Popular journalism in China: A study of China Youth Daily

Abstract

It is commonly stated that the press in China can be divided into two main categories, the party-oriented official press and the market-oriented commercial. This paper examines the case of what is undoubtedly an official paper, China Youth Daily, which is a central organ of the Communist Youth League of China. The findings of a content analysis demonstrate that this title differs significantly from other central official titles, like People's Daily, but also from commercial papers, like Southern Metropolitan Daily. While China Youth Daily's journalism is close to the official pole in the amount of propaganda related material it covers, it also has a greater emphasis on watchdog journalism than does People's Daily. Most strikingly, however, it places a much greater emphasis on infotainment than do either of the other poles. It is much more likely to use journalistic techniques likes sensationalism and the revelation of personal details than are any of the other titles analysed. These findings lead to the conclusion that the bi-polar characterization of the Chinese press is requires some modification and that at least one prominent national title is best described by a different category: that of the "popular official" media. The evidence suggests that one of the main features of this kind of journalism is that it presents the party and business elite in a human light and thus constitutes a renewal of the repertoire of hegemonic devices at the party's disposal. What is certainly the case is that the frequent claim that there is a contradiction between popular journalism responding to audience tastes and official journalism constrained by the propaganda needs of the party is mistaken.

The ‘authoritarian determinism’ and reductionisms in China-focused political communication studies

“…More recently, a small number of empirical studies have pointed to the multiplicity and heterogeneity that exists within/among China’s communication groups (Guo, 2017; Wang et al, 2017). Guo’s (2017) research conceptualizes the use of Wechat among Chinese adults.…”

Popularizing party journalism in China in the age of social media: The case of Xinhua News Agency

“…Popular journalism in the Western sense emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s in mainland China as a result of media marketization (Zhao, 1998). The divide between quality and popular journalism in mainland China has never been as a clear cut as it is, for example, in the United Kingdom or Germany (Wang et al, 2017). A distinction can be made between China's traditional party journalism/party-oriented media and market-oriented media (Xin, 2006;Zhao, 1998).…”

“…A distinction can be made between China's traditional party journalism/party-oriented media and market-oriented media (Xin, 2006;Zhao, 1998). However, such a dichotomy has been questioned recently since, the argument goes, it no longer accurately reflects the greater variety of Chinese news media outlets brought about by media marketization, globalization and digitalization over the past decades (Wang et al, 2017). Thus, a more nuanced classification seems necessary.…”

“…Some scholars suggest that market-oriented popular journalism aiming to meet audience needs is inevitably in tension with party-oriented official journalism's propaganda function (Goldman, 1994;Hsiao & Yang, 1990;Lee, 2000). However, research on the transformations of the Chinese press since the 1980s, including a more recent study focusing specifically on China Youth Daily, illustrates that traditional party organs have tried to combine both roles, and their news portfolios are now leaning toward the more popular end of China's journalism in order to be able to survive (Lee, He, & Huang, 2006;Li, 1998;Wang, Sparks, & Huang, 2017;Zhao, 1998Zhao, , 2008.…”

“…Its wider impact on society has been extensively debated in liberal democratic societies since at least the mid-1990s (Thussu, 2008). The studies carried out in the Chinese context have focused mainly on newspapers (Lee et al, 2006;Li, 1998;Wang et al, 2017;Zhao, 1998). Hence, this article draws on the relatively understudied case of Xinhua, the pioneer as well as a representative case of China's party journalism (Xin, 2012).…”