ABSTRACT

The mass media in Mainland China are typically considered a political tool of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and are criticized for lacking autonomy. The autonomy of the Chinese media is weak. This chapter shows how the subsidiary newspaper of the central traditional media system, the Xinhua News Agency (XNA), helped a vulnerable group of suffering families put their problems onto the agenda of the central government and then of the local government. It argues that in the transformation, the dynamics of central state-owned media developments, and their corresponding influence on the public and government are worthy of investigation. The Chinese media industry has experienced marketization in the last two decades, particularly during the leadership of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Because of marketization, Chinese media play an increasingly crucial role in shaping government policies. This process is known as mediation or mediatization.