ABSTRACT
Introduction The chapter explores the question of political legitimacy, which links the state and society, and shows how changes in political legitimacy affect the function of law in China, shaping the discourse of the “rule of law” in general and the country’s broadcasting regulatory strategies and structures in particular. As communist ideology, economic performance and official virtue have all begun to decline, the Chinese state has moved to expand its legitimacy in a number of ways, including a mixture of improved performance and legal-rational justifications. This notion of improving the rule of law has become one of the most frequently mentioned government strategies in maintaining legitimacy, and governing according to the law is perceived as important for the long-term stability of the country. The Party-State also appeals to the rule of law in order to rationalize and legitimize its broadcasting media governance. The chapter will discuss this in detail, illustrating its implications and limits. It argues that such “administration according to law” was primarily driven by a concern for legal legitimacy, which was seen as “the most important, probably the last line of defense” for preventing institutional conflict as the reform of broadcasting deepened. However, the legal-rational legitimation efforts have primarily centered on the procedural rule of law: that is, enacting new broadcasting laws and laws with higher legal status to replace arbitrarily issued normative documents; strengthening the enforcement of laws, and placing checks on the government’s administrative power. The advantages of a procedural concept of the rule of law are that it promises some degree of predictability, some limitations on arbitrariness and some protection of individual rights and freedoms. However, in the absence of democracy and with the marginalization of public participation in the lawmaking process, the state and broadcasting authority can also enact illiberal laws that restrict individual rights.
