Mass Media Reform in China: Toward a New Analytical Framework

Historically, analyses of change in mass media systems have tended to draw upon a ‘dissident vs state’ framework, derived largely from the western historical experience. In the case of China, a ‘state vs market’ scenario has been superimposed on this basic framework, in the context of which the Chinese Communist party-state is often portrayed as a monolithic entity intent on promoting market-oriented reform in China’s economic base, while keeping a tight grip on the country’s mass media system and political superstructure. These dominant analytical frameworks tend to mask a number of important dynamics unique to Chinese history and society, that have played a significant role in the mass media transformation process. The purpose of this article is to outline a new conceptual framework incorporating these unique dynamics. In particular, it is the contention of this article that many of the changes in China’s mass media system during the post-Mao period have been achieved by non-state actors, not in an adversarial process vis-à-vis the state, but through what may be called ‘creative renegotiation and expansion’ of new policy openings initiated by the state. The success of these non-state actors, furthermore, has been due to three major systemic factors: (1) the increasing ‘deideologization’ of the Chinese society set in motion by Deng’s pragmatic policies; (2) the gradual functional shift on the part of the local party cadres and bureaucratic authorities from ideological supervision to entrepreneurial collaboration with private investors; and (3) the increasingly common core of interest created by the media’s commercialization among the party cadres, bureaucratic bodies and media entrepreneurs and managers in extracting profits from the media

The Press as an Elite Power Group in Japan

A lengthy field study in Japan using interviews and other sources and focusing on the nation\u27s five leading national newspapers and Tokyo\u27s major television stations finds evidence of much overlap between industry and the news media, through interlocking directorships and social club memberships, for example. Also journalists and other industrial leaders tend to be educated at the same exclusive universities and journalists also belong to professional clubs in which common values are shared. There already is a concentration of ownership of Japanese mass media and, through the mean sketched in this study, one can find how the mass media are integrated with other power centers of Japanese society

American Mass Media and the Myth of Libertarianism: Toward an Elite Power Group Theory

This paper presents evidence of the demise of Libertarianism in the U.S. mass media system and proposes an “elite power group” model as an alternative explanation of the workings of the mass media in the United States. In sharp contrast to the structural characteristics implied by the Libertarian model, the U.S. media industry is organized as an elite power group characterized by growing concentration and conglomeration, integration with other power elites, and ability to exercise self-serving control on the government even as it is controlled by it

DBS Policymaking in Japan: An Interpretive History

Despite Japan\u27s successful experimentation with DBS technology, fundamental conflicts of interest between NHK and Japan\u27s commercial broadcasters continue to chart an uncertain course for the future of Japan\u27s DBS programme. This study traces the history of DBS policy-making in Japan, focusing on the role of the conflict between the two power groups in shaping Japanese DBS policy. The author highlights important policy considerations and discusses how the conflict between NHK and the commercial broadcasters must be resolved in order for Japan\u27s DBS programme to be successfully implemented

Role Perception as Predictor of Editors\u27 Job Satisfaction

This survey of newspaper editors find s those who see their roles as disseminators or interpreters more satisfied than those who see their role as adversary or watchdog

Public service broadcasting and the challenge of new technology: A case study of Japan’s NHK

The decade of 1980’s was characterized by multiplying challenges to public service broadcasting in many countries. The threat to the financial viability of public broadcasting, which had originated with the stagnation of receiver fee revenue in the face of rapidly escalating production costs, was compounded by the economic-ideological challenges posed by the advent of new media technologies. By the end of the 1980s, public broadcasting systems everywhere appeared to be either crumbling or managing a slow decline. As a system operating in a uniquely different, and little-studied, policy environment, Japan’s public service broadcasting system, NHK, presents a sharp contrast to this grim picture of decline. In contrast to many of its Western counterparts, such as the BBC, for example, NHK has succeeded in adapting new technologies to its own advantage and has grown tremendously in power and prominence as a broadcasting institution since the early 1980s. Based on extensive personal interviews conducted with Japanese media scholars, commercial broadcasters, and NHK representatives in the course of a four-month field study in Japan (January 1991-April 1991), as well as library research, this study analyzes the reasons behind this contrast in terms of 1) the elements in the Japanese policy environment which have given NHK an advantage over its counterparts and 2) the management strategies pursued by NHK itself in response to new technologies

Telecommunications Policymaking in Japan: 1980s and beyond

The major law which provided for the privatization of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1984 is up for review by the Japanese government in April 1990. Given the continuing domination of Japan\u27s telecommunications market by NTT, ultimate divestiture of the privatized NTT remains a likely outcome of the review. Against this backdrop, this study presents an analysis of the forces which have shaped Japan\u27s privatization and liberalization policy throughout the period 1980-89, and are likely to lead to additional reforms in Japan\u27s telecommunications system in the course of the upcoming policy review

How Community Involvement Affects Editors\u27 Role

The majority of editors surveyed indicated some degree of community involvement, but such involvement does not seem to have substantial effect on their watchdog role

Telecommunications Policymaking in Japan, 1970-1993: A Case Study in Elite Conflict

Since the early 1970s, the term “Japan Inc.” has provided a familiar heuristic in the field to describe the prevailing mode of industrial policymaking in Japan. Based largely on the post-war studies of Japan’s rise to the status of an economic superpower, the “Japan Inc.” model depicts Japan’s industrial policymaking as a harmonious process of cooperation between the Japanese government (working through the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MITI) and the country’s big business. Despite its applicability to the dynamics of government-business cooperation in Japan during the country’s ascent to the status of an advanced industrialized society, however, the “Japan Inc.” model’s heuristic value in describing Japanese policymaking has been substantially diminished in the post-industrial era. The rapid shift, in recent years, of the primary economic base in Japan from heavy industry to information and telecommunications, has also led to an increasing diversification of interests among the Japanese power elites at all levels, political, bureaucratic, and business/industrial. Subsequently, far from reflecting the traditional traits of “harmony” and “consensus” implied by the “Japan Inc.” model, the Japanese policy process in the new information age has been characterized largely by conflict, deadlock, and partial compromise among competing elite power groups. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to, present an analysis of the conflicting interests which have emerged since the advent of the new technologies and provide a case study of Japanese policymaking in the post-industrial era. In so doing, this paper will focus on an analysis of the telecommunications policymaking process in Japan during the 1970-93 period

Chain Ownership, Organizational Size, and Editorial Role Perceptions

This study examined the relationship between chain ownership and editorial role perceptions to illuminate the impact of chain ownership on content. Based on 258 questionnaires returned by a nation-wide sample of daily newspaper editors, the study found the editors of chain-owned newspapers to be more likely than their independent counterparts to subscribe to activist role perceptions. The tendency toward activist values increased as the size of the chain increased. Further, in general, editors of larger news organizations tended to subscribe to activist values more than did editors in smaller organizations