China's media industry: past, present and future
- Source: Global Times
- [18:21 September 29 2009]
- Comments
Media should be open, critical, and democratic
With the media landscape constantly changing, Yu hopes China’s Chinese and English-language newspapers will be available to readers everyday, especially when the government wants to reinforce communication with the world
“Otherwise what can people find to read on the weekend?” Yu asked. “You know, nowadays, readers are asking for more from newspapers. I even think newspapers should be issued twice a day, just like the Beijing Daily and the Beijing Evening News.
“In addition, considering the time difference, newspapers should be available everyday so that each country can be informed of China’s news at anytime,” Yu continued.
According to Yu, China’s newspapers are under constraints compared with western media.
“Journalists in China are afraid of reporting bad news,” he explained. “It is a widely accepted thought that digging out the dark side will undermine our nation’s image.”
Speaking of Global Times’ attempts to write about sensitive topics, Yu commented, “It takes courage to talk about sensitive topics.”
Yu says China’s media industry has made great progress during the past decades.
“It has become more and more open and vivacious,” he said. “However, I still hope it could be more liberal, to gain more credibility from both foreign and local readers.
“Before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Ta Kung Pao could even criticize the government and KMT,” Yu continued. “Newspapers nowadays should be more critical.”
He believes that by being critical, the media can demonstrate the democratic aspect of the CCP. Yu cited President Hu Jintao’s report at the 17th Session of the General Assembly, saying, “He mentioned ‘democracy’ about 60 times!”
