ABSTRACT

Western research on China’s development during the last two decades have often oscillated between praise, astonishment and admiration concerning China’s economic progress on the one hand, and criticism towards the political and legal system, especially in relation to human rights protection, on the other hand. Until the second half of the 1990s China’s media were mostly understood to be part of the political system, as they were state-controlled and utilized as a means for propaganda. As a consequence, press coverage on China’s economic development generally ignored the role of media, whereas press coverage concerning China’s political system generally included criticism of the media. But, at least since the second half of the 1990s, as a result of China’s media reforms, media are no longer only part of the political system. They have become economic players as well, already attracting awareness among potential international investors. At the same time the new role of media as economic agents has raised the question of how the economic and political roles of the Chinese media are being consolidated. One hope has been that economic liberalization would naturally lead to less political control, because – at least for observers from western democratic societies – it is difficult to imagine media work could be market-orientated and still follow government instructions concerning content. Nevertheless, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not indicated any sympathy for far-reaching political reforms to this point, and the liberalization of media content has yet to make it onto the political agenda.