Print media need better ground to flourish

• Source: Global Times
• [01:37 January 12 2010]
• Comments

While Western media outlets are the worst hit by the economic meltdown and have had to slash budget and retrench staff, it is not as if Chinese print media is in its heyday and free of problems.

Contrary to what many may expect, Chinese print media are encountering pressures even more serious than those suffered by their Western counterparts.

The beneficiaries of the large allocation by the central government – for the expansion of media space to boost China's image abroad – are a small number of big media. This does not make them exceptions to competition. Needless to say, the remaining majority is struggling to survive and, even win in the increasingly severe competition.

Making profit is not the only source of stress for Chinese print media. As most media are State-owned, with emphasis on social responsibility, meeting the high public expectations is a challenge. Media are also critical for China's greater say on the world stage. And, pressures only mount when grass-roots journalism emerges in multimedia forms such as the Internet.

That may explain the public applause for the recent speech made by Li Changchun, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee.

Li underscored the importance of government's “good treatment, good use, and good management” (shan dai, shan yong, and shan guan) of the media.

Predictably, this point has struck the right note, specifically with regard to how it is in the interests of good government to nurture healthy growth of media.