Media Law In The Prc

China, after some twenty years of reform, is no longer a country without law. Indeed, one may legitimately complain that there are too many laws that are changing too rapidly. However, law acquires no life nor performs its intended social functions without proper implementation and enforcement. Here, few people, Chinese or foreign, are content with the general situation of implementation of law in China. The problems and difficulties in implementing and enforcing laws and regulations are reported and discussed in the various forums of the Chinese media almost on a daily basis, and often reported in Western media also. Academics in China are filling the pages of various legal journals with their diagnoses and analyses of the causes of, and solutions to, the lack of proper implementation of law, and legal regulations and policy measures are being issued to deal with these problems and to overcome the difficulties. The future of the rule of law in China, as we are so often reminded by scholars of Chinese politics and law, largely depends on the proper implementation and enforcement of law. This is a book about `law-in-action' in China, that is, it focuses on the administration of the law as a process through which `law-in-the-books' is put into action and, hence, is made to perform its intended social functions. It deals with the process, the institutional settings (the players), and the political, economic, social, and cultural settings (the factors) involved in the administration of law in China. Throughout the book, we will see a variety of problems and difficulties involved in implementing and enforcing laws and regulations that are identified and analyzed by the contributors. We will also see analyses on legal regulations and policy measures that have been issued to rectify the many identified problems, to raise the standard of actual implementation of law, and to improve the functioning of the various law-implementing/enforcing authorities. Additionally, the book provides various case studies on implementation of law in China. The present book, we believe, is among the first collective efforts at a systematic and comprehensive study of the implementation of law in China, and we hope that it will stimulate many more such studies - studies on the actual operation and impact of law on society and on individuals.

Western commentators have often criticized the state of press freedom in China, arguing that individual speech still suffers from arbitrary restrictions and that its mass media remains under an authoritarian mode. Yet the history of press freedom in the Chinese context has received little examination. Unlike conventional historical accounts which narrate the institutional development of censorship and people's resistance to arbitrary repression, this book is the first comprehensive study presenting the intellectual trajectory of press freedom. It sheds light on the transcultural transference and localization of the concept in modern Chinese history, spanning from its initial introduction in 1831 to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. By examining intellectuals' thoughts, common people's attitudes, and official opinions, along with the social-cultural factors that were involved in negotiating Chinese interpretations and practices in history, this book uncovers the dynamic and changing meanings of press freedom in modern China.

Since the late 1990s, there has been a crucial and substantial transformation in China’s television system involving institutional, structural and regulatory changes. Unravelling the implications of these changes is vital for understanding the politics of Chinese media policy-making and regulation, and thus a comprehensive study of this history has never been more essential. This book studies the transformation of the policy and regulation of the Chinese television sector within a national political and economic context from 1996 to the present day. Taking a historical and sociological approach, it engages in the theoretical debates over the nature of the transformation of media in the authoritarian Chinese state; the implications of the ruling party’s political legitimacy and China’s central-local conflicts upon television policy-making and market structure; and the nature of the media modernisation process in a developing country. Its case studies include broadcasting systems in Shanghai and Guangdong, which demonstrate that varied polices and development strategies have been adopted by television stations, reflecting different local circumstances and needs. Arguing that rather than being a homogenous entity, China has demonstrated substantial local diversity and complex interactions between local, national and global media, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese media, politics and policy, and international communications.

In this ground-breaking two-volume set, world-leading experts produce a rich, authoritative depiction of the world's press, its freedom, and its limits. We want press freedom but we also want freedom from the press. A powerful press may expose corrupt government or aid it. It may champion citizens or unfairly attack them. A vulnerable press may lack supporters and succumb to conformity. It may resist, and overcome tyranny. According to common belief, press freedom involves social responsibilities to equip public debate and render government transparent. Is this attitude valid given that the press is usually a private, commercial actor? Globally, the health, authority, and viability of the press varies dramatically. These patterns do not conform to traditional divisions between North and South, East and West. Instead, they are much more complex. How do we measure successful press regulation? What concessions can the state and/or society demand of the press? What constitutes the irreducible core of press freedom? The contributions in Volume 1 look at key jurisdictions in Europe; whereas Volume 2 goes beyond Europe to analyse the situation in key jurisdictions in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. Each volume can be used independently or as part of the complete set. This work will be incredibly valuable to policy makers and academics who seek to capture the global picture for the purposes of effecting change.

China's boldest advocate for press and speech freedom provides a collection of his 1981-1999 arguments for greater freedom of press and speech, as presented to China's government, Party officials, and its intellectual community. Sun is the former Director of the Institute of the Institute of Jouranlism and Communication and the original Director of the Committee to Draft China's Press Law. His published articles-and four new ones for this book-chronicle a continuum of painstaking, relentless, and, ultimately, influential logic. He elucidates the media's disastrous role in the Cultural Revolution, the characteristics of socialist press freedom, the counter-productivity of centralized media governance, the need for law and for media diversity, and the freedoms necessary to empower the proletariat. Sun's intention is not opposition. He evokes the country's founding premises, the principal power of the proletariat, and the pattern of early, market economy successes to chisel away at entrenched centralism and lingering feudalism. This collection offers rare entry into the mind of an exceedingly brave and principled man who-for 20 years-has declared those principles through unmitigating difficulty and dullness. An important think-piece for all scholars and researchers involved with press freedoms and contemporary China.