Media Lens Revisited: Television and Socio-Political Changes in China

This paper attempts to understand the development of Chinese television news reporting practice in the reform era and its implications for the socio-political changes in China. Due to the heavy Soviet influence, Chinese television has adopted a TASS style from its very beginning, which places an emphasis on imparting a heavily ideological message and propagating government policies and rules. This practice, however, has been substantially changed during the reform era. Television news reporting in today’s China is moving towards the CNN style in both format and content. These changes reflect a more relaxed socio-political environment in China. Xi Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in Planning, Governance and Globalization Program with the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. Her research on Chinese politics has led to the acceptance of several book chapters and referred journal articles. The author would like to thank Professor Timothy W. Luke and Professor Edward Weisband for their insightful comments on the draft of the paper.