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Analyzing Commercialism and Professionalism in 1992 Chinese Journalism : Insights from Stories from the Editorial Board

  • ZENG XIAN (서강대학교 일반대학원)

초록 (요약문)

The reform and opening up of China have brought about tremendous changes in Chinese society, including in the news industry. Since 1980s, the news media have gradually shifted from state-controlled propaganda tools to commercial market entities. The 1992 TV drama Stories from the Editorial Board narrates the evolution of Chinese journalism from a journalist’s perspective, aligning with the historical context of that period. The drama features a fictional magazine, "Human Guide," which operates on the-principle of "enterprise management, public institutions," meaning it politically obeys party and government leadership while adopting corporate management practices, operating independently, and bearing profits and losses while paying taxes in accordance with the law. Such commercial attributes set the "Human Guide" apart from existing national news publications in China at the time. The drama thus allows us to explore the seeds of commercialism and professionalism in Chinese journalism in the early 1990s, when the Reform and Opening-up was barely a decade old. This thesis compares and contrasts the content of Stories from the Editorial Board and what we know about the real world of Chinese journalism at the time. By doing so, the thesis aims to capture the width and depth of journalistic philosophies during that period, focusing on the delicate balance between commercialism and professionalism. By doing so, it hopes to deepen historical understanding of journalism in modern China. To this end, this thesis adopts a combination of literature review, content analysis, and case study methods and applies both democratic and non-democratic theories on journalism. Through research and analysis, it is found that in the early 1990s, during the initial stages of the Reform and Opening-up period, Chinese journalism was greatly influenced by commercialism. Under the influence of commercialism, Chinese journalism began to focus on its own revenue, which necessitated paying attention to readers and reporting more diverse content. With revenue autonomy, the Chinese journalism industry gained more independence and began to adapt to commercialism by adjusting the structure of news organizations and improving journalists' capabilities. Professionalism also allowed Chinese journalists to establish their unique professional ethical standards and fostered a desire for more freedom and adherence to professional principles such as objectivity. Furthermore, the comparison between the content of the TV series and the actual news situation revealed many contradictions. In terms of philosophical tenets, this thesis finds that while different values competed against each other, the unique professionalism with Chinese characteristics still prevailed over commercialism, with the former principle of "Emancipating the Mind, Seeking Truth from Facts (解放思想，实事求是)". The initial portrayal of commercialism and professionalism in Chinese journalism during the early stages of reform and opening up offers a compelling avenue for delving deeper into the study of contemporary Chinese journalism.

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목차

I. INTRODUTION 3
1. Literature Review 4
1.1 Chinese TV Dramas from 1978 to 1992 4
1.2 Research on Journalism 8
1.3 Research on Journalism Philosophy 13
2. Research Methods & Design 19
2.1 Research Methods 19
2.2 Research Questions & Design 19
II. BACKGROUND 20
1. About the Early Stages of Reform and Opening Up 20
1.1 Pre-1978: Cultural Revolution 20
1.2 The First-Reform Era (1978-1992) 21
2. About the Stories from the Editorial Board 27
III. FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 33
1. Commercialism & Chinese Journalism 33
2. Influence of Professionalism on Journalism Practices 51
3. Conflicting Parts and Political Constraints 64
3.1 Conflicting Parts Depicted in the TV Drama 64
3.2 Boundaries of Commercialism and Professionalism 69
IV. Philosophical Tenet of Chinese Journalism(1978~1992) 75
1. Emancipating the Mind, Seeking Truth from Facts 75
2. Conclusion & Limitation 81
V. Appendix 84
VI. References 88

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