ABSTRACT
The scale of the Chinese media is now vast and China is written of as ‘the largest television market in the world’ with ‘80 million multi-channel cable TV homes, 330 million terrestrial TV homes and 2000 or more television stations’ (Gordon 2000: 14). Television is only one part of the story of a media explosion more rapid than any society has ever seen, although similar processes are taking place on a smaller scale in other countries, and often with less dramatic results. Below are the latest figures obtainable; rows three and four contain the equivalent for two decades earlier and US comparisons.
