitable for the interests of the masses themselves. The enthusiasm of the masses is endless, but this enthusiasm needs to be guided, inspired and encouraged. For example, a newspaper office receives a lot of letters from the masses, and the letters involve various questions. How do we cope with these letters? If we openly reply every letter, then our newspaper will be full of such information—someone is ill, or if someone is able to get divorced. These issues can certainly be answered, but it is not appropriate to publish them too much in the newspaper. How can this information lead our society? Can this make our society progress? We should raise the interest, the awareness and the enthusiasm of the masses to match with the track of our country’s society, and gradually direct the interests of the people to political and construction work, so that everyone will care about our construction. Only by guiding the interests the wisdom of the masses to this aspect will our work have a way out, and will the masses seek a way out. We are required to not only study through which issues we can contact the masses, but also figure out which part of the masses we should be primarily contacted. The Communist Party’s newspapers should first connect to the activists in the masses. It is sure we should also stimulate those people that are politically inactive, but to this end, we must first establish contact with activists. Only the

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main sites of our newspapers are initially occupied by activists, and then many other politically negative people will be aligned with the activists because of such connection.

The above discourse from Hu Qiaomu on the relationship between the news media, journalists and party committees, and the masses, as the party and government’s news policy, can only be implemented when the party’s guiding ideology is correct. In a relatively long historic period, these policies were not fully implemented. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China’s news reform has been deepened, and the understanding and grasp of the news sources have turned more scientific. Today’s Chinese news media is constantly emancipating and the policies are becoming more lenient. It can be said that the news source has become extensive and diverse. Therefore, the problems encountered by Western news media in the past, such as the development of news sources, the protection of news sources and litigation about sources, have begun to rise in the Chinese media. Research on sources has also become a topic of interest. 1.2   News Processing of Chinese and Western News Media News processing is a fairly broad concept, including journalists’ elaboration on news facts, editors’ management on press releases and editors’ design on layouts. Behind these processing is an invisible hand that is driven by the interests of the media owner. This section mainly analyzes the different practices of Chinese and Western news media in terms of processing news facts and press releases. The news processing in these two aspects is carried out through the filtration of news facts and news articles, the speed of news reports (broadcasting), the details of the news reports and developments and the coverage of the truth. At 2:25 p.m. on March 30, 1981, US President Ronald Reagan was assassinated. The Washington Post photojournalist on the scene photographed the whole process of the incident. The director of the photography department asked the newspaper to publish a series of photos the next day. Then a pile of photos was sent to the newspaper publisher Mrs. Margaret. After reviewing the photos, the old lady took one of them and said that this photo would be published large in a prominent position on the first page. In this photo, Reagan with two shots in his body is being lifted by a bodyguard to a car. His legs are within the car, but he keeps his chin up and the upper body is still outside the car door. After seeing the photo, the readers all had the same impression—how strong the president was. Two shots in the body could not beat him down. It is said that Reagan particularly liked this photo so that he enlarged and hung it in his villa.

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On March 31, 1981, The Washington Post used 12 full pages to report the shooting incident of the previous day, and published 16 text reports, 34 photos, 2 sketch maps, 1 cartoon and 1 editorial. It is said that the most impressive one on that day was the photo of the front page that was personally selected by Mrs. Margaret. The case vividly illustrates the great role that filtration plays in facts and articles in the news processing, and also reflects the special views of the Western news media on what true news is. For what news is, Western journalism and communication workers and journalism scholars generally consider the issue from two aspects—one is importance and the other is abnormality. Neil Marcinalle, who worked in the New York Times, said that news is a fleeting and illusory. It rises and falls all the time. The focus of the news is also changing. As the senior journalist defines the news, “news is a report of current events that are of interest or importance to readers of a newspaper.”2 Many journalists and journalism scholars uphold the viewpoint. They believe all important facts are news; for all important news, the news media should not hesitate to publish it. Otherwise, it should be abandoned resolutely. Lord Northcliffe, the founder of British newspaper industry, emphasized in the nineteenth century that news is an abnormal thing. Edward Howe, an American newspaper editor, said even more frankly that anything that would make women shout “oh my God!” is news. Reagan had two shots in his body, but he kept his chip up. He was “too strong” and different from ordinary people, so it was the most important news. Western news media choose the news based on such news concepts and value orientation. Edward James, former editor-in-chief of The New York Times, said that the newspaper received a 1 million-word press release every day, but only used 125,000 words. This is a process of choice. From it, we can see that the most important thing in news processing is to choose between facts and news articles. Fast dissemination features the basic law of journalism and communication and is characteristic of Western news media. As a newspaper worker in the United States said, if before the Second World War, the press generally believes the newspaper of yesterday to be the most inanimate thing, then today’s view should be that the most lifeless thing is the news of a few hours ago. Such idea gains popularity in the Western press: today’s news is gold, yesterday’s news is silver and the news of the day before yesterday is rubbish. Therefore, it is the most vital issue for news processing to write, edit and publish fast. But countless facts showcase that for the Western media, fastness is not the only pursuit of news processing. They have a more holistic management on the issue of the speed. American journalism scholar Jack Hayden said that “If a newspaper in the city knows about a theft of $500 three days after its occurrence, it will be valueless to report it. But if the theft takes place 2 New

York Times, ed., Newspaper, 1st edition, Page 125, United States, 1945.

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in a house belonging to someone with a big name, then even it will be still worth reporting even after three days.”3 Sometimes, considering the overall situation and interests, the Western media will delay the release of a small amount of news facts or news articles for a while. From July 9 to 11, 1971, Kissinger, the US President Nixon’s special assistant for national security affairs, went to Beijing to meet with Premier Zhou. The US News agency issued the news of the visit till July 16 and said that before Kissinger’s visit, the preparing work had lasted for two years. Another aspect of Western news processing is the use of detail and briefing in the news facts’ reporting and writing. They detail those facts and reports that are favorable to them, while briefing or sketching those facts that may cause excessive harm to them but cannot be hidden from the public. The facts will be as simple as possible, with an understatement. Breed, an American scholar, revealed that the American media always extols its progress, development and achievements, but at the same time often covers up its misdeeds regarding the reports on the community. For example, he said that whenever newspapers report fundraising activities, lobbying, and concentration of economic power, newspapers tend to understate the mistakes in the social system. He stated that this is a common problem in the media, that is, when the media exposes the weakness of the system, it does not challenge the basic system. Western news media generally pay attention to reporting the truth. Liu Shaoqi said that we can always read some real things in Western newspapers. However, the most extreme practice of Western news media in news processing is precisely the trick of playing with true and false, that is, the facts not conducive to them are replaced by false reports to cover up the truth. This is what Marx once pointed out, playing with the trick of “rumor and concealment.” As American communication scholar Slam pointed out, some people say that modern history has begun to be filled with fake news, that is, the media controls reports and news is produced mainly by it. In other words, some people use media to hinder news from developing with history, but simply develop the news themselves. He also said that most of the press conferences are fake news, hoping to draw the public attention to a party candidate or other people who news managers are entrusted to promote. Likewise, as American scholar Breed pointed out, the Western media’s news processing aims to maintain the status quo. When the values conflict, the mass media sometimes sacrifices the accuracy of the major incident reports in order to “respect” social customs, and maintain public behavior norms and order stability. In briefing, the news processing of Western news media adopts the methods of choice, speed, detail and briefing, truth and falsehood. They are

3 [US]

Jack Hayden, How to Be a Good Journalist, 1st edition, Page 11–12, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1986.

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reasonable on the one hand, such as the choice of news facts, the speed of news dissemination, the details and briefing of materials and reports, etc. There are also unreasonable on the other and even anti-scientific, such as using the truth and falsehood of news to serve the media owners. But for hundreds of years, the news media in Western countries have always adopted these methods to carry out various kinds of news processing, which has become the custom and regulation of Western journalism and communication. As far as news processing is concerned, the common methods used in China for more than a hundred years are also choice, speed, detail and briefing, and occasional truth and falsehood, but have extremely complicated backgrounds. What kind of news should be sent out and what news material should be used? In these issues, we are supposed to always consider whether it is beneficial to us. This is the basic common sense of the Chinese journalism and communication community. Mao Zedong pointed out that the news can be divided into “New News,” “Old News” and “Non-public News.” In his view, important news should be reported in time. As he said, should the news be new? Of course, it must be new. There is too little New News, and the policies are too strict. It is not a good situation and necessary to change. Don’t keep the party’s policies secret, and publish them as much as possible in the newspaper. Meanwhile, it is noted that news should neither be old-fashioned nor fashionable. If we are not sure about some parts of the news, we should wait and see how things develop. If some news is not good for us, then what we should do is not to wait but simply not publish it. Liu Shaoqi also pointed out, “for the news of the Associated Press, Reuters and other foreign news agencies, we should select some to publish. Some of our newspapers only publish positive news that praise us in term of publishing international, while deleting the news that offend us or speak highly of America. This is not a good behavior. For example, the head of the US government condemns us. Can this news be published in our newspaper? I feel we can publish it. He is scolding us. It is a real situation and an objective. But the rebuke is utterly groundless; our newspapers should publish the news to inform our people know that some people are scolding us, and the imperialism is making a rumor. This will raise resentment in our people. After seeing the news, the counter-revolutionary, accounting for a few percent of our total population, will be delighted. However, more than 90% of the people in the country, who already have a fairly high political awareness, can distinguish which is right or wrong. Premier Zhou Enlai rebuked the United States, and some American bourgeois newspapers published it. Why bourgeois newspapers dare to publish the negative news on their newspaper, but our newspapers don’t. This is our weakness. Why cannot our news reports reflect the real situation? We should let the people know the reality in the world and tell the people that there are several kinds people in the world today, including those who are scolding us. Our reporters stationing in foreign countries,

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for example in London, New Delhi and other places, must report what they praise us and what they scold us. It is true, in our newspapers, we can’t indiscriminately copy everything that they scold us.”4 Many journalism scholars in China have mentioned that the choice of news facts should be considered in a holistic view of the situation and the interests. Among them, the most comprehensive and profound views are discussed by professor Gan Xifen in the article “The Law of the Unity of Opposites in Our Writings.” In the paper, he proposed to examine and judge news and choose facts on the perspective of advantages and disadvantages, the enemy and the friend, the overall situation, hotness and coldness, truth and falsehood, appreciation and depreciation, ups and downs, the offense and the defense, the subject and the guest, the point and the overall picture, the speed, similarities and differences, the quality, the positive and the negative, movement and stillness, the light and the heavy, the specialty, the internal and the external, the ancient and the modern, etc. Here is a quote from his section on the pros and cons: What is the primary issue that news disseminators must consider every moment? Some people say it is “news is reporting facts” and “only accurate facts can be reported.” This is idealistic. In our era, there are still class conflicts and political differences in the world, and no media owners will be so stupid to do so. The primary issue to be considered by any news organization is the gains and losses or the pros and cons of dissemination. Should it be disseminated or not? When is it disseminated? Is it a dissemination of large scale or a small one? How to disseminate it? Is it good or bad for us after the dissemination? Benefit and harm, which is more? Beneficiary and victim, who is more? What news should be on the headlined? How do words or comments be proper? All of these are the questions that any journalist has to contemplate. The bourgeois journalists generally do not disseminate according to the government or the party’s guidelines, but they follow the disseminating intentions of their employers to deal with the pros and cons. We are different. We are consciously handling these issues in line with the fundamental interests of the people and national interests. We are not based on any private interests and disobeying any private individuals. In term of the pros and cons of our dissemination, the primary issue to be considered is whether the news is beneficial to the country, to the people and to socialism. If favorable, it will be publicized. If not, it will not be publicized or temporarily not disseminated.5

On news selection, the above views of Gan Xifen are representative of Chinese journalism scholars. 4 Liu

Shaoqi, The First Instruction for the Work of Xinhua News Agency, Compilation of the Communist Party’s Press Working Papers II, 1st edition, Page 359–360, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980. 5 Gan Xifen, Thirty Years of News Controversy, 1st edition, Page 178–179, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1988.

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Chinese journalism scholars also attach great importance to the speed in news processing. In the war years, some people proposed to pay attention to the timeliness of news. Hu Qiaomu pointed out in Everyone Needs to Learn Writing News that “we must know that in the context of agricultural countries, the vast majority of speeches and essays are neither rapid nor accurate; they are neither clear nor economical; they are just too sloppy. Learning to write news is the right medicine. The publication timing of the news is not calculated by day, but by hour. Although you don’t have to take into consideration the hour of trains and planes in Yan’an, you have to count the time of posting the newspaper in the post office, sending the newspaper by correspondents, editing and formatting in the news office and preparing for broadcasting in the radio station. The delay of one hour often leads to a delay of twenty-four hours. So, a news should be written in ten minutes, and such skill is what we really need.”6 Chinese journalism scholars have suggested that news processing should be as fast as possible, but the speed-orientation should be opposed. They proposed the concept of reporting timing, which refers to the opportunity in real life that is conducive to the good results of a report. The proper reporting timing will arouse the reader’s interest and attention. On the contrary, it may weaken the reader’s interest, and even cause illusions, misunderstandings and resentments, resulting in unnecessary economic and political losses. Communication practice gives us the lesson that when choosing the timing for reporting, we should pay attention to the environment and background of publication, the changes in readers’ interests and attentions. In addition, we should be aware whether the report aligns with the actual life and major policies, and assure that our reports neither go beyond the development nor fall behind the work. We should never cause unnecessary losses to the actual work because of chasing news. China’s journalism and communication community is generally immature in grasping the issue of speed, and is often trapped in a passive situation of slowness. There are four reasons accounting for the slowness according to some scholars: In most news organizations, most of the news production and delivery adopts the control system: reporter-editor-director-editor-in-chief, characteristic of overlapping operations and redundant levels, often leading to the delay of publication; At present, we are still old-fashioned and backward in the process of collecting and writing news. With great efforts, the reporters can obtain news clues through documents, briefings and meetings. Only after the consent is obtained, the reporters can start the investigation. Moreover,

6 Compilation

of the Communist Party’s Press Working Paper II, 1st edition, Page 225, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1980.

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the report must be approved before being published. Such process is cumbersome and complex; The work style of journalists is procrastinating. Some even suffer from the habit of bureaucracy and cannot afford to suffer. A press release often takes ten days to a half month; In recent years, the hardware facilities of China’s media have been improved, but in general, most of the media’s news production approaches are still backward, sending news releases by letter or telephone and interviewing with a pen and a notebook. With the deepening of news reform, the renewal of news concepts, the progress of work style, and the enhancement of national investment and the economic strength of the media, the above four weaknesses that influence the rapid spread of communication are gradually being overcome. It is common to use detailing and briefing in the processing of news reports in China. In general, the media detail the news that is favorable to us, and the report reveals the thorough facts and processes. On the contrary, if the news is harmful to us but have to be published, the reports will be taken casually, or even skimmed over. In most cases, the balance between detailing and briefing in the news processing is appropriate, but sometimes it is not satisfactory. For example, reports on advanced units and model figures are always from holistic and detailed, from ideological advancement, positive work, outstanding performance, to simple life. But the disadvantages or the negative sides are often not mentioned, or just reported that they are being “improved.” The journalist Deng Tuo has criticized this phenomenon in Improving Our Communication Work and Reporting Methods. On the one hand, as he said, many communications are limited to unnecessary characters, places, time, work plan layout, etc., while the actual valuable things are instead taken away; on the other hand, because of fear of exposure, many glorious scenes and performance are concealed and buried, and the newspapers understate or not mention them. Because of this, many typical reports are vacant in terms of the content, giving people the feeling of being elevated and conceptualized, and inspiring no one. China’s news processing always attaches importance to authenticity. Chinese journalists are serious in the use of “true and false” techniques. All the time, the journalists have also argued that news cannot be fake. However, in some historical periods, due to the complex background of political struggles, the Chinese news media also took the opportunity to make a profit by fake news. During the War of Liberation, Xinhua Radio Station used “three false reports to scare away hundreds of thousands of Chiang’s troops.” But on the whole, both China and the West should be forbidden to use the “true and false” approach in dealing with news with a view to preventing the news media from losing honesty in the people and in public opinion.

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2  Different Statuses of News Commentary in China and West News commentary is another vital part of the news media in addition to news. It is the news style of the news media’s or the author’s viewpoints, positions and opinions on major events happening at home and abroad, the general phenomena or ideological tendencies in current social life, and the key issues with great public attention. News commentary is a kind of news work with strong political tendency, which usually reflects the world outlook and values of the countries, political parties and social groups represented by the news media or authors. News commentary plays a big role in guiding public opinions. Therefore, news commentary is underscored in various news media, such as newspapers, radio and television programs. It is considered to be the “flag” and “soul” of the news media. Important genres in news commentary include editorials, political commentary columns and outside commentary (readers’, listeners’ and audiences’ letters or calls). In these aspects, we analyze and compare the different statuses of news commentary in Chinese and Western news media. 2.1   Status of News Commentary in the West Western news media attaches underscore news commentary, especially newspaper editorials. Casper Jost said that news is the body of the newspaper, and editorials are the soul. Pulitzer said that there were huge space and many columns in my New York World, and he was most concerned about the editorials. After entering the period of newspaper massification, Western bourgeois newspapers crowned themselves with independent ultra-partisan newspapers, and newspaper editorials also were hailed as “fair speech.” The first article of the “Newspaper Regulations” of the United States is “independence,” which criticizes the editorial that is used by party, saying that the partisan editorial gets away from truth and destroys the best spirit of the American newspaper. John Oaks, editor-in-chief of the New York Times editorial, said that “The editorial version is worthless unless it can be free of parties’ influence and strive to lead in national affairs.”7 American journalism textbooks divide editorials into 10 categories:

1. an editorial informing the readers; 2. an editorial explaining the news; 3. an editorial clarifying the meaning of the news; 4. an editorial on the issue of debate; 5. an editorial activating the readers;

7 Quoted

from Zhang Longdong, Fu Xianming, Compilation of History of Foreign Journalism, 1st edition, Page 413, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1988.

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6. an editorial pushing social reform movement; 7. an editorial to persuade; 8. an editorial giving evaluation; 9. an editorial of the propaganda policy; 10. A prose-like editorial.

These 10 editorials actually reflect the 10 functions of Western news media editorials. According to history, Western countries had comments in the early eighteenth century, and the newspaper editorial system, called chief words at that time, was established at the end of the eighteenth century. When the American newspaperman Greeley founded the New York Tribune in the 1840s, he first created an “editorial version.” In this editorial version, sometimes three or four editorials were published at the same time. Later, the New York Times set the “facing page of editorial version” since 1971, that is, the readers’ comments were published on the third page from the last, facing the editorial on the second page. This shows that the editorial department attached importance to public opinion. There are now many quality newspapers in Western countries, which divide the editorial version into two with one publishing editorials, and the other publishing the readers’ comments. It also showcases the intensive opposite between editorials and readers’ comments. This also features an approach of so-called “balance of public opinion” in Western journalism. Another significant genre of Western news media commentary is the political commentary column. The collection of political, economic, military and other comments is political commentary column. Among the columns of newspapers in many Western countries, the political commentary one is the most influential and unique, and therefore the most attractive. The first reason is many of the columns’ comments come from freelance writers and well-known columnists. Secondly, the authors often dare to publish independent opinions different from the media and from the government. Thirdly, these works are sharp in mind and can stimulate readers’ interest. Walter Lippmann, the most famous columnist in American history, has opened a political commentary column “Today and Tomorrow” in the “New York Herald Tribune” and “Newsweek,” and has worked hard for 36 years. A large number of his works have been reprinted in more than 250 domestic and international media, attracting much attention from the world. Western society often has “Feature Syndicate,” a company offering news releases, which organizes a large number of experts to write comments and special research articles on various issues at current domestic and international trends and major events. The political commentary columns of the newspaper also often place order from these feature syndicates, and regularly publish these articles. The commentary articles on famous broadsheet newspapers can also be exposed to the society through the syndicates.

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In the news commentary of Western news media, readers’ comments are also an important part of the publication. The most common form is the letter from the reader. It is the tradition of Western news media to pay attention to readers’ letters. Starting appearing in party newspapers, readers’ letters can be seen in many newspapers. After the newspaper community created the facing page of editorial version, the other half of the newspaper directly published the readers’ comments and letters. Many scholars have talked about the significance of this approach. American scholars Baird and Melvin believe this to be part of the democratic process, which is to refine complex and specialized issues into relatively simple moral and common-sense issues. The people should not just watch the democratic process, but should participate. The “people’s forum” column set by the newspaper is an important part of such process. Many people in charge of the news media value the publication of letters from readers and the public. John Oaks, editor-in-chief of the New York Times editorial, said that the editorial version must give readers an opportunity to put forward different opinions, and it is dangerous to fail to do so. Western news media also regards readers’ letters and opinions as a way to reach readers and the public. For example, the New York Times receives more than 40,000 letters each year and publishes more than 3,000, accounting for about 7% of the total number. The authors of the letters include politicians, scholars, celebrities and ordinary readers. These letters are all carefully selected. Some support the position of the newspaper, while others express different views. The former echoes the views of the newspaper, and the latter shows the “fairness and equality.” Therefore, from the overall perspective, this is nothing but benefits to the newspaper. 2.2   Status of News Commentary in China Like the Western news media, the Chinese news media also highly values news commentary. It is true that this emphasis has a process of development, as the news commentary is sometimes valued and sometimes neglected. In terms of the latter situation, Shi Liangcai considers “the editorial to be the eyebrow of the newspaper”—it is useless but its disappearance makes the newspaper incomplete. Zhang Jiluan said that the editorial has only one day of lifespan—in the morning, there are still people reading it, but in the afternoon, it is used to wrap peanuts. Some even regard the editorial as “the cecum of the newspaper,” which is purely redundant. In China, in the early days of mass newspapers such as commercial newspapers, news commentary, including newspapers’ comments, were less valued. The party newspapers, on the other hand, were dominated by political commentary and the news was second, so the status of political commentary is especially high. But most of the political commentary are the literati talks. Liang Qichao set the “National News Short Commentary” column, and opened the first news commentary in China that was combined with the political commentary. As for the bourgeois

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revolutionaries, the editorial has been placed in an important position in the newspaper. In the news style, the “trilogy” process has been completed from political commentary to commentary on current affairs to news commentary. The news media led by the Communist Party of China has always underscored the role of news commentary. As Hu Qiaomu, one of the leaders of China’s journalism, pointed out in 1955 in the article To Strengthen the Commentary of Local Newspapers, “comment is the soul and the main voice of the newspaper,”8 and “the reason why the party establishes newspapers is to express the party’s opinions and comments on various matters. Therefore, the party’s newspapers must have comments, and without comments, they cannot be regarded as newspapers.”9 The Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the work of journalistic commentary at all levels of government newspapers. Among them, the editorial articles and editorials from the People’s Daily, the Central Committee of CPC’s official newspaper, occupy a prominent position. Many editorial articles and editorials have been regarded as important political documents requiring the national and whole party to learn and follow. This phenomenon is also rare in the world. Since the 1990s, going through several ups and downs, Chinese radio and television commentary programs have begun to see strong vitality. The electronic media news commentary represented by the China National Radio’s “Newsline” and CCTV’s “Focus Interview” has blazed a new path and played a huge role in the construction of material and spiritual civilization. Some of these programs can be parallel with news commentary programs from Western electronic media such as the ones in the United States. In the news commentary of China News Media, similar to Western media, important genres include editorials, column comments and letters from the readers. Chinese journalism scholars believe that editorials are authoritative statements on behalf of the editorial offices of newspapers, news agencies, radio stations and television stations. It is a banner that shows the political standing and attitude of the news media. It is called “the commentary from our station” in radio and television. The editorial speaks on current events, major models and important issues, and is clearly targeted, policy-oriented and instructive. The editorials of the party and government newspapers not only represent the editorial department, but also directly express the ideological and political views of party committees and governments at the same level. They can issue calls, propose tasks, explain policies, show attitudes, discern what is right and wrong and guide practice. In China, news commentary with a higher authority than editorial is an editorial article, which is a more solemn, more authoritative and longer-term 8 Hu

Qiaomu’s Anthology, 1st edition, Page 8, Vol. 3, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. 9 The same as above, Page 9.

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special comment on a particularly important issue. The editorial department of the Chinese Party and Government not only speaks on behalf of the leading organs of party and government, but often writes articles under the direct inspiration or instruction of the party and government leaders. News commentary with a lower authority than editorial is a commentator’s article, which expresses opinions on a certain issue or event and is used more in Chinese news media. A commentator’s article is political to some degree but also has a personal style. Commentator articles are divided into two categories: non-signature commentator articles and signature commentator articles. The former mainly represents the editorial department’s opinions, and the latter can express more opinions of the commentators. The leaders of the CPC greatly value the role of editorials. Mao Zedong wrote to the main person in charge of a province that “the meticulous writing of editorials is an important task. You, the propaganda minister, the secretary general, and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, should study together. Since the primary secretary is in charge, some rectifications of the most important editorials are necessary.”10 The journalist Deng Tuo wrote an article entitled On Newspapers’ Editorials. He pointed out in the article that the editorial is a flag indicating the political stance of the newspaper. The newspaper, with editorials, can be complete in political value. Only through the editorial, a text genre of the battle, can we guide the masses most conveniently, and treat and deal with every major problem with correct positions, viewpoints and methods; clearly and timely put forward a proposition, an action guideline, a combat mission to the masses and drive the people to struggle for their realizations. Chinese journalism scholars believe that in Chinese news media, editorials can generally be divided into these categories: 1. Political editorials, also known as elaboration editorials. They mainly analyze the political situation and the overall situation, politically and theoretically clarify the editorial of the party and the government’s overall policies, guidelines, decisions and regulations. 2. Ideological editorials, targeting on the issues of the spiritual field that have begun to appear in the real social life, such as ideas, working tendency and leadership methods. 3. Pragmatic editorials, also known as working or business editorials. In view of the actual contradictions in and lessons from the work of industry, agriculture, finance and trade, military, culture, education, science and technology, public security, health, sports, etc., the pragmatic editorials give opinions and guides to the Party’s current specific guidelines and policies in a timely manner.

10 Selections

House, 1983.

of Mao Zedong’s Journalism, 1st edition, Page 202, Beijing, People’s Publishing

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4. Current affairs editorials. According to the development of the objective situation, the editorial department illustrates the reasons, political background, practical significance and lessons of the cause and development of major events and social activities at home and abroad so as to guide the public opinion. 5. Argument editorials, in the name of the editorial department, expose and criticize a variety of hostile words and deeds from China and abroad for our party, as well as a more combative editorial of various reactionary trends and decadent ideas. There is much common ground of the column comments between the China’s and the Western news media. The first is that the column comments have a wide range of types and rich content. The column comments in China refer to comments published in the fixed section of the newspaper, the radio and the television station, such as a small comment column Today’s Talk and People’s Tribune on the People’s Daily, Liberation Tribune on the Liberation Daily, CCTV’s Focus Interview, Liberation Army Daily’s Wisdom Pool, the Weekly Topic on the Economic Daily, the Virtual and Real Talk of Wenhui Daily, the Small Flow Collection of Xinhua Daily, the Bashu Discussion of Sichuan Daily, and the Not Late to Talk of Xinmin Evening News, Yangcheng Evening News’ Street Talks, Tianjin Evening News’ Tonight’s Talk and so on. Such a large number of columns can discuss various aspects of political, economic, cultural, ideological and social life issues, and can be divided into news short comments, tribunes or comments, topical comments and miscellaneous comments. Secondly, the column’s personality is outstanding and eye-catching. There are three characteristics: First, the column comments are featured by relative stability. The column name, the layout position, the size of the column is generally fixed, and the genre and the style are similar; second, the column commentary is characteristic of small size, making long story short. It normally expresses a huge idea with a small theme and is featured by fresh and specific argument; third, the column comments reflect clearly the times, and grasp new things, new contradictions and new changes. The authors of Chinese column commentary are generally divided into three groups: public words, group columns and individual columns. As mentioned above, personal columns are popular in Western news media, such as Lippmann’s Today and Tomorrow, but rare in China. Before the liberation, there was Small Talk in the charge of Zou Taofen in Life Weekly. After the liberation, Linfang managed the Not Late to Talk in Xinmin Evening News. This is related to China’s political culture, the characteristics of news style and the lack of democratic participation. Readers’, listeners’, audiences’ letters, and especially the letters from Chinese news media are quite common. Almost all newspapers have the column for letters from readers, and all radio and television stations have the program reading letters from the audience.

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Paying attention to letters from readers is the tradition of socialist news media. Lenin pointed out that letters from readers is a “political barometer.” He wrote to Karbinski, deputy editor-in-chief of the Poor Agriculture Times, that he asked Karbinski to write a letter every two months to report the average number of letters received by the Lenin newspaper office, the sentiments of citizens and the most urgent issues. Mao Zedong once gave instructions on the “Report on the Handling of Letters from the Masses in the Three Month to President Mao” in the secretarial office of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, stating that “we must pay attention to the people’s communication, and we must properly handle the people’ letters and meet the legitimate demands of the people. Think of this as a way for the Communist Party and the people’s government to strengthen contact with the people. Don’t take a bureaucratic attitude that is taking the letters carelessly.”11 Due to the emphasis of leaders and the organization and supervision of parties and governments at all levels, the Chinese news media generally attaches importance to the work of letters. Most news media organizations have established mass work departments to take charge of this work. They will take the situation and clues reflected in letters as the basis for the future reports, select some representative letters to publish, send some of the letters to the relevant departments and urge them to deal with them, and also edit some of the letters reflecting important situations and problems into internal situation briefings. These briefings promptly let the leading organs and the persons in charge understand the public opinions and social conditions, and examine the grassroots work and cadres’ honesty and diligence on government affairs, which can be the reference for the decision-making of higher authorities. Like the Western news media, the carefully selected letters of the public have seen the opinions from the people on the one hand, and on the other hand, echoed the publicity and reports of the news media, connecting the information between the upper and lower sides and strengthening the tie between leadership and the masses. In China, because the readers’ letters reflect the voices and aspirations of the people to a large degree, the letters from the readers and the programs of audiences’ letters are the most popular pages and parts, respectively.

3  Layout Features of Chinese and Western News Media Layout refers to the process of editing by editors according to a certain arrangement and using various layout methods. Layout thought refers to the basic idea of designing newspaper layouts and arranging evaluation and

11 Selections

House, 1983.

of Mao Zedong’s Journalism, 1st edition, Page 173, Beijing, People’s Publishing

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configuration content in radio and television programs. The layout thought is the soul of the layout arrangement and programs, and determines the inclination and attitude of the layout and the program. The use of layout methods and techniques are subject to and serve the layout thought. The layout thought is part of the editorial guidelines of newspapers, radio stations and television stations. The layout method refers to the material materials used in the design of newspapers, radio and television programs, including characters, images, lines, colors, sounds, music, etc. Each layout method is featured by different functional effects. Under the guidance of certain layout thought, the editors of news media use the various layout methods to complete the newspaper layout and radio and television programs, which are the main content of the media products. The layout is the overall arrangement of a newspaper. It is the first thing exposed to the readers, and forms the first impression of the readers. This impression even affects the reader’s choice of buying the newspaper content. The layout is not a random collection of newspaper content, but through the use of the layout language, can express the attitude and emotion of the newspaper on the objective issues while presenting the content. At the same time, the layout is also an important means of creating and embodying the style of the newspaper. Radio and television program resemble the layout of newspapers. It is the basic arrangement unit and broadcast sequence and structure of radio and television broadcast content, and has the same functions and effects as newspaper layout. As Chinese and Western news media have different layout thoughts, and the emphasis and approaches of using the layout methods differ, there are also many differences in terms of the layout styles and characteristics. 3.1   Layout of Western News Media The distinctive layout feature of Western news media, especially some mainstream media, is to make every effort to highlight their positions and attitudes, which are completely consistent with the political positions and values of the capital groups they represent. One of the customary practices of the layout is to focus on the news that can showcase such positions and attitudes, but to downplay the news that does not help show or deviates from this position. The layout feature of Western media is fully embodied in the layout of the mainstream American news media in the exchange of visits between the heads of China and the United States in 1997 and 1998. For the first time that the Chinese head of state paid an official visit to the United States for more than a decade, the US news media did not focus on the fundamental theme of established long-term and stable friendly relations between China and the United States through the Sino-US summit meeting, but highlighted China’s human rights record, the issue of China and Taiwan, the trade imbalance between China and the United States, China’s arms

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exports and many issues unrelated to Jiang Zemin’s visit to the United States. For an official visit by a friendly head of state, the mainstream media in the United States was holding an unfriendly tone. Western media also expressed their position and attitude through the “concentration of information bombardment” featured by a large number of reports. The news media layout in Western countries is completely subject to market orientation. Therefore, the audience’s attention and interest orientation are the fundamental factors that influence and determine the media layout thoughts. Years of sustained economic development and satisfactory material living conditions have made citizens there only concerned about their material interests but lost interest in world affairs and domestic political events. Within this context, the US news media is increasingly inclined toward entertainment and localization. Since the 1990s, American citizens’ attention to international affairs and serious news has been declining. A survey of the public by the Platts Research Center in the United States in 1996 demonstrated that the topics of interest to the American public were crimes, local people and events, health, sports, local government, science, religion, political news and international news with the interests declining. According to some statistics, in 1977, the news of the event describing “what happened yesterday” was dominant in news reports. More than half (52%) of the reports were basically “what happened,” and by 1997, reports with such characteristics accounted for only 32% of all reports, a decrease of 20%. Some articles pointed out that “the focus of today’s reports is neither the decision-making process, war and peace, politics, nor deep and continuous analysis of events - these were called the focus of traditional news. Events that are of interest to people and news that are useful to people remain important, and scandals, bizarre things, and fears of the future have become the highlights of new reporting.” The author of the article testified that, in 1977, the traditional news was more quantitative and influential than those focusing on celebrity features or scandals, with a ratio of 2:1, 32% for the former and 15% for the latter. Twenty years later, this relationship has been reversed, with only 25% of reports focusing on traditional topics, and more than 40% of reports underlining more relaxed or sensational topics. As the news horizon is narrowing, the American public is increasingly concerned about its living environment. As the world loses attraction to the American, their interests are shifted into the areas of their own lives, especially in the community. In response to this change, one of the priorities of the American media is to highlight environmental safety reports and disclosure reports. We can confirm this change from the analysis of the content of the Pulitzer Prize for following years. Of the writing awards of special reports from 1979 to 1997, 15 reported social problems in the United States, accounting for 78.9%. According to some statistics, from 1917 to the 1990s, disclosure reports accounted for 40% of the winning works. Among the winners of the 79th, 80th, 82nd and 83rd Pulitzer Prizes, the most frequent topics are: murder violence (6 articles), disclosure of judicial injustice (5 articles),

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disclosure of corruption (3 articles), poverty (3 articles), war (3 articles), natural disasters (3 articles). Others also involve environmental protection, financial crisis and social issues related to race, welfare and population. Among these award-winning works, there are few reports on national policy guidelines and diplomatic strategies. Reports on issues such as the US “Star Wars,” “Information Highway”, and presidential elections, which are of great concerns to the Chinese, are unnamed in the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.12 The media layout implemented by this layout thoughts and methods must result in greatly blinding the receivers’ vision, so that they cannot evaluate the world objectively and fairly. According to a poll conducted by the Harris in the United States, among the 18 countries surveyed, only 3% of Americans regard China as a “close ally”; 24% of Americans take China as a friend; those who believe China to be the “enemy” is as high as 27%. This mentality of the Americans is directly related to the image of China created by the media through one-sided layout. The news media layout of other Western countries resembles to the United States. In terms of layout methods, Western media also has its own characteristics, and some experiences are worth learning for the Chinese media. For example, the Western news media attaches great importance to the titling. They propose “six taboos for titling,” that is, the title should be specific and not empty, refined and not redundant, active but not passive, new and not repeated, narrative without discussion, selective on wording and not abusive. Western media also stresses the elaboration on format, pursuing the innovation and surprise of the layout. In short, the layout methods are to serve the layout thoughts, and the media can achieve specific editorial guidelines through characteristic layouts. 3.2   Layout of China’s News Media China’s layout of news media is highly valued and meticulously engaged. Hu Qiaomu pointed out in the article Everyone Needs to Learn to Write news that “learning to write news also means that we will use narrative facts to express opinions. We often express tangible opinions, and news is an intangible opinion. The person, who speaks behind the text, seems to objectively, faithfully, and plainly describes the facts he sees and hears. But because each narrative is always based on a certain point of view, the reader who accepts the facts will also accept the ideas in the narrative. The bourgeois journalists never mention what they think, what they think should be done, but they use their descriptions, delicate layout, and even special (superficially not necessarily fierce) rules and syntax to fight for their ideas. Their cunning is when they are partial to one side and attack another, their appearance is ‘just’ and ‘calm’. We do 12 Refer

to Zhang Zhuo, Searching Traditions to Communicate, International Press, 2000 (2).

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not want to be pretentious, for what we want to advertise is only truth and facts. In this case, we are even less necessary to add to the narrative.”13 The rules and syntax mentioned by Hu Qiaomu are the “news processing” that we talked about in the first section of this chapter. The “layout method” actually refers to, through the special layout of news, the expression of intangible opinions, that is, the position and attitude of the news media. Like the Western media, China’s news media also produce and publish a large number of reports, which are beneficial to China, and put them in a most significant position. By doing so, audiences can watch and listen to these reports and the party can publicize their own ideas. The first influence and decision on the layout of China’s news media is the party’s policy orientation and propaganda. In 1999, six special news awards for the Ninth China News Awards are The Current Top Events, Map Out the Strategy and Rule the Army, The Four Hundred Heroes Fighting Flood, and 30 Meters’ Breaching of the Dike Near No. 4 Gate of Jiujiang Section, Billlow and Milestone, Series Reports on 1998 Anti-Flood. These themes are all related to the 1998 flood fighting. The special prizes of the first to the eighth China News Awards were The People are Calling for Jiao Yulu, The Big Family of the Motherland, Public Servant - Banner - Monument, Model of Leading Cadres - Kong Fansen, Send the Warmth of the Party and the Government to Thousands of Households, There is a Li Suli in Beijing, Dedicated to Work and Devoted to Helping Others, Eternal Life in the Sea - Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s Ashes, Showing New Achievements to Meet The 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 1997 Hong Kong Reunification Report. These news reports are all focused on national events and publicity hotspots at that time. The important political ideas of the event are closely related to the rating of the work. This shows that the layout of China’s news media is completely consistent with the party’s and the government’s public opinion orientation. In terms of report volume, layout and program configuration, China’s news media has always adhered to the principle of positive publicity. For this policy, Li Ruihuan has a clear explanation, as he said that “what we call ‘positive side’ and ‘focus’ is to underscore propagating to inspire the people to develop social productive forces, encouraging the people to adhere to the four basic principles and persist in reform and opening up, stimulating the people to strengthen socialist democracy and the building of the legal system, driving the people to promote socialist spiritual civilization, prompting the people to love the great motherland and carry forward the national culture, propelling the people to safeguard national unity and the unity of the nation, motivating the people to fight for peace and development in the world. In short, all the news that inspires the people to fight for the prosperity of the country, the happiness of the people and the progress of society is what we

13 Compilation

of the Communist Party’s Press Work II, 1st edition, Page 226, Beijing, Xinhua Publishing House, 1981.

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Table 1  Statistical table of the winning works of the first to the Ninth China News Awards Session Good people and Economy deeds

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

Current events

Negative reports Others

Article Ratio number (%)

Article Ratio number (%)

Article Ratio number (%)

Article Ratio number (%)

Article number

7 3 4 6 5 7 4 1 4

4 8 5 4 6 2 3 8 4

3 3 3 2 2 2 4 7 2

1 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 4

1 0 2 2 1 2 3 2 3

43.8 21.4 26.7 40.0 35.7 53.8 25.0 5.3 23.5

25.0 57.2 33.3 26.7 42.9 15.4 18.8 42.1 23.5

18.8 21.4 20.0 13.3 14.3 15.4 25.0 36.8 11.8

6.3 0 6.7 6.7 0 0 12.5 5.3 23.5

Total awards

16 14 15 15 14 13 16 19 17

Source Zhang Zhuo, Searching Traditions to Communicate, International Press, 2000 (2)

call the ‘positive side’, which should be reported with our best.”14 According to this guiding ideology, in the configuration of the news media, there is no doubt that it is based on positive propaganda. Some people have conducted the statistic on the winning works of the first to the ninth China News Awards. In the statistic, the reports of praising good people and good deeds, and the reports of positively reporting the economic situation, economic policies and economic reforms have always occupied the majority, while the so-called “negative reports” featured by criticism have occupied the minority and sometimes even is vacant (see Table 1). The layout of the Chinese news media also has a requirement, rule and habit, that is, the leader’s news is always ranked first, which seems to be an inevitable. On September 11, 2001, a series of explosions occurred in the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The next day, most of China’s news media broadcasted the news, but they did not publish it in the headline. The headline is Jiang Zemin gave President Bush a message for this matter. In China’s news media, before many major domestic and international incidents, all parties’ and state leaders’ statements or instructions on these incidents must be preceded by reports of these incidents themselves. This practice is different from Western media. The layout of China’s news media is focused on official reports, especially those surrounding the activities of leaders, often reported in a complete and continuous manner. As mentioned in the 1997 and 1998 exchange visits between the heads of state of China and the United States, the Chinese media completely reported the welcoming and the parting, the banquet speech, handshakes, toasts, smiles, etc., and placed them in a marked position. On the contrary, such news was barely visible in the US media. For some 14 Li

Ruihuan, Adhering to the Principle of Positive Propaganda, Seeking Truth, 1990 (5).

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groundbreaking and non-official contents, the Chinese media either ignored them or reported them in a secondary position. There was an arrangement for that visit, asking Jiang Zemin to give a speech at Harvard University. After the speech, some people asked Jiang Zemin how he felt on the demonstrators following his visit. Jiang Zemin replied, “This is the American way of democracy. All I can do is make my voice louder and overwhelm the noise outside.” Some scholars greatly appreciated this answer and said “This wonderful response not only reflects the style of China’s new generation of leaders, but also inadvertently demonstrates the Chinese Communists’ understanding of American democracy.”15 However, the Chinese reporters at that time did not report the news. It took a long time for individual media to broadcast it. Another feature of the Chinese news media’s layout thought is emphasizing continuous reporting rather than analytical and critical reporting. For the news that Clinton visited China in 1998, Xinhua News Agency issued 29 reports related to the visit, among which there are only one analytical report. In the 100 reports of the Associated Press in the same period, there are 14 such reports. The latter’s analytical and commentary reports are rich in content and broad in perspective, including the prospect of interview results, and the analysis of China’s environmental problems, an introduction to the history and current situation in Shanghai, and an investigation into the freedom of the press in China. Relatively speaking, China’s reports are superficial and stylized, lacking historical meaning and depth of analysis. The Chinese news media has also made great stride in layout methods in these years. Entering the 1990s, many newspapers emphasized careful planning and set up art editors. It was demanded that the layout be designed to have big headline and big photo size, and China began to enter the “color newspaper era.” Radio and television programs used various new scientific and technological achievements to make major breakthroughs and innovations in the layout techniques. The configuration of modern Chinese newspapers and the performance skills of radio and television programs have reached a new high, and can be parallel to some media in Western developed countries.

4  Analysis of Advertising Dissemination Between Chinese and Western News Media The original purpose of advertising is to attract people’s attention to something. There are many definitions of advertisements in the modern sense. One definition of advertisements proposed by the definition committee of the American Marketing Association is that advertisements are paid by identifiable advertisers, and are to present and promote ideas, goods or services in 15 See

Wang Wei, Liang Hong, Comparison of Bilateral Reports on Sino-US Mutual Visits, Modern Communication, 1998 (4).

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non-personal way. China’s Ci Hai defines advertising as a way of publicizing goods, reporting service content or cultural programs, usually through newspapers, radio, television, posters, movies, slides, window displays, product display and other forms. As the Concise Britannica Encyclopedia explains the advertisement, advertising is a way of disseminating information. Its purpose is to promote goods and services, influence public opinion, gain political support, promote a cause or meet other advertisers’ hopes. Advertising information are delivered to the audience that the advertisers want to attract through a variety of promotional tools, including newspapers, magazines, television, radio, posters and direct mail. Advertising is different from other forms of conveying information, and it must be paid by the advertiser to the medium that disseminates the information. These definitions highlight two of the characteristics of modern advertising: First, modern advertising has three roles: promoting advertising, services and ideas. A journalism textbook in the United States states that “although each advertiser can be different, the final function of an advertisement is to sell goods, services, or information. Advertising, while completing these tasks, brings revenues to the newspaper, magazine, or other advertisement tools that publish the advertisements.”16 Second, the most important media for modern advertising is the four traditional media: newspapers, magazines, radio and television. In recent years, network media has emerged. Advertising relies on these media to spread and enter thousands of households. The media relies on huge advertising revenues to continuously gain survival and development. In addition to funding by political parties, advertising fees are the main financial support of the media. How are the advertisements of Chinese and Western news media carried out? What are the similarities and differences between them in dissemination? This is the issue to be discussed in this section. 4.1   Advertising Dissemination of Western News Media Western scholars believe advertising to be accompaniment to regular publications. According to historical records, the inaugural issue (1704-04-24) of Boston Newsletter, the first successful newspaper in the United States, is considered to be the beginning of advertising in modern newspapers. The advertising industry is more convinced that Benjamin Franklin, the publisher of the Pennsylvania Bulletin, is the ancestor of the American advertising industry. There are even people saying that the US Declaration of Independence can be 16 [US]

George Mutt, The Outline of Journalism, 1st edition, Page 312, United States, 1947.

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qualified as the first most successful credit advertisement in the United States because it is a great example of a new country. In fact, long before the Boston Newsletter and the Pennsylvania Bulleti, in the early seventeenth century, shortly after the publication of the first batch of printed newspapers in Europe, these newspapers became popular as advertising vehicles. Western scholars have had many discussions about the relationship between advertising and newspapers. They pointed out that it is advertisements that shift newspapers from being fostered by political parties to independence, relying entirely on the money of advertisers. American scholars stated that the most prominent feature of American mass communication tools may be their most significant commerciality. Advertising is their pillar for independence. British scholars said, “only because of the large amount of advertising revenue, the newspaper can maintain a glorious independence without relying on the subsidies of political parties and the government.”17 Western scholars emphasize that advertising is a tool of information. The US Supreme Court pointed out in a judicial precedent that advertising is a tool for the public to be informed, and it is a tool to express opinions for those who cannot use the newspaper to do so. Advertising can criticize bureaucratic behavior, and unless malicious, it will not be subject to legal sanctions. Therefore, the United States protects the proper dissemination of advertising information based on the First Amendment. But meanwhile, many state governments protect consumers from fraudulent advertising through administrative and judicial approaches. Long ago, Western scholars have pointed out that in terms of the positioning of social roles, the main function of advertising is to promote goods, services and ideas. In modern economic life, advertising is the most pivotal salesman. It not only sells goods, but also promotes the newspaper itself, bringing ample income to the newspaper. However, while despite the revenue the advertising has brought, it has caused considerable damage to newspapers. Therefore, scholars have also sharply criticized advertisements. On Publishing Advertisements, the thirteenth chapter of Practical Journalism written by American journalist and scholar Hughman, whose work was translated and published earlier in China, talked about the positive support of advertising for newspapers with abundant texts. The chapter emphasizes that “whether a newspaper has advertisement will determine its fate of development. In terms of US newspapers, half of the income comes from advertisement. The fees of subscribing newspaper are only enough for the purchase of paper, ink and stamps. The salary of the newspaper’s staff and other income for supporting the newspaper office are also derived from the advertising fee. If a newspaper is widely distributed, then more advertisements will find the newspaper for publication; due to the wide distribution, 17 [UK]

The Times Newspaper Office, The History of the London Times, 1st edition, Page 20, Vol. 1, United Kingdom, 1935.

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there will be more people who love reading accessible to the newspaper. The publication of the advertisement is completely legitimate, are also sufficient to expand the income and thus the reputation of the newspaper.”18 Multiple Voices, One World, a research report of the International Communication Committee, also points out the significance of advertising to newspapers and other news media. The report states that “one of the most profitable sectors of the exchange industry is the advertising industry, which has multiple branches and channels across the country. Although the size and scope of advertising companies in the United States are growing, and we have the impression that advertising is mainly a phenomenon unique to the United States, it actually has become a worldwide activity. The amount of money spent on advertising every year has reached 64 billion US dollars. More than half of it is used in the United States, but several other countries—Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, Canada—each spends more than 1 billion. Most of the communication tools are increasingly dependent on advertising. Newspapers run by private companies in the world are almost impossible to survive without advertising. As for radio and television, advertising actually provides the only income for private broadcasters that dominate the United States and Latin America, and is an important source of financing in other countries.” This report analyzes the impact of advertising on public consumption behavior, including unproper consumption direction, as it states that “the difference between advertising and newspaper edited content as well as broadcasting or television program is that advertising has a public attraction purpose. Controversial debates are impossible to be seen in advertising in terms of its conditions. As the main purpose of advertising is to promote goods and services that can be valued in currency, it tends to advocate the belief and lifestyle that sacrifices other values ​​but praises possession and consumption. The possession of a specific material is hailed as a social standard. As a result, the people without such material will feel being out of date or out of place. Commercial advertising funds may greatly exceed those of individuals or groups that disapprove sales trend, and even are more than the funds possessed by the government. Therefore, the advertising expenses used by the government to remind consumers to pay attention to the harmfulness of smoking can be pale before the advertising fee paid by tobacco companies. There are various control and safeguard measures, for example, the conduct code of advertisers, the law that ensures the accuracy of the factual reports, and the law on acceptable conditions that empowers the broadcasting and television authorities to prohibit certain forms of advertisements (for example, some countries allow tobacco advertisements to be published on posters and newspapers, but they are not allowed to be broadcast on the radio or on

18 Yu

Jiahong, Ning Shufan, Xu Peiting, Tan Qitai, Journalism, 1st edition, Page 241, Beijing, China Press, 1987.

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television). This type of control can reduce but not eliminate the full impact of advertising.” The report also highlights the dangers of Western powers’ controlling advertising to developing countries and the possible threat posed by advertisers to freedom of the press. The report writes that “small countries, especially developing countries, face a special problem - The control of advertising is largely in the hands of several large organizations. Among them, four organizations’ (three in the United States and one in Japan) annual cost all exceeds $1 billion. They are multinational corporations that make advertisements directly or through the subsidiaries for newspapers, radio and television stations in many countries around the world. Hence, the funds of some developing countries’ broadcasting systems, and even their actual survival, depend not only on domestic advertising but also on imported advertising. In this case, the conduct code of advertising becomes more difficult to comply with. Considering this, many people regard advertising as a threat to the full play of many developing country’s cultural identity and domestic capabilities: it brings foreign ethical norms to many people; it may direct the needs of consumers in developing countries to the areas that affect development priorities; it affects and can often change people’s lifestyles. Moreover, the threat of withdrawing advertisements, whether caused by private companies or by the government, may threaten the freedom of the press.”19 Actually, many journalism scholars and insiders in the West have already pointed out that advertisers may use huge advertising revenue to control the news media, thus undermining the freedom of speech and publication. Henry Ruth, a newspaper owner in the United States, called the American Association of Advertisers as “American Appropriations Committee for Newspaper.” In a letter to the American Association of Advertisers, he wrote that “your association is the only court on the planet that I will be subject to. My only law is the contract between the advertising employer and the editor… The survival of (my) Life magazine will depend on you - the American Appropriations Committee for Newspaper.”20 Free and Responsible Newspapers, a report of the US Press Freedom Commission, also shows the advertisers’ control over the news media through specific examples. In a US steel worker strike, the US Steel Company published the company’s anti-strike advertisement in 1,400 newspapers through the US Press Council (an advertising agency of 4,000 weekly newspapers and daily newspapers for small cities) and requested them to publish the “editorial” and “message” written by the company itself. In response to these facts, American journalist Frank Mott said that “it is foolish to deny that powerful advertisers sometimes control the publication of newspapers.” However, 19 International Exchange Research Committee, Multiple Voices, One World, 1st edition, Page 150–152, Beijing, China Foreign Translation Publishing Company, 1981. 20 Quoted from Zhang Longdong and Fu Xianming, Compilation of History of Foreign Journalism, 1st edition, Page 446, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1988.

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he pointed out that this situation often occurs in some tabloids. Advertisers adopt more concealed and ingenious means to give orders to the major newspapers.21 From the inside of the media, considerable advertising revenues often make advertisers arrogant about the news layout. In the layout of Western media, the advertisements should be positioned first, and then the editors will fill the press releases. The news becomes the filler of the advertisements. This has largely deviated from the original intention of the news media in this world. In short, in Western countries, the news media cannot do without advertising, but it must also be careful of the traps set by advertisers. That is, for the news media, advertising is a double-edged sword. 4.2   Advertising Dissemination of China’s News Media China features one of the first countries in the world to have advertising. Because thousands of years ago, China, like the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, India, Greece and more, there were commodity production and exchange, and thus advertising emerged. Newspaper advertisements appeared in China around the Opium War. In the early nineteenth century, foreigners began to run newspapers in China, which not only published news and comments, but also had advertisements. Then, no matter whether the outsiders run newspapers or the Chinese people, they all attach importance to the absorption and dissemination of advertisements. The reason is the same as it of the West, that is, advertising revenue is crucial to the survival and development of newspapers and periodicals. Xu Baohuang is the writer of the first news theory in China, and in his work Journalism, the tenth chapter Advertising of Newspaper has an elaborated discussion on this. Xu said in the book that “the most important income of newspaper is advertising fees. It is not enough to cover the costs with the sale of newspapers. It is also known to the world. Therefore, the number of advertisements determine the survival of the newspaper. The newspaper with ample advertisements, for the one hand, can be economically independent, and there is no need for it to be subsidized by the people, so that it enjoys full freedom of speech. For the other, the income from advertisements can be used to expand the report, increase materials and reduce investment so as to expand its sales. Properly published, advertisements can attract the attention of most people, the effect of which can be parallel to the news. In the sense, the increase in advertising is also sufficient to promote the sales of a newspaper. For the interest of a newspaper, it is necessary to make efforts in its advertising. Moreover, advertising is a powerful commercial medium. The sale of new items and old goods, and 21 [US]

Frank Luther Motte, The American News, 1st edition, Page 183, United States, 1952.

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the advantages of something can be conveyed to the whole society through advertisements, which not only stimulate the people to buy the goods. With advertisements, the new company can enroll the share capital, and the old company can promote business. Therefore, it is no doubts that advertisements can promote business. Moreover, advertising also serves as the medium in employment. For example, when a company wants to recruit a manager but finds no one, and someone wants to be the manager and finds no position, an advertisement can fulfill both their wishes. For developing business and facilitate recruitments, the newspaper has the necessity to make efforts in advertisement.”22 What is commendable is that Xu Baohuang has already proposed in the book that the news media should have an ethical awareness of advertising. He said that “advertisers are different from goods. Merchants can sell goods to anyone who is willing to pay. The news agency should not hold the same attitude to advertising. They should review the contents first. If the content is true and subject to social morality, then it can be published. If it is fraudulent advertising such as the sale of aphrodisiac, syphilis medicines, or famous prostitute to Beijing, then it should not be accepted no matter how much money is paid. If the false deception of advertising causes the readers’ property loss, this loss, even if legally, cannot be compensated to the news agency, but in terms of morality, the agency has the obligation to make compensation. Therefore, if a newspaper publishes an improper advertisement, it will damage the credit of the advertisement and decrease its value. The final result must be the decrease of advertising on the newspaper.”23 In the book Newspaper History of China published in 1927, the journalism historian Ge Gongzhen conducted a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the history and current situation of Chinese advertising. He pointed out that advertising is not only related to business development, but also featured by ideological and cultural values. He said that advertising is not only a history of business development, but also a record of cultural progress. It not only serves as a means for the business community to sell products, but also has the mission of propagating culture and educating the masses. He also opposed the spread of unproper advertisements, pointing out that unethical and unfaithful advertisements are not only a major worry for the real industry in China, but also a shame for the advertising industry. Since China began to set advertising teaching and research at Peking University in 1918, the teaching and research has been intermittent for more than 80 years. Since then, many universities’ newspapers, journalism, communication and business departments all have offered courses in advertising.

22 Xu Baohuang, Journalism, 1st edition, Page 85, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1994. 23 Xu Baohuang, Journalism, 1st edition, Page 86, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 1994.

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Ever since the reform and opening up, the first textbook of advertising is Practical Advertising co-written by Tang Zhongpu and Jia Bin (1981). This book makes a comprehensive discussion of the characteristics of socialist advertising and the functions of advertising for the first time. The author proposes that the characteristics of socialist advertising are: 1. Authenticity: The life of advertising lies in reality. This is a principle with universal significance. No matter in what era or occasion, an unreal advertisement is impossible to win the trust of the public, and thus will inevitably lose the value of its existence. 2. Ideology: Advertising is not only an economic phenomenon, but also an ideology. It goes with the art forms such as literature, art, music, drama, film, etc., and takes television, radio, newspapers and periodicals as a medium. It has a huge influence on social culture and atmosphere. 3. Planning: The author starts from the economic system at that time and points out that socialist advertising activities must be based on the consistent interests of the state, the collective and the individual, and accept the guidance of the state plan and the unified management of the people’s government. The author believes that the functions of advertising are: disseminating information, accelerating circulation, facilitating competition, guiding consumption and enriching cultural life. The author also makes a more in-depth analysis of the characteristics, advantages and limitations of the major media of advertising, especially newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and introduces the applicability of these media in specific commodities, making the book instructive. Chinese scholars, like Western scholars, have much exposition about the relationship between advertising and media, and the dependence of modern media on advertising, but there are few unique features in the exposition. The authors of some works have studied these aspects in a more comprehensive perspective. For example, Zhong Yiqian, the author of Media and Advertising, believes that the relationship between news media and advertising should be examined separately in terms of quantity and quality. The author points out that in the case of text media, the quantitative relationship to be examined is: 1. The actual number of text media reaching media consumers, but this is difficult to be achieved in China; 2. The number of readers; 3. The actual number of people who are exposed to advertisements in the text media and their composition. The above three aspects can be defined as media size, total media utilization and advertising utilization. As far as newspapers and magazines are

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concerned, they can actually be regarded as the circulation, total reading rate and advertising reading rate. Taking electronic media as an example, the quantitative relationship to be examined is: 1. Distribution of the media; 2. The user number in electronic media; 3. The user number of advertisements in electronic media. The so-called qualitative relationship between advertising and news media is mainly to examine the characteristics of various news media, which are an important reference for advertisers to choose and use the media. This kind of quality control includes the timing of advertising, the length of time, the performance, the degree of visualization, the clarification ability, the dependence of the audience, the color, the impression. These factors will affect the impact of advertising. The author’s analysis shows that Chinese scholars have made great stride in the study of the relationship between media and advertising. Based on the fact that news media is increasingly dependent on advertising revenue (some media advertising revenues account for 80% of the total), some scholars have begun to examine the positive and negative influence of advertisers on the media. The research and conclusions in this regard are closer to those in the West. Some Chinese public believe that the authenticity of news is more reliable than the advertising, and the false advertising is over-whelming. A small number of advertisers have wooed journalists to write touted reports for them (this kind of report is called soft advertising) to replace advertising. These situations have drawn the attention of the authorities and the news dissemination industry. It is required to strictly separate the advertising management department from the news editing department, and the measures that journalists are not allowed to participate in advertising have begun to take effect. But the elimination of these phenomena will take some time and more hard work.

5  Some Conclusions on the Practice Views of Chinese and Western Journalism and Communication From above, we examined the practice of Chinese and Western news media in terms of information sources, news processing, news commentary, layout and advertising. We found that there are many identical and similar places between them, and there are also different and even opposite operations. Marx said that “the achievement extent of a theory in a country is always determined by how much the country needs the theory.”24 The 24 Selections

of Marx and Engels, Chinese 2nd edition, Page 11, Vol. 1, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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implementation extent of journalism communication and the principle of operation in various countries depends first on how much this theory meets the needs of a country’s guidance, that is, the influence of explaining, dominating and guiding the reality. In turn, from the perspective that theory meets the needs of reality, we can also reflect on the scientific degree of the theory itself, and carry out more reflection and test on this theory. Through the practice views of Chinese and Western journalism and communication, we first realize that the impact and restriction of economic development and social productivity level on journalism and communication practice are direct and positive. The relationship between news media and advertising is a convincing example. In Western capitalist countries, advertising has tremendous support for the survival and development of news media. Today, it is not exaggeration to say that advertising revenue is the blood of the news media. Is this also true to the socialist countries? Is it advisory that the news media of the socialist countries have no advertising revenues but rely solely on government funds? Some people with the “Left” thinking have fiercely opposed that the socialist newspapers and magazines were involved in advertising. Soon after the victory of the Russian Revolution, some people in the party opposed the advertisement to be published on Pravda. Lenin criticized these people as “innocent young lady around the age of twelve.” He scolded that “if you do not allow any advertisements on Pravda, where can it get money?”25 Some of the party newspapers and military newspapers in New China did not advertise. Some people said that how could the party’s newspaper publish advertisements? The implication is that advertisements are “dirty and mean.” At present, with the deepening of economic system reform and news reform, such remarks have been wiped out. This is enough to showcase that China’s productivity development has created a lot of social needs for advertising. Therefore, the practical and theoretical research on advertising has naturally been carried out extensively and deeply. The practice of Chinese and Western journalism and communication is also similar in the following respects—both sides pay attention to mining and protecting sources of information, carefully hand news, and organize news commentary extensively. In fact, this means that both Chinese and Western countries emphasize expanding their coverage and increasing the amount of information. They both set the configuration of news, layouts and programs in a more rational, effective manner so as to better meet the needs of the audiences. The means and methods of Chinese and Western journalism and communication practice, such as the programming techniques of news, the production technology of advertisements and the evolution of commentary style, are more modernized. The effect of communication is becoming more optimized. This is also one aspect of the similarity. 25 Lenin's

Manuscript, Chinese 1st edition, Page 350, Vol. 4, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1978.

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The progress in journalism and communication in many countries in China and the West confirms Engels’s words—once there is a technical need in society, the need will push science forward even more powerfully than 10 universities will do. From a modern perspective, the seventeenth and eighteenth-century newspapers were not skillful at layout. At that time, the layout was divided into two columns. The news and articles were arranged in such order: from the top to the bottom in the left column first, and then in the right column. The current newspaper layout is more complicated and richer, with color, headline and photo pictures, which are lively and colorful. This layout methods and technological advancement reflect the socio-economic and cultural development and also indicate the improvement of the news means itself. The development of journalism and communication practice is resulted from the news concept evolution. In the stage of the political party’s newspaper, the owner of the newspaper is the party, and everything works around the needs and interests of the communicator. The party created a newspaper to promote the party, and all the practices and technologies that are conducive to propaganda will be supported and adopted. Therefore, the actual needs and feelings of the audience are rarely considered. In the stage of popularizing mass newspaper, the reports and comments of the newspapers were transferred to the acceptance and satisfaction of public. The focus was gradually changed from the communicator to the audience, and highlights of the newspaper operation were shifted from propaganda to news. Under these new conditions, the improvement of the layout means is indispensable. The news processing, news commentary, layout methods, and even the planning and production of advertisements naturally progress. These circumstances showcase that the changes, adjustments and reforms of the news concept and news practice are inseparable from the changes in the macro-situation at home and abroad and the micro-changes in the journalism and communication community itself. The practice of journalism and communication is advancing with the changes in and outside the journalism and communication community. The practice of journalism and communication in China and the West differ due to the different national conditions, different social roles played by the media and different historical and cultural backgrounds. The connotation of the practice itself and its characteristics are also different. This disparity is mainly manifested in three aspects: 1. Different Roles of the News Media The news media in Western countries are positioned as the “speaker” and “fourth power” of citizens. Therefore, they pay attention to the supervision of the government and officials in the news processing, and the balance of public opinion in the editorial, and in terms of layout, they put the news of social conditions and public opinion in an important position. China’s news

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media is emphasized to be the mouthpiece of the party and the government, speaking on behalf of the party and the government. Therefore, the news processing always sets the news of the leading organs and leaders as priority, and regards news commentary, especially editorial, as the attitudes shown by the leading organs, while the activities and voices of the masses were reflected less, and their status was not prominent. 2. Different functions of the News Media The news media in Western countries are positioned as mass communication tools. The main function of news dissemination is featured by the supervision and criticism on the government and officials from the people, and serves as the guards of the social news media. Therefore, in Western newspapers and radio and television programs, the proportion of criticism, investigation and analysis of news is large, and they reveal the reality to a great degree, communication effect of which is also agreeable. Thanks to this, many media have gained a high reputation, and some journalists, editors and columnists have won praise from the society. The main function of the Chinese news media is to be a good mouthpiece for the party and the government. Therefore, its main and large amount of work is to convey the intentions and instructions of the leaders and the leading organs. The conference news, the leaders’ speeches and the daily activities of the leaders dominate the newspapers and programs. The editorial and commentary follow the speaking style of the leaders, sometimes are featured by the reproachful tone of a long-term officer, affecting the enthusiasm and creativity of the grassroots and the people. 3. Different Operating Mechanisms of the News Media Due to the different roles and main functions, the specific operations of the Chinese and Western news media also differ. Western countries’ news media “opposite the editorial page.” It is firstly to maintain the interests of the publisher and the interests of the consortium of the media. Second, it is to reflect the “equality” between the media owners and citizens, and the “consistency” between editorial authors and ordinary readers. Such practice is impossible to be seen in China. In terms of news processing and layout, Western news media, especially the non-governmental news media, can ignore the official reports of the general activities of heads of state or government, and independently publish reports of unofficial activities that journalists consider to be of interest to readers. They can put the relevant news of the President or Prime Minister to the second half of the report, and set the reports that the people are most concerned about in the first half or even the headlines. China’s news media has a prominent feature in its layout, that is, the leaders’ comments on a news event are often placed before news events, and their comments on a sudden incident, especially editorials, are generally placed in

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prior to this event. In China, there was a time period when advertisements were not allowed to be published. The public secret that the news media could survive without advertising is that the country spent a lot of money in supporting the large number of news media. This situation is almost absent in modern Western countries. In short, all the characteristics of the practice of journalism and communication are related to the system and mechanism of the media, and also to the special nature and function of the Chinese news media.

CHAPTER 7

Comparison of Chinese and Western News Education

We must adapt ourselves to the operational needs of the news and public opinion in the new era and do a good job in building a news team with high standards. It is necessary to have a news team with strong political, professional, disciplined and positive style. ——Jiang Zemin The school of journalism cannot teach practical experience. Still, good journalism courses and good journalism teachers are extremely valuable to those who want to be journalists. ——Jack Haydn

Journalism education is a professional education for imparting knowledge and skills of journalism and training journalists. The main form of journalism education is formal, systematic college education. Another important form is the lifelong and continuing education for in-service journalism practitioners. The main methods include news cadre training courses, seminars, correspondence courses and publication teaching. Journalism education is the human resource guarantee for journalism and communication agencies and activities, and it is also the “upstream process” in the production process of journalism and communication. Journalism and communication has attached great importance to journalism education in the industry and abroad, saying that the college education of journalism is “the cradle of journalists,” and that news continuing education and lifelong education are “gas stations” and “charging stations” for journalism and communication. After the Second World War, some countries began to increase the curriculum of journalism education in basic education, making journalism education part of education for all. Since

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1_7

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the 1990s, some primary and secondary schools in some cities in China have also begun to educate primary and secondary school students on the basics of journalism.

1  News Education in Western Countries Formal and large-scale news education began in the United States and other Western developed countries. The US journalism education model is representative of Western countries. This model not only has a major impact on the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and other countries, but also has a considerable demonstration effect on China. In view of this, we will make a more detailed and comprehensive introduction to the US journalism education, and give a general introduction to Germany, Britain, France, Japan and other countries. 1.1   The US Journalism Education 1.1.1 Overview of American Journalism Education The history of American journalism education can be traced back to the early days of the civil war. In 1869, Washington and Lee University held a training course for printers and editors. In 1873, the University of Kansas set a printing knowledge class, and the University of Pennsylvania opened its first journalism course in the same year. The formal US journalism education began in the early twentieth century. The Department of Journalism at Central State University in Oklahoma was established in 1903. Four-year news teaching was founded in 1904 at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin. In 1908, the University of Missouri opened the first separate journalism school in the United States. In 1912, the School of Journalism in the Columbia University was established. The above-mentioned several university journalism colleges and departments are the earliest institutions of journalism in the world, so the United States can be called as the first birthplace of world journalism education. At the time of the opening of the School of Journalism in Columbia University in 1912, more than 30 universities or colleges in the United States offered journalism courses. In the mid-1930s, more than 450 colleges and universities in the United States had journalism courses. There has been an increase in the number of schools offering journalism courses after the Second World War. In 1969, there were 1148 colleges and universities offering different forms of journalism courses, including 719 with four-year teaching (212 with departments of journalism or news majors) and 429 with two-year teaching (77 with departments of the journalism or news majors). In the 1970s, there were news schools or journalism departments at every

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university in 50 states and a special zone. There are five schools of journalism on average in each state, and California is home to the largest number with 21 schools in total. At present, there are about 300 colleges and universities in the United States with four-year news teaching or communication colleges. Currently, journalism and mass communication have become popular majors in the United States, and more than 100,000 students have studied journalism and mass communication. The University of the United States began to give a master’s degree in journalism in the 1930s. The University of Missouri School of Journalism began its journalism Ph.D. in 1934. The journalism colleges in the United States are generally large in scale, contain many majors, and boast a long history. There are departments under a school and various major under the department—Six or seven even ten majors are set in a school. In the university journalism department, there may be as many as six or seven majors, or as few as two or three or only one major. The naming of various schools is not identical: school of journalism, school of communication, school of mass media, school of mass media techniques, school of journalism techniques, school of English & news, etc. The history of American journalism education can be roughly divided into three stages: the newspapering stage, the journalism stage and the mass communication stage. From the early twentieth century to the 1930s, American journalism teaching basically focused on newspapers and was limited to the history and practice of newspapers. After the First World War, radio broadcasts appeared; after the Second World War, televisions with sound and picture were gradually popularized. The content of journalism education has been broadened, and more news schools have established radio and television majors or added radio and television courses. In the 1940s, communication was first raised in the United States. Since the 1950s, many universities in the United States have established communication departments or schools. The schools of Journalism in the United States have a wide range of majors. The most common journalism school has a major in journalism-comment, followed by radio and television, photojournalism, advertising, magazines and public relations. The fewer and more special professions include news technology, photo promotion, oral communication, film photography, television recording, printing, urban interviewing, printing management and technology, recording industry management, distribution, agricultural journalism, domestic economic news, science and technology writing, journalism teaching and more. 1.1.2 Curriculum Setting There can be many or few courses in the schools of journalism, and the focuses of them also differ. In the early days, the course was mainly about vocational training, with emphasis on imparting news interviews and writing skills. After the 1920s, the focus began to be shifted to the humanities. Currently, most of courses of the four-year teaching schools and universities

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now take up about 25–30% of the total hours. The rest of the time is spent on social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. In teaching, both theory and practice are placed equally. There are magazines published in some of the general schools, and even many TV stations. These news media are not only targeted at teachers and students of the school, but also distributed to the public. Students have to participate in internships outside or inside the school according to the teaching arrangements, and obtain the necessary credits, before they can graduate. American journalism education emphasizes that students should learn and master a wide range of knowledge. The Missouri School of Journalism believes that journalism is not only a study of journalism, but also a masterpiece of all learning. It is especially difficult for journalists to correctly reflect all kinds of extremely complicated issues in the world through news means, and they have great responsibilities. No other jobs can be compared with journalist in terms of requiring a wide range of knowledge. It is based on this understanding that the department of journalism concentrates on basic courses in the first two years of the university, giving students a wide range of knowledge in the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, and does not begin teaching journalism until the third year. Even in the course of professional courses, students are required to take a certain number of advanced basic courses. In general, the ratio of professional courses to basic courses in the university journalism department is 1:3, that is, professional courses account for 25%, and basic courses account for 75% of all courses. Take the Missouri School of Journals as an example. The credits are: Credits for basic courses in general university 60 Credits for journalism courses 30 Credits for senior liberal arts courses 20 Credits for elective courses 10 Total 120 From the Missouri School of Journalism, the Department of Journalism at Stanford University, the Department of Journalism at the University of Kansas, the Department of Mass Communication at the University of California and the Department of Journalism at the California State University, the courses are not the same, but the basic courses generally include: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, biology, astronomy, geography, economics, political science, law, psychology, education, history, art and statistics. These courses are compulsory, elective or even interdepartmental. In the US journalism schools, where the credit system is adopted, students can transfer to another university with the credits accumulated by a university, and finally graduate from the second or third university. If a student has completed university courses in advance in the high school, he will also be allowed to earn credits, which will shorten his studying period in the university. With

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the credit system, students can choose to take courses that are related to the major or are of interest to them while ensuring that the required courses are completed. Each student can graduate as long as they gain the all required credits. This is conducive to mobilizing students to learning initiative, expanding their knowledge and improving the abilities of the students. In addition to the regular university of four-year teaching, the United States also has junior universities featured by two-year teaching. According to the survey, more than half of the over 900 junior universities offer courses in journalism. The most common ones are Introduction to Mass Communication, “Interview, Writing, Editing” and “Photojournalism.” In some junior universities, some advanced courses in journalism are also set up so that students can be employed after they have studied. In addition, there are about 5000 secondary schools in the United States that offer news courses, with approximately 75,000 elective students each year. There are 45,000 school newspapers, magazines and yearbooks in high and junior high schools, and 1 million students work for these newspapers. Students also learn the Principles of Radio and Television Production through teaching and afterschool club activities. It is believed that the steady increase in the enrollment rate of freshmen in the news and communication departments of American colleges and universities is inseparable from the teaching in secondary schools. 1.1.3 Students and Teachers American universities stipulate that students can only determine the major after completing the first and second grade courses. The major is determined by both the teacher and the student. The teacher can select the students, and the students can also choose the major. The selection of students in American journalism schools is extremely strict. The major criterion for the selection is whether students have the quality of journalism. In order to ensure the quality of students, to make them interested in the selected major, and to control a certain number of people, teachers should guide students to choose the right major. A wealth of knowledge, broad interests, keen observation and social activities are considered the most basic factors in the selection. In the opinion of teachers, if the students do not own these characteristics, they will not be able to complete training on international, scientific, economic and social reports, and cannot become qualified journalists. The Missouri School of Journalism has a strong demand for students’ sensitivity and judgment. Every student selected for journalism must accept a special examination on the two parts, which has become the tradition of the school. The men in charge of the US news schools all understand education and have extensive experience in journalism. The department heads are entitled to decide who to be the teacher. In the United States, the most ideal journalism professional teachers are considered to be experienced journalists. Henry, the former director of the Department of Journalism at Stanford University, and Bush, the former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at California State

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University, believe that professors engaged in journalism must be senior journalists. Many of the professors at the Department of Journalism at Stanford University have worked on journalism for more than 10 years. Among them, some have served as director of the News Department of Columbia Broadcasting System, and the program director of San Francisco Radio. Some old newspapermen and old journalists well-known in the society, although retired, are still employed as professors to teach young students with their rich experience. In the United States, assessing journalism professors is not only based on whether they publish papers or not, but more importantly, on the years of journalism qualifications and the number of reports published in the past. 1.1.4 Teaching Methods The teaching of American journalism colleges and universities advocates selfstudy, emphasizes practice and encourages students to think independently. In academics, emphasis is placed on expressing own opinions and equal debate is advocated on different opinions. This puts forward strict requirements in business skills as well as meticulous training. In the regular t­ eaching, the US journalism colleges and universities insist on the combination of teaching and scientific research, and the lectures are undertaken by professors, who mainly give academic reports and preside over academic discussions. Students must complete the specified reference book before the lecture. The professor’s special report is not based on the textbook and not a simple repetition of the contents of the textbook. Instead, it is mainly featured by the lectures and practical materials, and sometimes videos are played in the course. In the class, students are allowed to ask questions freely and express different opinions. Concerning the journalism teaching in the United States, in addition to news history and news theory, other professional skills courses (interview writing and program production, etc.) are not based on lectures, but emphasize practice. The courses adopt the form of “intensive explanation” and “extensive practice.” The former is basically a typical demonstration by the professor in the classroom. In terms of the latter, after imparting the key knowledge to the students in the business class, they will do their own work independently. The US journalism students start rigorous business skills training in the third year. In addition to completing some of their extracurricular assignments, they spend most of their time on the radio and television stations to complete the official broadcast of the program, or to complete the publication of the newspaper in the newspaper office. This kind of internship replaces the production internships uniformly arranged by Chinese journalism colleges and universities. To provide more internship opportunities for students, most news colleges and universities in the United States have radio stations, television stations and newspapers. This kind of campus media is socially oriented. Radio

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stations and TV stations have their own call signs, special bands and channels, have their own technical equipment, and have standardized news, special topics, literature, sports and advertising programs. Some are all-day broadcasts, and others are the part-time broadcast. Newspapers are also publicly distributed with some daily magazines, every-two-day magazines, weekly magazines and half-month magazines. There are various columns. As soon as the students of the journalism department enter the professional studying, they will directly participate in the editing, broadcasting and advertising production activities of the media sponsored by these institutions. On the campus, in addition to the professional internships in the school media, some of the students serve as correspondents for newspapers and radio and television networks such as The New York Times. They conduct professional internships through a number of special reports. Holidays are a good time for students to practice. They take advantage of the opportunity to intern outside home and earn income as a tuition fee. Most schools do not take the initiative to arrange for students to intern in newspaper offices and radio and television stations. However, the school is also willing to recommend some students with excellent academic performances to the media for internships. Because this enables the school to win honors because of the outstanding performance of these students, and allows students to have an early fame in society. For students with poor academic performance, the school will not let them go out for an internship. 1.1.5 Postgraduate Education and School Ranking The United States has ample job opportunities for journalism, but it is not easy for journalism graduates to find jobs in recent years. It is even harder for journalism graduates, especially undergraduate graduates, to find jobs in larger media or famous media companies. Within the context, many undergraduate journalism graduates are enrolled in postgraduate studies in order to find ideal jobs in the future. In 1994, there were more than 10,000 students in the 171 journalism graduate schools and departments in the country, an increase of 25% over 1990. During the postgraduate study period, these students continued to study advanced business subjects related to their majors, and were engaged in theoretical research with much energy, for they may enter research institutions or teaching units after graduation. The courses they study belong to social sciences and humanities other than journalism, such as education, linguistics, political science, psychology and sociology. Research methods play an important role in teaching. In addition to learning general qualitative analysis methods, students must also master quantitative analysis methods. After fulfilling the postgraduate education, the students are still not guaranteed to have a satisfactory job. A survey showcases that, in the 170 students with master degrees in the Medier School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1994, more than two-thirds were given jobs of print media or electronic media, which is of interest to them.

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With the popularity of computer science and technology, American journalism colleges and universities have opened courses such as “digital news” and “computer news” in recent years. These new lessons are not only limited to the initial stage of word processing or typesetting. Students can also learn to change many news into secondary information through database and network, which has impacted on the thinking mode and working style of journalism students. American colleges and universities underscore rankings. In journalism colleges and universities, there are also a number of prestigious universities with high standards of admission, strict teaching and fruitful research results. These schools not only have a leading position in American journalism education, but also have a considerable impact on the world journalism education community. In early 1997, the magazine US News and World Report conducted a random sample survey of 340 journalism college principals and key teachers in the United States, who were asked rank schools’ comprehensive strength according to advertisements, public relations, text news and broadcast news for each university, school and department. The best journalism schools in the United States were also selected out by doing so. The results are: the champion is Northwestern University Medier School of Journalism, followed by the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the University of Texas at Austin, Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 1.1.6 Major News Education Organization The American Association for Education in Journalism (AEJ), founded in 1912, is the national organization of journalism teaching workers. There are two administrative agencies under the Association. One is the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism (AASDJ), which was founded in 1917. It has absorbed all the schools and departments as the members approved by the American Council for Education in Journalism (ACEJ, established in 1939). Another one is the Association of Executive Leaders in the School and Department of Journalism. It was established in 1944 and all executive heads of the US schools and departments of journalism can apply for the membership. The publications of the AEJ include the Journalism Quarterly, the Journalism Educator, the Thesis Collection of Journalism and the Journalism Research Digest. 1.1.7 Employment Status Various vocational organizations provide employment services for those who are determined to work in journalism. In the newspapers and magazines, there are the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the American Society of Magazine Editors and the National Association of Female Journalists. In the area of radio and television, there are the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Broadcasting Education Association and

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the American Broadcasting and Television Women’s Federation. In terms of photojournalism, there are the National Photojournalist Association and the National Association of Freelance Photographers. Since 1945, the number of American daily newspapers has remained at 1700, up from 1556 in 1993. The newspaper industry is the fourth largest industry in the United States and the fifth most employed industry. In 1993, the US newspaper industry had 452,000 employees, of which about 15% engaged in news gathering and editing, or nearly 70,000. The size of the newspapers varies widely. The New York Times had 6000 employees, while some rural weekly newspapers had only three or four people. There are about 10,000 radio stations in the United States, but there are not many people employed. According to estimates by the Federal Communications Commission, the total number of radio employees is only 68,000, of which 65,000 work on commercial radio and only 3000 on non-commercial radio. More than 50,000 people work at the company headquarters or on the radio and television network. In recent years, the number of ethnic minorities and women in the industry has increased. The former has increased from 10% of the total number of employees in 1977 to 15% in 1987, and the latter has increased from 28 to 40%. A typical commercial station employs approximately 17 full-time staff and 5 part-time staff. Eight of the 17 full-time staff members run the program, five run marketing, three are engaged in advertising broadcasts and office affairs and one is in charge of technology. Part-time staff are generally broadcasters or copyist. There are about 1400 television stations in the United States, of which 75% are commercial stations. The total number of TV station employees is 73,000, including 65,000 in commercial stations and 8000 in public stations. Today, the proportion of female employees in commercial and public stations is 35 and 43%, respectively, and ethnic minorities account for about 18%. As in other countries, the US cable industry has outperformed all other communication industries. In 1960, there were only 640 cable TV stations and 700,000 users in the United States. By 1995, the total number of cable stations had increased to 12,500 and the number of users had reached 60.28 million. The most famous is the Cable News Network (CNN), which was founded in 1980. In the late 1970s and the mid-1980s, the cable industry created 1000 new jobs a month, an incredible number in the midst of a depressed economy. It is estimated that by the end of the 1980s, the cable industry had a total of about 100,000 employees, an increase of nearly 30% over 1985. A large cable station with more than 50,000 users is the same size as a large TV station, employing more than 75 full-time staff. A medium-sized cable station with 10,000–50,000 users employs 25–50 staff, which is comparable to a large station. A small cable station with less than 10,000 employees has no more than 20 employees. Employees of cable stations are generally divided into two categories: technicians and literary staff. The number of news editors is only a minority.

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In general, the communications industry is thriving in the United States, and its growth rate is higher than the average of all industries. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1982 and 1995, employment in the communications industry increased by 40%. 1.2   Journalism Education in Germany 1.2.1 Sources of German Journalists There are currently about 60,000 journalists working in newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and public and private publishing houses. Some of them are employed as editors and journalists, and others are working as “freelance journalists.” Most of them belong to two industry organizations, including about 25,000 members in the German Journalist Association and about 20,000 members in the Mass Media Industry Union. The German magazine Speak and Write has analyzed four ways to enter the German press industry: 1.  In Germany, after graduating from high school, journalism trainees will receive two years of vocational training as a freelancer or an intern (accounting for about 15%, with a decreasing trend). 2. After graduating from high school, the person will enter a journalism academy or receive a variety of professional training and education courses for journalists (about 10%). 3. After graduating from high school, the person will be admitted to the university, obtain a certain degree and receive short-term special training (about 50%, with an increasing trend). 4. After graduating from high school, the person will be admitted to the university majoring in journalism, writing or media science, and then engaged in journalism (currently between 15 and 20%, with an increasing trend). According to the magazine’s survey, most media chief editors prefer to hire people with college degrees. The most popular majors are law, biology and business management, followed by the humanities, headed by German language and literature. The majors of journalism and media science are ranked on the rear. The editors are unanimous that the courses of these majors are not a substitute for professional training, and that such training should be arranged for a minimum of 18 months, just like many other specialized colleges that focus on practical experience. These editors also believe that the courses of these majors in journalism are too theoretical, and many university journalism courses lack sufficient practice activities and even internship training. This is evident in the praises from the editor-in-chief for the Dortmund University journalism courses. As the journalism students of the university

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not only complete a lot of practical work, but also receive 12 months of comprehensive internship training as a compulsory course, the graduates are easily recruited by the media as journalists. The training plan in the University of Dortmund is currently a special case, but there will soon be other universities following it, such as the University of Leipzig, which is preparing to set up a program that includes internship. In general, however, people who study journalism and media science in Germany are not advantageous than those with traditional majors. Some advocate to set media science as a minor, so that at least less time will be wasted. 1.2.2 Characteristics of the Journalism Education in Germany According to the Hannover Institute of Journalism and Communication, 35% of journalism workers who belonged to the Federal Republic of Germany received university education, while the number is more than for those who belonged to the Democratic Republic of Germany. Even most of the college students are not journalism majors. According to the Frankfurt Review, in the newspaper office, the majority of the journalists, who graduated from a university or research institute, did not major in journalism, but in literature, economics, law or natural sciences. These people have a high level of knowledge, including bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, but after coming to the newspaper, they must go through a stage of training in journalism skills. Otherwise, they cannot be qualified to do the job. As the chief editors have criticized, German universities have seldom taught journalism practice for a long time, and do not pay attention to the cultivation of students’ practical abilities. In order to overcome this oftenblamed shortcoming, currently the universities such as Bamberg, Bochum, Dortmund, Eisenstadt, Giessen, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Mainz, Munich, Stuttgart-Hornheim have been planning to offer courses on journalism practice for students. Meanwhile, they also cooperate with newspapers, radio and television stations, etc., and arrange a large number of practical activities, so that students can pay attention to the combination of theory and practice at the beginning. Currently in Germany, the youngsters who want to become journalists generally have to practice for two years in an editorial office. Sometimes, it can be shorter. The German Association for Journalists and the Mass Media Industry Union reached a collective training agreement in 1990 to provide young people with practical training opportunities inside and outside the media company and to entrust editors to train “apprentices.” The colleges and universities that belonged to the Federal Republic of Germany to cultivate journalism talents include the German Munich Journalism School, the Berlin School of Journalism, the Hamburg Henry-Nan College, the Holzbrink Economics and Journalism School in Düsseldorf, Kessel Springer School of Journalism in Hamburg and Berlin,

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Munich Institute of Film and Television, Berlin’s German Academy of Film and Television and the Cologne School of Journalism. There are also a number of institutions engaged in higher-level journalism education, including the Hamburg News Institute, the Bavarian Press and Research Institute, the German Institute of Journalism and Education in Hagen and the Protestant Media Institute in Frankfurt. The Free University of Berlin also offers specialized courses for journalists to receive higher education. Two-thirds of former German Democratic Republic journalists graduated from the Department of Journalism in the Karl Marx University in Leipzig (called journalism major before 1969). This university, known as the “Red Monastery” to cultivate news cadres, generally only accepted the social activists of Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, the ruling party of German Democratic Republic. In the university, Marxist-Leninist knowledge is more important than professional quality. 1.3   Journalism Education in Japan Japan’s daily newspaper was born in 1870 (Yokohama Daily News was founded in Yokohama City in April 1870). From then until the beginning of the twentieth century, Japanese journalists could be divided into two groups. One group of journalists, with specific knowledge, write editorials, comments, and political messages for newspapers, who are called “hard” reporters. The other group is the “soft” reporters, who write crime news and drama news. Some of them are not well educated, even illiterate, but they are sensitive to news and good at inquiring about the news. The newspaper offices send them to visit the streets and the police station, acquiring social news. They bring back the collected materials and dictate them to the people who will write the articles. These people are not called journalists, but “news hunters.” With the increase in the prestige of the newspaper and the expansion of the reporting coverage of the social news, this situation could no longer meet the needs. Since 1910, influential newspapers in Tokyo and Osaka have begun to hire college or university graduates as journalists for social news. In 1923, the Asahi Shimbun was the first to implement a system of journalist examinations. Since then, a batch of college graduates has been selected each April. This approach has also been adopted by other newspapers. After 1925, Japan entered the Showa era, and with the development of Japanese journalism, journalism education and research appeared. On November 1, 1929, Hideo Ono founded the Journalism Research Office at the Imperial University of Tokyo (now the University of Tokyo), and selected 11 graduate students from the three departments of law, literature and economics. The purpose was to cultivate journalists and talents for journalism education. This move marks the official beginning of this cause. In April 1932, he founded the three-year teaching journalism department of Sophia University, which was the first university discipline in Japan to train

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journalists. Later, the Department of Journalism at Meiji University was established. At that time, the journalism major of the Meiji University gave courses at night, and the task was to educate journalists and the young who are interested in being journalists for one year. After the Second World War, Japanese journalism achieved American-style freedom of the press, and newspapers and other media reached a high level in terms of speed, quality, effect, scope and number of issues. Since then, journalism education has achieved unprecedented development. In 1946, Waseda University and Keio University, and in 1947, the University of Japan, the Central University, the University of Political Science and Law, Kansai University, Kyoto University and Tohoku University established a journalism major or journalism courses. In May 1949, the Press Research Office of Tokyo Imperial University was reorganized into the News Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, and Hideo Ono was the first director of it. In the 1950s, after the introduction of mass communication theory from the United States, Japan injected new content into Japanese traditional journalism education. In Japanese journalism education, practice takes precedence over theory. There was no mechanism of training journalists in university, but the organization that trains journalists was concentrated in newspapers and broadcasters futured by “practice on site.” During the occupation by America after the Second World War, Japan tried to train journalists in universities (in accordance with the model of American journalism schools). In 1949, in line with the orders of the US military and political organs, the journalism departments were established at the three most authoritative universities: The National University of Tokyo, the private Waseda University and the University of Keio, but they existed for a short time. The reason is that traditionally, Japanese universities do not embrace practical education, but rather focus on historical essays. Second, Japanese newspapers and other news organizations do not care whether they have received news skill education in college when recruiting journalists. The journalism skill education of Japanese journalists is completed by themselves after entering the newspaper office. Therefore, although there are 49 universities in Japan that offer courses in journalism, communication or information exchange, there are few universities setting the Department of Journalism (or Department of Communication). Only the University of Tokyo and Keio University have Institutes of Journalism (focusing on both teaching and research) on the same level to departments. Most other universities have a journalism major or related courses in the Department of Literature or Sociology. Japanese journalism undergraduate students generally have a four-year program. The curriculum is broad, but the focus is on history and theory. There are few practical opportunities for college students, who cannot go to the newspapers for internships. At most, they visit the news organizations and listen to the introduction.

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There are few teachers in journalism in Japanese universities, and they usually have many lectures and heavy tasks. Tokyo, Keio, Sophia, Tokai, Kansai, Doshisha, Soka, Bunkyo universities are home to a group of journalism professors and scholars who are more famous in Japan today, and they frequently serve as the guest professors at each other’s universities. Most of the primary and secondary schools in Japan are equipped with specialized journalism education counselors, and have their own “school news,” namely, school newspapers and school journals. The school newspapers are mostly stereotyped, and their arrangement is similar to ordinary newspapers. School news ratings are conducted annually at the local and national levels. Through these activities, young people have received education in journalism and a huge talent pool is set for the development of journalism. Judging from the current situation in the Japanese journalism community, the focus of journalism education is on-the-job journalism education, that is, continuing education. Continuing education is divided into inner office education and national unified journalism education organized by the Press Association. Inner office education is first and foremost an entrance education. The focus of it is not the education of the business such as collecting or editing, but the traditional education, love for the office education and journalism ethics education for the new journalists who have just been selected from the university students, so that they can establish their work direction. It is followed by business education, which takes the approach that old reporters lead the new ones and adopts one-to-one training. Now, the major newspaper is mainly to send the newcomers to local branches, enabling them to get exercise in practice. Local newspapers still adopt the approach featured that old reporters guide new ones. In addition to entrance education, many newspapers also insist on regular internal education. The main method is to hold short-term training courses and lectures. The national unified journalist education organized by the Press Association is held regularly every year for two or three days, and the number of participants ranges from dozens to hundreds of people. There are two main types: lectures and seminars. The topics of them include editorial lectures and research, lectures and research by the Ministry of Social Affairs, business lectures and research, production technology lectures and research, sales seminars and research, advertising lectures, news photography lectures, and information survey lectures. In recent years, the number of training activities in the press has gradually increased. The activities include not only mutual visits and learning between domestic newspapers, but also international exchanges of journalists. In 1992, the University of Tokyo renamed the journalism research institute with the longest history of Japanese journalism education as the “Social Information Institute,” which is a milestone for Japanese journalism.

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Beginning from the 1950s, after the mass communication period, the Japanese journalism has entered the “social informatics” period in the 1990s. In response to the University of Tokyo, the University of Gunma established the School of Social Information, which consists of the Department of Social and Information Behavior, the Department of Policy and Administrative Information and the Department of Economics and Business Information. Each of these three departments has set up a variety of general courses and professional courses. The above-mentioned new changes that emerged after Japan entered the 1990s showcase that Japan’s news and communication education is constantly changing with the trend of the times. However, other veteran journalism colleges and universities (such as the journalism major in the University of Sophia) still focus on traditional journalism history. This also demonstrates that Japanese journalism education presents a variety of characteristics. 1.4   Journalism Education in the United Kingdom British is one of the earliest countries in the development of journalism. There are many news media, and also well-known journalists and commentators and columnists with sharp writing style. British is the first country in the Western countries to carry out industrial revolution. British is the first country in the west to carry out industrial revolution. The cultivation of talents in the industrial revolution is mainly that the experienced journalists teach the newcomers. The journalism industry, as one of the mass industries in the United Kingdom, also retains this traditional education method. The National Journalist Training Committee, established in 1952, specifically passed a bill on journalism education, stipulating that the education and training of British journalists should be done independently by the local press. Therefore, there is still no university in the United Kingdom with a journalism department for undergraduates and no university graduates for journalism. Currently, only City University in London and Cardiff University in Wales have a journalism research class and recruit university graduates. In the national newspaper published in London, most journalists and editors began their careers in journalism in local newspapers. Only a few reporters from the Financial Times came directly from higher education institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge. Reuters also directly recruits some college graduates. However, whether they are journalists, editors or university students of local newspapers and periodicals, if they want to participate in the work of national newspapers or news agencies, they need to apply first, and then pass the oral examination, business assessment, etc. Only by passing all the process can they be accepted. Therefore, it can be said that journalists, editors and even chief editors of local newspapers in the United Kingdom are the main source for the British national newspapers and magazines. Many journalists and editors working in local media have also been able to work in

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Fleet Street (the UK’s national newspaper concentration area) as their business goal. Within the context, the task of cultivating and training newcomers is borne by those newspaper groups that have local newspapers. At present, in addition to the Thomson Newspaper Group and the Westminster Newspaper Group, which have their own training centers, local newspaper groups have also formed a National Council for Journalist Training to coordinate the professional assessment of national journalists and to issue certificates to qualified persons, as well as to guide and supervise the training of local newspaper journalists. Journalists are required to attend training and can take part in on-the-job courses after work. Seven non-comprehensive institutions accredited by the National Commitment for Journalist Training in England and Wales offer one-year full-time study. Since 1990, it has been stipulated that if one wants to get professional qualification in journalism, he must first participate in a one-year full-time on-the-job training, and then pass the exam organized by the National Commission for Journalist Training. British radio and television reporters are generally transferred by newspaper reporters, and other personnel must also receive relevant training before entering the radio and television industry. The comprehensive colleges and universities responsible for training have set up journalism courses, and news education is divided into two categories. One is short-term training for those who have been recruited by the local newspapers and started the internship; the other is a one-year class. After the study of the journalism major, the student cannot apply for a qualification assessment right away, but has to work in a local newspaper for a while. According to regulations, it takes one and a half to two and a half years. The professional certificate obtained after the assessment is an important basis for seeking the position of the local newspaper or the national newspaper. The content of the assessment includes shorthand (one hundred words a minute), news law, political structure and the following news business: 1. An interview in internship; write a piece of 400–500 words news; the interview must be completed within one and a half hours; 2. Summarize a simulated government report into 300 words in one hour; 3. Write a 400–500 words message for a speech record within one hour; 4. A lot of questions in writing about the practice of journalism. 1.5   Journalism Education in France There are not many colleges and universities that offer journalism education in France. In 1995, the French magazine Newsletter listed 14 schools offering journalism education in the country, but only half of them were recognized by the French Association of Journalists. Among these schools, the most famous is the Paris Journalist Information Center. Others include the

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Senior Journalism School in Lille, the School of Information Technology at the University of Bordeaux and the Centre for Journalism and Information Research in Strasbourg. The setting of the French journalism curriculum is closely integrated with the actual needs of the news media. The Paris Journalist Information Centre offers a two-year professional course. In the first year, students are required to complete the courses including editing and typesetting technology, broadcasting, news agency and other text media and radio and television media courses, and to accomplish the two-month internship task. In the second year, students are supposed to complete courses related to radio, television and news agencies. While completing these journalism programs, the students also need to attend courses in politics, economics, international relations and sports offered by the school. Regarding teaching methods, in addition to lectures, the school also organize students to hold seminars and write a large number of critical articles. The University of Paris opened the Department of Expression and Communication Technology in 1971. Its purpose is to conduct sociological investigation and research on journalism and communication. The first category of the curriculum is reporting and language applications, including oral and essay performance, analysis of advertising texts, newspaper rhetoric and other courses. The second category is the reporting method, which is implemented in four stages from the introduction of the expression method to the special study. It also answers questions about newspapers, magazines, radio, television and advertising. The third category is “the status of the report.” It mainly uses psychological and sociological knowledge to analyze the position and attitude of the media for reporting social phenomena. The teaching organization of the Department of Expression and Communication Technology is quite lively. Most of the courses are class discussions. The professional training courses are conducted in professional institutions outside the university, such as the course Radio and TV Problems, which moves the class to the radio station. A female professor who used to be the instructor in the French Culture Radio Station asked students to arrange radio and television programs by themselves, from the design of the program, the writing of the script to the recording. In the course News Study, the desks are placed in the middle of the classroom, filled with various newspapers. The students compare them and discuss, and the professor pays attention to the students’ comments and makes a concluding remark. In the course Speaking and Essay Performance, the form of group study is adopted, and students discuss actively on the topic of “how can the language of advertising be inspired,” combined with advertising texts. French journalism colleges and universities and journalism majors enroll a small number of students. Therefore, students often have to undergo fierce competition after entering the school. It is not easy to pass the exam, but it is not difficult to find a job in the news media after graduation.

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2   Journalism Education in China 2.1   History and Status of Journalism Education in China Before the opening of journalism education in China, like the United Kingdom and other Western countries, China was also featured that the apprentices of journalism learned their skills from veteran journalists. Liang Fa, the first person writing for the modern Chinese newspapers and periodicals, began to follow the British missionary Milne from 1815 and worked as an engraver for Chinese Monthly Magazine. He learned to write and began writing for the press since middle high school. The reporter, Huang Sheng, was the editor of Hong Kong’s Chinese and Foreign News since 1845. Before that, he also had studied printing business in the China Mail sponsored by the British. Wang Tao, the well-known Chinese political commentator of modern newspaper, through writing for the Hong Kong’ Huajing Daily and other newspapers and periodicals, gradually became familiar with modern newspapers and periodicals, and finally cooperated with Huang Sheng in 1874 to publish the Circular Daily. China’s journalism education began in the early twentieth century. In 1918, the establishment of the journalism research conference of Peking University marks the beginning of Chinese journalism education. After entering the 1920s, journalism education in Chinese colleges and universities began to gain the foundation. From 1920 to 1929, 12 universities across the country successively created the Department of Journalism, mainly in Beijing and Shanghai. Among them, the Department of Journalism at Yanjing University, founded in 1924, and the Department of Journalism at Fudan University, founded in 1929, are the most complete in terms of teaching setting and have the longest development history. In 1949, there were more than 460 students in the journalism departments of various schools. The Communist Party of China began to establish journalism education in the revolutionary war years. From 1946 to 1949, it successively established Central China Vocational School, the Department of Journalism at North China United University, the East China News Cadre School and the Xinhua News Agency training class, which cultivated a number of backbone forces for the revolutionary journalism. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the journalism education began to enter a new era. In the early days of the founding, journalism education in colleges and universities carried out departmental adjustments and teaching reforms, merged or rescinded some of the journalism departments established before the founding, and established a number of news education units: Beijing News School (sponsored by the State Press Administration in 1949), Chinese Department of Journalism at Peking University (added after the adjustment of the department in 1953), the Senior News Class of Party School at the Central Committee of the

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Communist Party of China (opened in 1954) and the Department of Journalism at Renmin University of China (established in 1955). After adjusting and reforming, journalism education in colleges and universities implements a teaching policy that emphasizes both theory and business, and a comprehensive and systematic journalism education appears for the training of qualified personnel. After 1958, the journalism education cause was further developed. More than ten colleges and universities such as Jiangxi University, Hangzhou University, Xi’an Political and Law College, and Jinan University in Guangzhou successively set up journalism majors. In 1959, the Beijing Broadcasting Institute was established, which is the first institution of higher learning in China to train talents in radio and television. Meanwhile, various news organizations also established a number of amateur journalism schools or short-period training courses for in-job journalists. During this period, college and university journalism teaching emphasized the combination between education and production labor, and between theory and practice. Practice was strengthened, and classroom learning time was relatively shortened. By the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1959, there were about 1200 students in college and university majoring journalism, and nearly 2000 journalists were sent to the press in the 10 years. During the “Cultural Revolution,” the journalism education business was almost at a standstill, and it began to recover and gradually develop after 1978. The Department of Journalism of the Graduate School at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was established in 1978. By 1982, the number of journalism majors in colleges and universities nationwide had grown to 16, almost the scale before the Cultural Revolution. In 1983, the first national symposium for news education was held. In 1984, the establishment of the China Journalism Education Society promoted the development of journalism education. In the 13 years from 1983 to 1996, the journalism education flourished with remarkable results. By the end of 1996, there were 55 colleges and universities with journalism major in undergraduate education approved by the State Education Commission, 88 professional units and 9000 students. If we count the professional units that have not been filed by the State Education Commission in recent years, there are about 120 journalism teaching units in the country. At present, there are 21 units giving master’s degree program in journalism and communication, 6 uniting offering Ph.D., 1 post-doctoral station and 1 key subject unit, forming a comprehensive education pattern offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, China’s journalism education has delivered 30,000 graduates to the news unit, which is equivalent to twice the total number of graduates from 1949 to 1978. It also trains more than 1000 masters and more than 50 doctors, a considerable part of whom has become leading cadres and business backbone in the press.

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The changes in China’s journalism education over the years have mainly been: 1. The curriculum has been optimized and the news textbooks have been systemized. After the National Journalism Education Conference in 1951, a curriculum system for journalism was initially formed. In recent years, the system has been adjusted and reformed. Textbooks of news theory, Chinese and foreign news history, four major business courses including interview, writing, editorial and reviews, as well as radio and television news photography are currently available. Journalism students respond that they now have “ample books to read,” different to the “Cultural Revolution,” when there were only a few outlines and some documents, but no professional books. Since the 1980s, many journalism departments have also added a series of new courses, such as communication, advertising, public relations, journalism psychology, news law, journalism ethics, journalism management and laser phototypesetting, and provided students with elective courses in law, international relations, systems theory, information theory and cybernetics. 2. The faculty has expanded. In 1982, there were 364 journalism teachers across the country, and in 1996, it reached 1011. Among the teams, there were few professors in the 1980s, and there are more than 100 professors, many of whom have master’s and doctoral degrees. There are more than 200 part-time professors and associate professors. 3. Adult journalism education has developed rapidly. Journalism departments at Renmin University of China, Fudan University and more offer correspondence classes, special courses, and training courses to train a large number of journalists. News organizations such as People’s Daily, Workers’ Daily and China Youth Daily collaborate with journalism schools to train talents through publications and correspondence classes. Through the Self-study Examination of Adult Higher Education Self-study Examination organized by the Central Radio and Television University and the State Education Commission, a large number of journalistic talents are trained. In the past few years, more than 50,000 people have accepted journalism higher education through news adult education. 4. New systems of journalism are explored. In the news reform and education reform, many journalism colleges and universities have adopted various methods to explore new education systems. The School of Journalism at Hangzhou University has established a board of directors with the provincial and municipal newspapers, and the School of Journalism at Sichuan University has joined hands with enterprises to absorb social funds to jointly run schools. In the 20 years from 1978 to 1998, there were some problems in China’s journalism education. According to the statistics of the China Association of

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Journalists, among the people who won the national news awards, the proportion of journalism graduates is low. This showcases that the quality of journalism education is not ideal in one aspect. Among the 750,000 journalists in China, 30,000 graduated from journalism major, accounting for only 5% of the total, while 95% of the employees graduated from other majors or have no college diplomas. 95% of the staff are required to accept the adult education in journalism, and 5% of journalism graduates must further their studies in the field. The scale and strength of the existing journalism education is far from enough. Specifically, in addition to the poor quality of Chinese news education, there are still several problems: 1. Education efficiency is low. At present, there are 120 teaching units in China. More than 100 were founded after 1982, and about half of them were created in the 1990s. A considerable part of these new teaching units is of low quality featured by chaos. 2. The construction of news textbooks is backward. Some of the major textbooks were written in the 1970s or early 1980s. Although revised or newly compiled, they still fail to fully reflect the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, news reform and news practice. Some textbooks are outdated, not scientific in terms of their systems, and repetitive in basic knowledge. The textbooks of the same subject at junior college, undergraduate and postgraduate students cannot be differentiated. 3. The strength of journalism teachers is weak. On the one hand, the team is aging and the loss is serious. On the other hand, a considerable number of journalism teachers lack experience and practice in journalism, having a shallow understanding of journalism. Their teaching methods and teaching content cannot keep pace with journalism practice. 4. The teaching equipment is insufficient and backward. The needs and requirements of the journalism major for teaching equipment are much higher than the general liberal arts. However, some journalism majors now offer radio and television courses, but there is no corresponding equipment for teaching and internships. The modern methods of editing are alien to the students, and the funds are seriously inadequate. For decades long, the teaching of most journalism majors in our country is still a traditional mouth, a piece of chalk, a blackboard full of “words,” and students only listen to the class with two ears. 2.2   Norms and Curriculum for Journalism Major To standardize the construction of journalism major and improve the education quality, the national education authorities are in the process of drafting and discussing the norms of major construction with relevant journalism colleges and universities. The following is a draft on journalism major (undergraduate).

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2.2.1 Basic Operation Specifications for the Major Business training objectives: This major cultivates the students to grasp the basic principles of Marxism, to be familiar with China’s news propaganda policies and regulations, to have systematic knowledge and skills of journalism, to own extensive knowledge of culture and science, to be sound in body health, and to be specialized in journalism, publishing and propaganda. Years of study: four years Degree awarded: Bachelor of Arts Similar majors: radio and television journalism, advertising. 2.2.2 Basic Teaching Conditions for the Major Faculty: There is a professional faculty with solid knowledge and age structure. They are familiar with teaching work and have a high academic level. The number is generally no less than 20, and 70–80% of them have intermediate and senior professional titles. Teachers that give courses of journalism should have a better understanding of the practice of journalism. Moreover, there should be academic leaders with high academic proficiency. Textbooks: Public basic courses should use the officially published textbooks recommended by the State Education Commission. Professional basic courses, professional courses can use officially published textbooks, or self-edited textbooks, but must meet the requirements of the syllabus. Courses with no textbooks for the time being should have lecture outlines and reference materials. Book materials: There should be no less than 5000 books of the major and 50 kinds of newspapers and periodicals with the foreign papers accounting for a certain proportion. There should also be 500 audio-visual materials (discs) for teaching in this major. Professional experiment: An electronic typesetting laboratory and a photojournalism laboratory should be established. Off-campus teaching practice base: There should be more than 5 news units as the stable off-campus practice base. 2.2.3 Basic Teaching Requirements Business training requirements: Students in this major should master the basic principles of Marxism and the basic theories of journalism, be familiar with the relevant policies and regulations of the party and the state, have the basic knowledge and basic skills of the news business, be proficient in using a foreign language, have a wide knowledge, and own strong ability in participating social activities and initial ability to engage in research. Graduates should have the following knowledge and abilities: 1. Knowledge of the basic principles of Marxism. 2. Knowledge of party and state policies and regulations. 3. The theory of journalism and the history and status of journalism.

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4. Business knowledge and skills in news interviews, writing, editing, commenting and photography. 5. The basic knowledge and application ability of a foreign language. 6. Knowledge of humanities and social sciences, and the common sense of natural sciences. 7. Capabilities to research and involve in social activity. Main (professional) courses: Introduction to Journalism, History of Chinese Journalism Cause, History of Foreign Journalism Cause, News Interview and Writing (or News Interview, News Writing), News Editing and Commenting (or News Editing, News Commenting), Selected Readings of Marxism–Leninism, Selected Readings of Chinese Literary Works, Mass Communication, News Regulations and Journal Professional Ethics, Photojournalism, Radio and Television, Advertising and Public Relations (or Advertising, Public Relations). The proportion of the total number of class hours and the class hours of various courses: The total number of class hours in professional teaching programs is 2700 hours (1 credit per 18 hours), and public basic courses, professional basic courses and professional courses are 30, 26 and 44%, respectively. The main practical teaching includes temporary interview writing, social survey and two-time news work internships (a long term one and a short-term one), which are generally arranged for more than 30 weeks. Teaching requirements for foreign language: The teaching is carried out according to the requirements of the foreign language syllabus of the university. Students can reach the fourth level or higher in the aspects of reading, writing, listening and speaking in foreign languages. Students in international news (foreign reporting) should reach the sixth level. Teaching requirements for computer: Students have more than 36 hours of classroom teaching and computer training, and have certain computer operation capabilities. Graduation thesis requirements: The topic has theoretical value and practical value; the viewpoint is correct, conforming to the four basic principles and the spirit of the relevant directives of the central government; the materials are rich, solid, and the arguments are sufficient; the expositions are logical and clear; the text is refined and smooth. The text number is about 10,000. The teaching programs and curriculums of journalism majors are similar in China, represented by the one of the School of Journalism at Renmin University of China, which is recorded below: Teaching Program for Journalism Major I. Training Objectives The major trains high-level talents such as journalists and editors who are engaged in journalism, who can get overall developments in morality, intelligence and physical health.

352  B. TONG

II. Training Requirements Systematically learn and master the basic theories of Marxism, and adhere to the four basic principles; adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts and the masses; have the ability to analyze problems and solve problems using the basic theories of Marxism; have the spirit of patriotism and internationalism; have communist moral qualities and obey the law; strive to serve China’s socialist modernization and serve the people. Correctly understand and master Marxist journalistic thoughts, be familiar with the party’s principles and policies, and be politically sensitive; have a deep basic knowledge on culture and professional basic knowledge, have a high level of writing and the ability to investigate and study the masses; news services such as interviews, writing, editing and commentary are basically solid; skillful in using a foreign language to read newspapers and professional books. Have a sound body and meet the qualification standards for college students’ physical exercise. III. Length of Study The students who have completed 179 credits in four years may graduate on schedule; if completing the required credits in advance, they may graduate in advance; if failing to complete the required credits within four years, they shall be handled in accordance with relevant regulations. IV. Curriculum and Credit Allocation A total of 158 credits in the curriculum. Marxist theoretical education: 16 credits. General education (including optional courses): no less than 80 credits. Professional education: no less than 54 credits. Physical Education: no less than 4 credits. Ideological and political education: 3 credits. To meet the needs of the construction of socialist theory and broaden the knowledge, the students should learn and master economic theory, economic management practices and the knowledge of other majors and disciplines when conditions permit, and they are encouraged to choose courses related to foreign majors and foreign departments, and to minor in one field. The students should actively participate in various academic lectures to understand the theoretical knowledge and research results related to the major, academic trends at home and abroad, etc., which are not counted in credits. According to the above requirements, the students should arrange their own study, and take courses of 26 – 28 credits per semester. The first and

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second grades may take more in a reasonable manner. They should also continue to develop their ability to learn independently and learn from all aspects. V. Scientific Research and Practice The students should participate in certain scientific research activities and business internships during their school years, and promote the combination of theory and practice, book knowledge and journalism practice, and enhance the ability of scientific research and practical work. 1. Social Practice: 12 credits Practice should be emphasized in the classroom teaching. It is necessary to organize the students to participate in certain social surveys, visits, and effectively arrange teaching activities such as course learning and practice. The students are required to go to the off-campus news unit for a semester, which is generally arranged in the sixth semester. Only by completing the business internship can they get the 8 credits. After the internship, the teacher will guide and write the internship report independently. 2 credits will be given on the term thesis. The students should actively participate in various social practice activities and exercise their abilities in the area. The school tries to create conditions for the students to strengthen social practice, and encourages them to use the winter and summer vacations to combine professional learning to conduct social surveys and business internships. Those with outstanding achievements will get credits. According to the regulations and unified arrangements of the school, the students should participate in one-week production labor and four-week military training during school. The time and content are determined by the school. 2 credits will be given on the production labor task according to the regulations, and no credits are for military training. 2. Scientific Research: 9 credits The students should consciously strengthen the training of scientific research and writing skills, and carry out regular “reading, writing, and discussing” activities. In the first and second grades, one paper shall be completed every academic year. 2 credits will be given on them. After completing the prescribed course credits and business internship credits, the students shall write graduate thesis under the guidance of their advisors, and 7 credits will be given after the qualification of the thesis. VI. Time Allocation (See Tables 1 and 2)

15

14

13

9 10 11 12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

5 6

Principle of Marxism 6 Chinese Revolution History 3 Political Economy 4 World Political Economy and 3 International Relations Legal Basis 6 College students’ moral 1 cultivation Foreign Language 22 Mathletics 8 Computer Application 6 Computer Experience 2 Ancient Chinese 6 Modern Chinese 2 Chinese Ancient Literature 6 Chinese Modern and Current 4 Literature Foreign Literature 4 Logistics 3 Introduction to Sociology 3 Introduction to Chinese 3 Traditional Culture Introduction to Contemporary 3 Science and Technology Research Methods in Social 2 Science Principle of Statistics 3

1 2 3 4

Credit

Course name

No

2

4 4

3 3

1st

3

4 4

2

3

2nd

3

3

3 3 3

3

2

4 3

6

4

4th

6

4

3rd

Credits for each semester

Table 1  Journalism program setting and credit distribution plan (158 credits)

2

3

4

2

5th

6th

4

3

7th

8th

Optional

Optional Compulsory

Compulsory

Compulsory

Type

(continued)

77

23

Required credit

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Principle of Journalism Basis for Writing History of Chinese Journalism News Interview and Writing Newspaper Editing Photojournalism Theory and Practice of Electronic News Media News Commentary History of Overseas Journalism Marxist Theory of Journalism Introduction to Advertising Introduction to Public Relations Introduction to Mass Communication Journalism Regulations and Policies Computer Editing Professional Interview and Writing Magazine Editing Introduction to Media Management News Ethics Professional Foreign Language Mass Communication Psychology Physical Education Specialized Physical Education Free Electives

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

19 20 21 1 2

14 15 16 17 18

8 9 10 11 12 13

Course name

No

Table 1  (continued)

2 2 2 4 1 6

2 2 2 2 2

3 3 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 6 3 3 3

Credit

1

3 3

1st

1

3 3

2nd

1

2

3

3rd

Credits for each semester

1

3

4st

1

2

2

2

3

5st

3

6st

2

2

2

2

3 3 2

7st

2

2

2

8st

Compulsory Optional Compulsory Optional

Optional

Compulsory

Optional

Compulsory

Optional

Compulsory

Type

4

54

Required credit

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4

4 2

1

1 0.5

1st 2nd 3rd 4st 5st 6st 7st 8st Total Percent

Military training

Entrance education

Weeks for each semester

1 0.5

1

Labor

2 2 2 2 2 2 1 13 6.5

18 10 112 56

Exam

13 18 18 17 18

Classroom teaching

Table 2  Teaching schedule for journalism major

2 1

2

Term thesis

8 8 4

Graduation thesis

18 9

18

Internship of social investigation

1 1 0.5

Graduation education

40 20

4 8 4 8 4 8 4

Vacation

24 28 24 28 24 28 24 20 200 100

Total

356  B. TONG

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2.3   Improvement of China’s Journalism Education As per relevant statistics, by the end of the twentieth century, there were more than 750,000 Chinese journalists, including about 300,000 people engaged in news business. By the year 2000, 5500 journalists will be withdrawn from the front line, 7700 will be close to retirement, and more than half of the retired and nearly retired staff will be professionals with senior titles. It is an urgent task to cultivate a large number of cross-century news business backbones. Therefore, the central news propaganda department began to take the journalism graduates as an important source of the news propaganda team since the second half of 1993. Together with the education authorities, it has studied and improved China’s journalism education, focusing on the following tasks. 1. Adjust the layout of professional units and improve education efficiency and teaching quality. A comprehensive investigation and evaluation of the journalism teaching units is required, and strict qualification examinations are carried out. In principle, the education authorities no longer approve new teaching units. Those who have the conditions for running schools should further improve the quality of teaching; those who have poor schooling conditions, cannot guarantee the quality of teaching, and cannot prepare graduates for jobs must make necessary adjustments and reforms; the news departments with better foundations can appropriately expand the scale of schooling at the graduate level. 2.  Target at journalism practice and deepen the reform of teaching. First of all, the curriculum construction of journalism theory must be strengthened. Secondly, it is necessary to combine the reality of journalism development, strengthen basic teaching, enhance cultural quality education, refine professional courses, expand knowledge fields, attach importance to journalistic practice, advocate the principle of multi-functionalism and formulate a news teaching plan and curriculum system for the twenty-first century. 3.  Create a team of journalism professional faculty across the century. News colleges and universities must plan and organize the young and middle-aged teachers to work in press units, so that they can accumulate experience in journalism, gradually improve the professional quality of the teaching staff, and improve the journalism education and research. It is also possible to absorb some of the backbones with high theoretical level and teaching ability from the news unit and let them give lectures at school. 4. Increase funding and improve schooling conditions. It is necessary to concentrate certain financial and material resources and improve systematically the conditions for running a number of key journalism departments. Teaching centers of journalism across the country should further promote the standardization of teaching, effectively resolve serious shortage of experimental equipment and books, and accelerate the construction of laboratories and internship sites.

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The above plan has been initiated since 1998. However, due to material and financial constraints and incomplete education regulations, it will take time for the plan to be fully implemented.

3   Comparison of Chinese and Western Journalism Education If formal higher education is used as a frame of reference, journalism education in China and Western countries is not too late. The Department of Journalism at Central State University in Oklahoma, generally called the first news department in the United States, was founded in 1903. In 1929, the University of Tokyo (called Imperial University then) recruited journalism graduate students for the first time. In China, between 1920 and 1929, 12 universities successively set up journalism departments. The journalism majors and courses run by Chinese and Western countries, from the overall picture, are nothing more than two major groups: theoretical knowledge and professional skills. However, due to the differences in social economy, political system and journalistic cultural traditions, there are still many differences between Chinese and Western journalism education. 3.1   Training Objectives In general, the objective of both Chinese and Western journalism education is to nurture qualified practitioners for the news media, but it is different in what types of journalists are trained. The goal of China’s journalism education is to create expert journalists. This can be seen from the journalism profession norm that have been discussed in the journalism education community in recent years. The norm’s business training objectives are expressed as: This major cultivates the students to grasp the basic principles of Marxism, to be familiar with China’s news and publicity policies and regulations, to master systematic news theoretical knowledge and skills, to own extensive cultural and scientific knowledge, to be sound in body health and to be able to engage in journalism, publishing and publicity. The Soviet Union followed such path. It can be said that China’s establishment of the above-mentioned training objectives is partly related to the influence of the Soviet Union. News education in Germany and Japan is closer to China and the Soviet Union in terms of cultivating experts. The United States respects another professional goal. American journalism education clearly stipulates that students are educated into qualified and practical journalists. Adams, a professor of the School of Journalism at the Indiana University, said that the focus of American higher education is to develop students’ comprehensive competitiveness and ensure students to find a job after graduation. The professor talked about his understanding of the training goal—to train good journalists. The so-called good journalists must first have strong curiosity about people and society, and have the enthusiasm to serve the

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society. Secondly, they should have extraordinary language skill, which is the most important ability for reporters; the third is to have the ability to complete tasks in a timely, accurate and excellent manner within the specified time. To put it simply, China’s journalism education focuses on imparting knowledge, while journalism education in countries such as the United States focuses on cultivating capabilities. This is the biggest difference between Chinese and Western journalism education. Whether is the goal of journalism education to cultivate ability or to impart knowledge? In fact, almost all countries including China, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan have been controversial on the issue. The above analysis is about the overall situation and main trends. 3.2   Curriculum Setting Due to the different settings of the training objectives, the courses prescribed by the Chinese and Western countries for the journalism major differ. Chinese journalism education gives priority to theoretical and cultural disciplines in curriculum setting, especially the Marxist theory. For example, the School of Journalism at Renmin University of China has a curriculum plan for journalism major (the same to other majors such as radio and television, advertising and photojournalism). Political theory courses, with 6 courses and 23 credits in total, include Marxist Principles, Political Economy, Chinese Revolution History, and the World Political Economy and International Relations, Legal Basis and College Students’ Moral Cultivation; there are 15 basic courses such as Foreign Language, Mathematics, Modern Chinese with 77 credits in total, coupled by optional courses with 3 credits (3 credits are required in 6 credits), and it amounts to 80 credits. Various journalism courses only account for 54 credits, coupled with physical education classes, etc., and then each college student majoring in journalism must complete a total of 158 credits. There are eight semesters and four years at university, whereas only one semester with 4 months is aimed for professional internships, when the students can participate in practical vocational training at newspapers offices, radio stations or television stations. The internship coupled with the internship summary and military training takes up 12.5% of the total teaching time, and the credits account for 6.7% of the total credits of 179 credits. Such a curriculum arrangement can fully indicate that China’s journalism education puts theoretical knowledge first and lays behind the ability. The curriculum of some news colleges and universities in the West is quite different. They highlight the teaching of general education and journalism skills. The School of Journalism at Indiana University stipulates that the graduation requirement for journalism is that the students must complete 120 credits, of which non-professional classes must take up 90 credits. To this end, the School of Journalism offers more than 130 courses for students to choose. The purpose of the arrangement is to enable students to learn about many areas of knowledge that they are of interests. The teachers believe that

360  B. TONG

students in the journalism department should be exposed to various kinds of knowledge, but not necessarily be “experts.” On the campus, they are required to have a basic understanding on every field, and do not have to dig into the knowledge too deep. Many courses in journalism majors in the United States, Britain and France are arranged in newspapers, radio stations and television stations, or enable students to study while in internships. As soon as entering the university, the students will participate in school media (school newspapers, school journals, school radio stations, school television stations), be involved in news media internships outside the school, spend a lot of time and energy to master the news skills including interviewing, editing and commentary, which is different from China. Therefore, after graduating from the journalism major, they can quickly play the role well and be able to adapt to the requirements of the media. According to the survey, more than 80% of graduates are satisfied with this arrangement. Certainly, the situation in Germany and Japan, which focuses on theoretical education and knowledge, is different from this. News organizations are not interested in students who graduate under this system. Therefore, graduates of journalism in these countries, the same to the graduates of other majors, need to receive the job test of the news media and prove their ability before they can be hired. After the 1990s, Japanese journalism education has changed. First, it began to attach importance to organizing students to participate in internships, and to broaden their minds by taking part in the front line of news production. Second, keeping up with the changes and needs of the information age, it adjusted the curriculum, and some new departments with social information as the research object were established. This change deserves extensive attention. The different curriculums of Chinese and Western journalism education turn out different effects. American graduates have strong adaptability and can withstand the challenges in the news organizations, while Chinese graduates need an adaptation period. According to a survey conducted by a journalism department of a Chinese university, after Chinese journalism graduates went to the news unit, it took about one year for 90% of them to work independently. Those who spent two or three months accounted for 39.5%, half a year for 20.9%, within one year for 30.2%, and less than 10% of graduates could not undertake the job. The news unit reflects that most journalism graduates have the potential, which will be fully utilized after a few years of independent work, thanks to the solid theoretical and cultural knowledge they have learned during their studies and the good self-study habit after attending work. This is an obvious advantage of Chinese journalism education. 3.3   Teaching Approach Due to the many theoretical and cultural courses, and many required credits, the teaching time is quite tense. Some teachers are used to “cramming” teaching and do not pay attention to the improvement of the teaching

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Table 3  Graduates’ evaluation on journalism teaching No

Items

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Teaching attitude General teaching level Teaching thoughts Management of production internship Reading conditions for professional books Graduation assignment Teaching management Curriculum arrangement Ideological education Main textbook Teaching approach Teaching content Reference materials for professional textbook Combination of professional theoretical knowledge and practice Teaching facilities

Score (Max: 5) 4.29 3.88 3.84 3.62 3.58 3.58 3.48 3.47 3.46 3.36 3.32 3.30 3.23 3.21 3.09

method. Therefore, the teaching activities often appear to be rigid and not lively, which has greatly affected the teaching effect. A university journalism school tracked graduates, and among the 15 questions raised, graduates gave low scores for teaching methods, indicating that students are dissatisfied with rigid teaching approaches (see Table 3). Journalism education in Western countries advocates inspiring and mobilizing students’ learning initiatives, and encourages them to express their opinions boldly on the premise of careful preparation. In the classroom, students can discuss and argue with teachers and other students equally. This kind of practice is different from the practice of Chinese journalism education when teachers are standing on the podium and students are sitting down and listening to the lectures. Most of the journalism teachers in China graduated from universities and remained in university teaching. They rarely have first-hand experience in journalism practice, and rarely work in actual news departments where they can participate in editing activities and conduct survey visits. Sometimes journalists are invited to give lectures in the school. In recent years, in some journalism colleges and universities, senior journalists or excellent journalists take journalism professors as additional posts. However, they either have difficulty in systematically giving certain courses, or give courses limited to the description of experience and fail to combine the actual theory with practice. The journalism majors in Western countries are different. Many of the journalism teachers come from the front line of the news, and systematic theoretical research is carried out on the basis of the experience summary. In the classes given by them, the teaching atmosphere and the students are well guided, which can mobilize the students’ emotions and enthusiasm. Therefore, students are also satisfied with the teaching approach.

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A few countries, such as the United Kingdom, still retain the traditional teaching methods featured that the experienced journalists lead the newcomers. Japan’s adult education in journalism also follows such pattern. This is a feature of Western journalism education. But in general, the practice of cultivating journalists as a matter of the press community and putting journalism higher education completely aside has been rarely seen. Some special advantages of higher education institutions in cultivating high-level journalism talents are not available in the general news media. 3.4   Graduation and Employment After graduating from journalism majors, the students must seek work and realize their ambitions in society. However, the employment mechanism is different in China and the West. For a long time, the Chinese government has implemented a policy of “Jab Guarantee” journalism graduates, just like for other university graduates. Since the transition from a socialist planned economy to a market economy, the situation has changed. At present, the way out for graduates is “two-way choice,” that is, under the premise of ensuring the needs of state enterprises, institutions and government agencies for graduates, employers can freely select graduates, and graduates can also choose units according to their own wishes. The introduction of such mechanism encourages college students to strive to make clear their professional direction according to the needs of employers, complete credits as much as possible, and strive to maximize the knowledge with high credits, thus becoming competitive in recruitment. Meanwhile, the introduction also promotes the school to constantly adjust the curriculum according to market demand, to carry out more targeted training for students and to improve the teaching quality. Since Western countries have long practiced the market mechanism for graduation employment, employers can find the talents they need in the talent market. Therefore, the selection and recruitment of personnel is also strict and demanding. To prepare their graduates well for the market and employers, journalism majors are dedicated to teaching. Such as the United States, in terms of professional training objectives, it is clearly stipulated that the talents with strong abilities to apply should be cultivated for the news media; general education and skill teaching are concentrated; in the teaching activities, the ability training is emphasized, and the students will enter the various schoolrun media training as soon as in the school. Some of the students with excellent academic performance can participate in the outside media to broaden their minds and increase their abilities, which is also the “advertising” for the school. Such mechanism and practices, featured by non-guarantee approach and that graduates look for employers themselves and rely on their own real abilities to find a job in the talent market, play a positive role in promoting the construction of Western news media.

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In recent years, more than half of the journalism graduates from the United States and Europe have entered the press, and the other half have entered advertising companies, public relations companies, or been engaged in public relations and planning in some major companies. After obtaining the master’s degree, some of them have furthered their study, some have been involved in management and some also have pursued for Ph.D. degrees. Therefore, each school has a different focus on the curriculum of graduate students. After graduating from doctoral education, most of the students have been engaged in teaching and research work in universities. A small proportion of them have embarked on business, served as journalists or engaged in public relations planning. The courses and research topics are more flexible, and the school provides them with various convenient conditions. In short, in Western journalism colleges, the employment status of graduates determines the guidelines and methods of teaching activities. This mechanism is of some referential meaning to China. 3.5   Education Investment Journalism majors necessitate huge money investment, and expensive facilities and equipment. All kinds of teaching and research activities also need a lot of human resources and funds. It can be said that the journalism major is a highly invested department. The daily operation of 120 news teaching units in China requires a considerable amount of human, financial and material resources. The key news colleges and universities have many levels of education, there are many cooperation and exchange activities at home and abroad, and the scale of teaching is also large, leading to more investment. Currently, these institutions and teaching units generally reflect the lack of education funds, the shortage of teaching equipment, the aging of the main textbooks, the serious loss of the teaching staff and the backward teaching methods. Among so many news teaching units, some have no important equipment such as computers, and some computers are just old models such as 286 and 386. The teaching mode in most of these centers remains traditional, featured by a mouth, a piece of chalk, a blackboard and a printed teaching material. According to a key news intuition, the fee for its scientific research is 100 yuan per person per year on average, which cannot even cover the half cost of one who attends a seminar from Beijing to Shanghai. Due to poor treatment, the teacher’s income is much lower than it of journalists, so the loss of journalism teachers is serious. Chinese journalism education is featured by insufficient investment and output. According to the requirements of the Chinese education authorities, the teacher–student ratio should be 1:12, but in fact in many journalism majors, the number is 1:5 to 1:8. Most teachers undertake 2 hours to 4 hours of lectures per week, and some even do not undertake the task.

364  B. TONG

Western countries have a lot of investment in journalism, good equipment and timely updated textbooks. Many schools have research rooms for associate professors and even lecturers, are equipped with computers and telephones, and have abundant research funding. It is featured by adequate investment and output. In general journalism majors, there are as many as twenty or thirty faculty members, and at least two to eight members. A 10-hour course per person per week is a normal workload. Although the income of teachers is not high in Western countries, due to the stable working environment and high social reputation, there are still many excellent teachers in the Western journalism profession. 3.6   Government Regulation The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government are concerned about the education of journalism because of their emphasis on education. Special care is given to the purpose, the scale and the layout of running a school, as well as staffing and allocation of funds, even the teaching materials and curriculum. Over the past 20 years, the journalism education in China has developed so rapidly and achieved a large scale, thanks to the emphasis from the party and the government, coupled with the vigorous development of journalism cause since the Reform and Opening Up, as well as the huge demand for journalism talents. In recent years, the party and the government have demonstrated great concern for the preparation and publication of news materials. They have repeatedly pointed out that the efforts should be made to write a set of national news theory syllabus, and to expand the content of news theory teaching to the subject clots including basic news theory, news regulations, professional ethics of journalism, Marxist classic writers on journalism and modern journalism history in China. This comprehensive and specific regulation of journalism education is rare in journalism education of Western countries. The governments of Western countries also have certain regulation and control on journalism education, which is mainly reflected in the macro guidance of the layout and the purpose of running schools. National schools are mainly regulated through the allocation of funds, and privately-run journalism majors are mainly regulated through professional examination and approval. As for staffing, textbook writing and teaching methods, there is little intervention. However, some large business owners who support the school or the media owners who receive the graduates sometimes intervene through different channels, either explicitly or implicitly. However, all these interventions and regulations are carried out within the scope of relevant laws and regulations.

Afterword

Through working round the clock, I finally finished this manuscript before leaving Beijing for Shanghai and transferring from Renmin University to Fudan University. This book is named after Comparative Journalism and Communication. It is the main result of the Research Project of the “Ninth Five-Year” Doctoral Fund of the Ministry of Education (then the State Education Commission) in the Humanities and Social Sciences (the title of the book: Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Journalism Theories and Methods). The midterm results of the project include five papers concerning issues of Taiwanese media, Taiwan’s mainland China news, Hong Kong media, and Hong Kong news regulation, etc., which are written and published after my visits to Taiwan and Hong Kong regions. Nearly 20 reports are also written about the two regions. The topics, systems, and methods to be studied in the research project have been explained in the Preface and Chapter 1 of this book, and thus there is no need to repeat. with the corner of the last page of the book, I would like to say a few words about my work at Renmin University of China. Renmin University of China has awarded me master's and doctoral degrees and hired me as a doctoral tutor, which I will always keep in mind. In addition to the “Cultural Revolution”, when I wasted almost 10 precious years, I dedicated myself to the Renmin University of China for 23 years. Including the book, I have published 20 monographs and textbooks independently and in collaboration with others, and published nearly 400 papers. The average amount of teaching work I complete per academic year is two to three times of it specified by the Ministry of Education (Education Commission). These are my rewards for Renmin University of China, who have been cultivating me all these years.

© China Renmin University Press 2020 B. Tong, Journalism and Communication in China and the West, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7873-1

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366  Afterword

When applying for the project, the original team consisted of several doctoral students. Later, I felt that they were too busy and could not bear to take up their valuable time. Only Dr. Zhan Jiang participated in some research related to United States after graduation. In this case, my wife, Professor Lin Han, helped me complete two of the chapters (Chapters 2 and 4). Therefore, this book has become another work published by our couple. In the writing, I used some of the analysis and materials in the Compilation of Foreign Journalism History edited by my teachers Professor Zhang Longdong and Professor Fu Xianming. As mentioned in the preface, I also referred to some materials of the four comparative journalism books published in China. Moreover, I used some materials in The Federal German Mass Media, written by Hermann Mein, translated by Associate Professor Zhang Zheng of Renmin University of China, and published by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in China. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all ladies and gentlemen mentioned above. My project should be finished in 2000 as required. Since the President of the Renmin University of China hired me as the director of the Research Center for Journalism and Social Development of Renmin University of China, the key research base of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, from the establishment to the daily management work, I spent a lot of time that belonged to research, resulting in the delay of writing the book. I am deeply guilty and upset about this. From studying to work, I have never delay on one assignment and one assignment. Therefore, since June 2001, after presiding over the academic seminar of journalism held in conjunction with the Liberation Daily Newspaper Group and the Information and Communication Research Center of Fudan University to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, I worked hard and tried my best to write this book. Now, I can finally live up to the Department of Social Affairs of the Ministry of Education and the Research Office of Renmin University of China. It is also comfort to me. Mr. Sima Lan from Renmin University of China Press offered help for this book and recommended the book. The editors in charge, Mr. Wang Ailing and Mr. Wang Lixin, carefully read the books word by word. Hereby, I would like to show my gratitude to them. As the book is about to enter the market, I also want to ask the experts who are reviewing the project and the readers of the book: please give more criticism and suggestions. I will use your help to make it more perfect. Tong Bing. Spring 2002.