ABSTRACT
The economic reform in China since 1978 has brought a radically changed communication landscape shaped by an unprecedented growth in the number of newspapers, TV stations, satellite channels and Internet expansion. It has become more pluralized, commercialized, and liberalized. Changes in China’s media sphere during this period are not the result of a single event, but the consequence of a number of overlapping and interrelated factors and forces, including commercialization, the new global and regional structure and environ ment, pluralization which partly (but not exclusively) results from commercialization, China’s multifaceted interactions with the outside world, and the advancement of new information and communication technologies (ICT). More importantly, all these changes are happening in the context of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanting to manage the whole process and to stay ahead of the unwanted consequences of the reform. These over - lapping and interrelated factors and forces constitute the backdrop of the transformation of mass media, although the backdrop itself is in continuous flux. This chapter starts with a brief review of the history of China’s communist communication, which serves to provide the context within which the coun - try’s media reform and the fast-moving social transitions in the reform era have been occurring. It then introduces the transformation of mass media as a result of accelerated commodification, globalization, rapid advancement of media technologies, and intensified ideological and social struggles. This chapter serves to improve our understanding of the continuities and changes in China’s mass media after the economic reform. It finishes with challenges both the Party-state and the media industry face in furthering the development of mass media in China.
