Images from the Chinese Media Tradition

By Hameed M Bello, just back from China

The media practice in China is distinct and distinguishable from those in many other countries including Nigeria in a number of ways. In China, essentially a unitary one-party socialist government fashioned along the Marxist-Leninist tradition, the media upholds the people’s right to know. However, such functions are not discharged absolutely without conditions. In other words, the Chinese media is expected to be on the same page with the ruling party, the Communist Party of China (CPC) in order to deepen the entrenchment of the socialist democratic ideals structured with Chinese characteristics. For instance, it is a deliberate policy that the CPC government, the media and the people are united in upholding the sanctity of the rule of law which must not be violated by media reports. Accordingly, media reports must not bring the policies and programmes of the CPC to disrepute. This could attract various degrees of sanctions including closing down the defaulting media house. To achieve these all-inclusive objectives, the leading media houses are owned and financed by the government at the state level, the provincial level and the county level, although private media outfits are also allowed to function but under strict compliance with the state laws. Due to these strict legal criteria for operation, private media businesses are usually on the edge, almost nonexistent due largely to the fact of content control (censorship) and rigid demand for strict compliance to the set criteria.  One may be tempted to criticize these regulations of media operation as authoritarian using the standard of the western countries where democracy comes with unlimited freedoms, but the Chinese media system is very much unlike those of the west. The media and the government in China necessarily pursue the same objective of putting China first. This system works for China based on the visible outcomes. It is on record that China is the second leading economy in the world, next only to the United States of America, and the existing structure of the local media contributes to that achievement, no doubt. Unofficial claims even suggest that in the next couple of decades, this economic equation may change. The Chinese government, as it were, upholds the news media as a major ideological tool to foster political and social engineering processes. In this respect, the traditional media organs including the newspapers, radio and television, and the digital news platforms are in tandem with the government.

These facts and many more emerged during a two-week Seminar for Belt and Road Journalists’ Organizations sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), People’s Republic of China and organized by the Zhejiang Normal University between July 18, 2023 – July 31, 2023 in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province. 32 media executives drawn from some 13 member countries of the Belt and Road Initiatives of the Chinese government participated in the Seminar which offered the opportunity to understudy the history, the dynamics and the theory and practice of the Chinese media system as a template for a shared experience. And as aptly summarized by Professor Tian Zhongchu of the Zhejiang Gongshang University, who delivered a paper entitled ‘Mass Media and Social Changes in Contemporary China’, the overall objectives were to stimulate discussion on the future of the media in China, Africa and the world; to transcend the gap between civilizations through exchanges; and to transcend the clash of civilizations through mutual learning. The point was made also that the coexistence of civilizations surpasses the superiority of civilizations, and that the media will have to take greater responsibility in this regard.

Categories of Chinese newspapers

At the seminar, a paper delivered by He Cheming (Professor) on ‘The Structure and Operation of Newspapers in China’, classified newspapers according to their subjects. There are party newspapers, industrial newspapers and business newspapers. According to the levels of the subjects, there are state-level, provincial-level, municipal-level and county-level newspapers. In terms of the content, there are party newspapers, city newspapers and professional newspapers. Local party newspapers also have different levels, including, provincial level, municipal level and county level. As noted by Professor Cheming, mass media can play different roles, such as spreading information, publicizing knowledge, educating the public and supervising public opinions. However, for news media, he said, it mainly holds two missions, one of which is to spread news and the other is to deliver opinions.

Apart from Cheming, most of the lecturers were unanimous in the belief that the practice of journalism in China is fundamentally based on the assumption that the actions of the ruling CPC government are well thought out and must be adhered to. As long as the Chinese people are satisfied with the media and governance systems, external rating and assessment is immaterial. This widely held unity of purpose perhaps accounts for why there is a limit to which the media can investigate the activities of government, a situation which seems to be behind the near absence of solution journalism to investigate or evaluate the response to political, social and economic problems. Solutions journalism investigates and explains in a critical and open way how people solve widely shared problems. While journalists usually define news as “What has gone wrong,” Solutions Journalism tries to extend that definition further to incorporate responses to those problems which are also treated as newsworthy. Solutions journalism is based on evidence to explain why and how responses are working or not.

China’s media convergence model

The new media, the digital media, the online media, the social media, the list of alternate names referring to the same subject may be varied, but the fact of their reality is certainly upon us. Certainly, the new media is fast redefining media operations globally, although with varied peculiarities, thereby prompting media outfits all over the world to consciously step-up operations by integrating the traditional media outlets with the emerging new media dictates to achieve a multimedia framework. This is often referred to by media scholars as Media Convergence, when the print, the electronic and the digital and audio-visual elements of the media interrelate in the gathering, treatment, placement and marketing of news. China’s media convergence model featured prominently at the Seminar.

Professor He Cheming noted in his paper that the emergence of the internet highlights the power of news reports. Online news breaks space limits and spreads at a fast pace. It combines texts, audio sounds and images. Naturally, all newspapers have established websites to come to terms with this reality. Newspapers have upgraded with the internet. As smart phones are penetrating into people’s daily lives, they have become like mini computers and allow people to read news anywhere and anytime. In the new era of mobile Internet, according to Cheming, the Jinhua Daily for instance has upgraded itself into a news media group.

National media convergence: creating a distinctive media ecosystem

A paper titled ‘Mass Media and Social Changes in Contemporary China’ by Professor Tian Zhongchu of the Zhejiang Gongshang University underscored the point that national media of China has formed its own unique media ecosystem in the field of omni-media and content aggregation which adopts the “central kitchen style” working mechanism. This mechanism, he said, makes news planning, gathering, editing and reporting an organic whole. Once edited, the news will be broadcast on multiple platforms. integrated resources and uninterrupted channels to ensure efficient news production and distribution.

Future of media and society

Zhongchu also made the point about the growing phenomenon of immersive communication experience which involves multisensory reception of information that offers an immersive communication experience. This he said is known as the age of immersive media. The pan-media communication is human-centered and realized through the connection of all media forms. It breaks the limits of time and space for media communication.  This also involves the integration of human resource and the machine which includes retinal imaging, cloud brain and implantable chips.The distance between human and machine is infinitely short, and the human-machine integration has become a rising trend, a development which ultimately redefines human imagination and media operations.

No-go-areas for news reports

Prof He Cheming, in his paper, ‘The Structure, Operations of newspapers in China’ spoke about subjects that must not be reported. He said the party newspaper is the mouthpiece of the Party and the people. The largest newspaper in China, the People’s Daily, is run by the CPC government. It must stick to the right direction and comply with established laws and disciplines especially in defence of government positions. He said freedom of the press can only be achieved within the framework of laws and disciplines. The publicity department of the Party Committee is responsible for guiding the newspaper on content. The general direction, he said, is as follows: Party and anti-government remarks and content cannot be published; Comments and content that undermine social stability and solidarity cannot be published; and comments and content that undermine public order and go against public customs cannot be published.

Similarly, news about juvenile crimes cannot be published to protect the image of juveniles. Content involving state secrets and military secrets cannot be published. Commercial secrets of the subject of the report cannot be published. And private information of the subject of the report cannot be published