The Media in the People's Republic of China

When Chairman Mao led the communist revolution in China.. he controlled the media in order to get the Communist Party's message to the people and prevent media outlets becoming a means for opposition and dissent. His successors have continued this approach. However there has been some loosening of control in recent years, though this has been more about allowing newspapers and television to earn income rather than allowing them to lead political opposition.

Under Hu Jintao the media is still monitored and to a large extent controlled by the state.. There is heavy state control with many of the largest media organisations being agencies of the Chinese government e.g. Chinese Central TV (CCTV) and The People’s Daily (the CPC newspaper) There are red lines editors and journalists do not cross e.g. such as challenging the right of the Communist Party to control the state However, within these boundaries there is increasingly open discussion of social issues and policies. In some cases, there is even some criticism of the CPC.

Diversity within the media.. There is a surprising amount of diversity within the Chinese media. With This growing role of the market in China most state media organisations no longer receive govt subsidies and must now survive through commercial advertising. Of course, as a communist state, the government has rules on what may and may not be published. On the other hand, within these rules state media outlets must compete for viewers and advertising. They need to attract viewers and can no longer simply be boring mouthpieces of the govt. Moreover, the danger of going bankrupt has recently caused some newspapers and other media outlets to become bolder on social issues and even risk some criticism of the government in the hope of attracting more readers and so raising advertising revenue.

The Chinese government puts a lot of effort into trying to control the media and given the huge size of the country, it largely succeeds. However, the ever more complex new media is making it more and more difficult. For example … Mobile phones and text messaging - enable rapid exchange of info Cable and satellite TV - spread rapidly since 90s – now over 3000 stations - many not licensed by govt so difficult to control Outside stations from Hong Kong and abroad increasingly available – now to hundreds of millions of homes Internet access is available to millions - On the other hand, it is more controlled than in the west (e.g. recent example of Google threatening to close down its China operation because of interference from the govt and the hacking of google accounts held by of govt critics).

Some weakening of control.. The Chinese govt retains a lot of control over the country’s media. However there has been some weakening of this for a number of reasons... complexity of the new media competition from media outlets in Hong Kong and elsewhere have forced Chinese outlets to become more individual and encouraged them to try loosen control govt resources have become more thinly spread – has allowed the growth of local and regional media less controlled by the party Party officials are now less ‘hands-on’ – don’t censor content as closely as before closer contact with the west may be influencing urban people towards concepts of a free press and uncensored internet access – though early days yet