Tue, Apr 24, 2001 page8

• China's news media finding its own feet

  • By Wang Dan 王丹
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  In all countries, public space is the basic foundation of civil society and the realm of discourse is the collective expression of public space. Discourse most commonly takes the form of the news media. The news media is therefore not only the foundation of civil society but also its defender. In countries undergoing major transformation, the media will move from a position of subordination to one of independence, in the course of which civil society will gradually mature.

  There are two paths by which the media can break free from government control and become part of civil society. One is to emerge as an opposition faction outside the establishment and draw a clear line between itself and the government, while surviving on the basis of moral resources in the political sphere. The other way is to cater to the needs of a market economy and ally with private capital, while gradually working to grow its own wings and attain economic independence. The first path is now unfeasible in China because of the harsh political environ-ment, but by following the second path, the Chinese media have begun stealthily to increase its distance from the government.

  China has no private media. All media have long depended on the government for financial support. As a result, they cannot cross the government's line on major news events. As the market economy gradually expands, however, advertising and circulation revenues have increasingly become their main sources of income. Government finances are growing more limited by the day, and the media have been forced to "wean" itself from government funding and seek support from private capital. According to Yu Guoming (喻國明), director of the Public Opinion Research Institute at China's People's University, "An inevitable choice facing China's media is that of entering the capital market ... and the formation of large-scale multi-media and cross-media mass-communication groups."

  In concrete terms, some media have already started to seek expansion by being listed on the stock market, pooling capital to establish subsidiary companies, and engaging in cooperative management, mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.

  The media's progress towards financial independence allows some among them to try to speak with an independent voice. It also allows members of wider society to become involved in media operations. In China, it is no longer rare for businessmen to put up the money to buy magazines. It is said that one businessman spent 70 million yuan over a very short period to buy several magazines, including Viewpoint (視點), which is relatively independent in outlook. The privately-run Huading Economics Research Institute (華鼎經濟研究所) linked up with 53 local television stations jointly to produce the Huading Financial Information Program. The program not only explores economic reform, but also touches upon the relatively sensitive problems of government operations and political reform. The bold opinions expressed in some of the media -- for instance Guangdong's Nanfang Daily Weekend Edition (南方周末) -- make one view the media in an entirely new light. What is worth observing is that although these media have received warnings, they are still able to survive. In the past, this would have been unthinkable.

  Freedom of the press is a prerequisite for democratization. It will be some time before China reaches the point of allowing a free press, but we can rejoice in the fact that the authorities already are having more and more trouble controlling the media. This is allowing the foundation of civil society to develop one step further.

  Wang Dan was a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing. He is now a graduate student at Harvard University.

  Translated by Francis Huang and Ethan Harkness
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