Breaking News,Media Coverage and ‘Citizen's Right to Know’ in China

This study examines the Chinese media's coverage of the Iraq War and SARS in 2003, that of CCTV in particular, and discusses the ‘citizen's right to know’ which became popularised in China during these two breaking news events. After delineating the moves that CCTV has been making, the paper argues that in the face of globalisation of information the party-state is actively involved in pursuit of image reconstruction both at home and internationally, and of having a voice in the new world order. Findings show that although the Chinese media do not lack the capacity to honor the ‘citizen's right to know’, the coverage of breaking news is determined by the state's perception of a given situation.