Term Paper on "Chinese Media Industry"

Term Paper 5 pages (1606 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Chinese Media Industry

The purpose of this work is to document the shifts and changes that have shaped the media industry as to those societal, political, organizational, national, or as to any other possible influences in the formation governance and processes within the media industry in China. Further this work will focus on elements both in the historical sense as well as that of the present day and attempt to determine that which is a factor in and influencer of the political economy of the media industry. Key points in the research proposal are as follows:

Examination of the theories surrounding the political economy of communication, culture industry in a theoretical framework. Key to the proposal is from the perspective a purely ideological as well as political issue to analyze Chinese media industry in a theoretical framework of political economy.

Examination of the theories of political economy in media communications while contrasting and comparing the western media industry with that of the media industry in China.

Objective of the Study:

The objective in this study is to compare and contrast Western Media to the media industry in China.

Methodology:

Due to limitations in time the researcher has determined that the research will be limited to research of available literature.

Introduction:

China entered into the World Trade Organization and gave rise to speculations that the world's largest media market might be much more easily accessible to publishers in the international media industry. The market economy in China is making gains however the media industry including the print remains in the governments hands which results in a product that is "forced-fed to all levels of governments offices, at a cost ultimately assumed by the taxpayers" (China Daily 2003). In fact estimates for the taxes in China's media market are stated to be "16 to 20 billion a year. " (China Daily, 2003) Government spending pays approximately "6 to 10 billion Yuan" of that amount. (China Daily 2003) the media industry in China is under total government control with a very few foreign investors as well as private investors involved on the retail side of business. While it appears that the media industry in China is one of the world's largest growing in the industry with the newspapers in the industry growing from 1,400 to 2,100 publications and magazines increasing from 7,000 to 9,000 these publications in reality have only a very small market share and the publishers do not have the necessary knowledge or experience to expand on these opportunities. There are approximately 2,137 newspapers in China with as many as 1,250 dependent upon individuals that generally do not have the necessary funds to pay for a subscription.

Literature Review:

IN the article entitled "Moving Forward on the Left: Some Observations on Critical Communications research in the United States" stated is that at the demise of the Soviet Union that it has been argued by some academics that "Marxist Scholarship was simply irrelevant." Meehan (2004) in the work entitled: "Critical Media Research, Globalization Theory and Commercialization" is an examination of the "critical economic considerations of the media. There exists a clause in the law of China that "stipulates that those titles earning less than fifty percent of their revenues through voluntarily paid subscriptions will be forced to shut down." There exists another clause that states that "no ministerial-level agencies should run newspapers" with this also applying to "provincial-level tax and public security agencies." According to Lu Hualing, president of the Chinese Newspaper Association: "China's media system is incorporated in the government bureaucracy. When selling a newspaper is part of administrative power, mandatory purchases are unavoidable." (China Daily 2003) Liu Binjie, deputy director or the General administration of Press and Publication disclosed that the print media in China is struggling to 'give birth' to new works and releases. "The Darwinian law of survival of the fittest simply does not apply here. We need an exit strategy so that those with no readership, no social or financial returns can be terminated." (China Daily 2003) in the article entitled "Making Sense of China's New Media Environment" the author states that "The Chinese media environment in the popular imagination, is one of the least free in the world. Reporters are constrained from expressing what they truly believe, the government lords it over the industry with policy directives and draconian regulations, and the dissemination of foreign information in the Chinese mainland is severely circumscribed." According to James Paradise, author of the above stated article the government does stifle the flow of information and has been known to put controls on the internet and jam short-wave radio broadcasts. Paradise (2003) Paradise also states that: "The development of Chinas media industry is not likely to be an entirely smooth process, Policy oscillations and cycles of repression have characterized developments over the last several decades." In a work entitled "Auditing Public Broadcasting Performance: Its Theory and Practice" stated is that "In most European countries public service broadcasting." Apparently the viewers of the organizations are losing viewers "across the board" and most particularly losing younger viewers. The PBS companies are stated to be "confronted with a hostile political environment and the self-evidence of their financial support or even their raison d'etre is put into questions, not least by their competitors." In another work entitled "Public Service Broadcasting: Both Free and Accountable" the author states that "As public broadcasting in Europe has declined in relative terms in the overall supply of television broadcasting, its activities has become more subject to scrutiny, both by regulatory authorities and its competitor the results is a threat of greater control and less genuine independence." In the work entitled "Playing the Game by the Rules?" stated by the author is that: "Entering the WTO means, first and foremost, situating China in a legal framework that is communicative, negotiable and operational within international (primarily Western) standards. For Chinese media, such reform suggests an important move on the part of the Chinese government from traditional political control to legal regulation." This work focuses on the "development of television regulations in china in the reform era" and further examines the "regulations of Chinese television, focusing on organizational restructuring and program disciplining." The argument in this work is that "to date regulatory changes in Chinese television are more restrictive than literalizing and that transformation of China's television from administrative control to lawful regulation has a long way to go" before operationally sound. Guo (2003) in the work "The Post-WTO Restructuring of the Chinese Media Industries and the Consequences of Capitalism" is a focus on the "forces that have led to the recent restructuring of the Chinese media system." There are "conflicts between different levels of the political apparatus" and further states that while this apparatus as a whole has a thousand links of economic power" that the dynamic in the industry is "quite different." Stated in this work is the fact that the "power of the market has been increasing relative to the old political imperatives" therefore this process could easily be termed "capitalism of the Chinese Media Industry." Hu (2003) in the work "Are the Western Media Really that Interested in China" the author, Colin Sparks reviews the "evidence about the strategic marketing of major western media companies in the Chinese market." The article states that there is little likelihood that there will be any "major foreign attempt to enter the mass market in Chinese. In the work entitled "Is it legitimate to Imagine China's Media as Socialists?" stated that that: "in theory, liberal socialism can be perceived as a qualified candidate for guiding China's immediate future."

Summary and Conclusion:

It is apparent that the media industry in China is in a time of transition. Based on the research and literature review many changes are occurring in the Chinese media… READ MORE

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