In China, there are a few media outlets that take a serious approach to political, economic and social issues and produce stories even in a strict censorship environment. They provide in-depth reporting and editorials on anti-corruption, the #MeToo movement, economic issues, etc.
The most famous anecdote about the media, party-government conflict, and control was in 2013. <남방주말>This is a political reform called for in the New Year’s editorial of the end of the Southern Zhou Dynasty. However, immediately after the incident, the editor-in-chief and reporters involved were fired, and the direction of the newspaper changed.
Afterwards, during the Xi Jinping era, party-government control of the media was strengthened, and the media industry <남방주말>Bold reports like this can no longer be repeated. Nevertheless, not only journalists but also various members of society have been participating in calls for political, economic, and social reform in various forms on a wide range of platforms.
<차이신주간>(Caixin Weekly)의사설
Deng Yuan, a critic for Voice of America Chinese, was a Chinese economic weekly from November last year to January this year. <차이신>We paid attention to a total of three editorials published by this article.
This third part was published on November 6th, “Reform urgently needs a new breakthrough.” On December 25th, “Reexamination of the line of thinking to find the truth from facts”, on January 22nd “Practical methods to restore trust” In particular, the editorial on December 25th attracted even more attention as it was deleted within a day due to censorship.
Why was “Reexamination of the line of thinking to find truth from facts” deleted, and how can it be compared to the editorial “Reform requires an urgent new breakthrough”?
▲ Cover of Caixin Weekly’s latest issue, issue 1101. ⓒCai Xin Weekly
Both of these editorials point out the economic problems China currently faces. The economic problems they pointed out are not new, including stagnant economic growth rates, low private economic growth, corporate management difficulties, local fiscal tightening and financial risks, population decline, employment and social welfare, etc. President Xi Jinping also directly mentioned this problem in his New Year’s address this year and emphasized the role of the people in overcoming it.
“Reform urgently needs a new breakthrough” on November 6, suggesting economic solutions to economic problems. First of all, it is assessed that progress has been made in market reform, strengthening decentralization, and simplification of administrative procedures over the past 10 years.
However, in order to overcome the current economic problems, President Xi Jinping’s explanation announced in the Decision on Reform of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Plenary Session that “there is no alternative except deepening reform and opening up” Citing this, it points out the limits of policy economic stimulus and argues that the deepening of market reform should continue.
Written to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the 11th Third Plenary Session, “Reexamination of the Line of Thinking to Find Truth from Facts” points out the errors of the Cultural Revolution and emphasizes Deng Xiaoping’s pursuit of reality. It presents solutions from various aspects as well as economic approaches to current economic problems.
We must support the central government’s attempts to correct local fiscal austerity, which is the cause of the deterioration of the market economy, and continue to break down the formalism and bureaucracy promoted by the central government to overcome social resignation resulting from the hierarchical nature, and to overcome social resignation in the international community. It is mentioned that one must be confident but be wary of arrogance.
Although these editorials have no intention to challenge China’s party and government, they advocate market reform as a way to overcome economic difficulties by citing Deng Xiaoping, President Xi Jinping of the 18th Third Plenary Session 10 years ago, and the late former State Council Premier Li Keqiang. Emphasis on continuous promotion and the role of the market.
According to Deng, the editorial on November 6 quoted former President Xi Jinping to avoid censorship and criticize the current regression in reform and opening up, and the fundamental intention was Premier Li Keqiang’s “The Yangtze River and the Yellow River do not flow backwards.” It is claimed that this is reflected in the quotation “No.”
In addition, Commissioner Deng interpreted the deleted editorial as arguing that the cause of the economic crisis facing China is the failure to follow the truth-based approach, and that in order to make up for mistakes and continue reforms, an answer must be found in the fact-based approach. there is.
Why do Chinese media report sensitive content under strict control?
While most media organizations in China are state-run media and run directly by the party and government, <차이신>There are also private media outlets such as . China’s central government not only operates nationwide government offices, but also operates its own state-run media in each province. As mentioned earlier, once the pursuit of free media reporting <남방주말>Established under the sponsorship of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Provincial Communist Party <난방일보> It is a government paper issued by an affiliated group.
These state-run media operate according to party-government reporting guidelines and promote the official party-government story. Therefore, most reports focus on the positive aspects of the economic and social situation rather than the negative aspects, and political reporting is limited to distributing party-government events, the leader’s meetings with foreign officials, and the leader’s remarks as a news outlet.
Meanwhile, China’s private media outlets supported by private capital are not only the aforementioned Caixin <경제관찰보>(Economic Observer), 홍콩의 <사우스 차이나 모닝 포스트>(SCMP) is evaluated as a relatively free medium. In addition, there are online platforms, citizen journalists, etc.
However, private media also operate under strict party and government control and censorship. Therefore, private media crosses boundaries by reporting relatively sensitive topics through in-depth planning compared to state-run media or party newspapers, but they do not boldly report articles with political implications.
Nevertheless, why <차이신>Are media outlets like this handling sensitive reporting amidst various risks? It was once thought that China’s reforms also affected the media environment, with commercialization to adapt to market demands leading to the liberalization of the media. There were widespread claims that private media outlets were pursuing differentiation in order to increase advertising revenue and readers in a competitive environment while providing investigative reporting on social issues.
According to Professor Guan Jun of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in many cases during this period, the media ignored reporting guidelines and wrote articles in the pursuit of journalism.
This was also a time when “market demand and government policy converged,” as Professor Stockmann discovered in his reporting on China’s labor law cases. Because the information desired by the public and readers was consistent with the government’s policy goals, the party’s propaganda department did not need to control news coverage, and the media “market mechanism worked in a way that favored the government.”
However, since President Xi Jinping came to power, centralized control over the media has been strengthened. Digital platforms were expected to promote liberalization, but instead, they are being used as a tool for centralized control by the party and government, and the autonomy of media outlets has been reduced.
In Voice of America Chinese (美国之音特约), Deng Yuan (邓聿文) <차이신>Because this is a business magazine, editorials opposing the regime are rare and limited in scope, and they claim that their popularity protects them. However, with the Chinese economy deteriorating recently, <차이신>He argues that making this bold report “could be a way to change the thinking of the party and the people (omitted) and find a way forward.”
