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

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

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: 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

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

Framing and Ideology: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Chinese Newspaper Coverage of the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women and the NGO Forum

In this study, we examined framing in the U.S. and Chinese press coverage of the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women and the Non-Governmental Organizations Forum in Beijing in 1995. This study had 2 objectives: (a) to systematically assess the coverage of this global feminist event and the extent to which its critical areas of concern were communicated to the public, and (b) to illuminate the dynamics of framing in a comparative context and contribute to its further theoretical development. Employing quantitative and qualitative methods, this study found evidence of the operation of an anticommunist and an antifeminist frame in the U.S. coverage. Under the influence of dominant ideology, the U.S. coverage of the conference focused considerably on an extended criticism of China as a communist nation. The goals of the global feminist movement and their critical areas of concern appeared to hold far less immediacy and salience for the U.S. press than the need to assert dominant U.S. values. On the other hand, under the influence of communist ideology, the Chinese coverage reflected a proequality frame and a strong focus on the critical issues of concern to the global feminist movement. Despite the existence of a propagandistic emphasis on the country\u27s extensive preparations as conference host as well as efforts to defend against Western criticism, nationalistic praise for China was far more subtle than originally expected

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