Media Politics
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Media Politics How is the media agenda of Chinese television set by the state, market, and civil society？ Nan Li A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, the University of New South Wales - 1 - Dedicated to Weiqing Ding, my mother and Yu Yao, my wife who cared most about the importance of my academic pursuit - 2 - Acknowledgments This thesis is the fruit of my five-year endeavor and cooperation of many others. It is a great honor for me to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals to the development of my research. First and foremost, I am very much indebted to my supervisor Dr. You Ji, for his confidence and trust on me. Without his guidance and constant encouragement, it would have been impossible to write this thesis from the very beginning. I very much appreciate advices on the content and organization of this thesis as it annually reviewed by Dr. You Ji, Dr. Stephen Fortescue, Professor Gavin Kitching, and other members in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, the University of New South Wales. I owe a great intellectual debt to Professor Yuhui Zhao, former director of China Central Television International, who gave me valuable suggestions of how to access most up-dated resources of media policies, laws and regulations on Chinese television. Professor Renqiu Yu from New York State University, Pat Ovis a senior journalist reporting United Nations, and Stella Alvo, an investment researcher in New York, had collectively done proof reading and corrections for the most part of my thesis. In addition to brainstorming discussions, they even helped me to discover many small but important errors in both grammatical and logical terms. I am also very fortunate to take interviews with many television professionals, managers of broadcasters, and government officers responsible for television broadcasting, who offered me their precious opinions and knowledge that contribute a great deal to my thesis particularly in factual terms. Without their understanding and cooperation, it is impossible to initiate any serious case studies. Finally, I want to acknowledge my great debt to Weiqing Ding, my mother, who told me her belief when I was a child that pursuing knowledge and seeking truth is one of the - 3 - most worthwhile and happiest things in life. I also owe this great debt to Yu Yao, my wife, friend, and partner beyond compare. Without her patience and loving support, I might never have reached the point of accomplishing this thesis. - 4 - Abstract How is the media agenda of Chinese television set by the three institutional powers, the state, market and civil society? How do formal and informal institutions of the state, market and civil society in contemporary China set the media agenda with specific rules and organizations? And what are the power relations among the three institutions that shape the structure and functionaries of mass media in general? Based on a new theoretical framework of media agenda-setting for the analysis of media politics in contemporary China, these questions are explored in three sections. First, policies and regulations had been established by formal and informal institutions of the state to safeguard the state agenda as the primary media agenda. The second, market set audience rating and commercial income as major rules for Chinese television to survive in a competitive economy. The third, emerging civil society set moral standards for television broadcasters to produce programs to check the failure of the state and market on one hand, and to serve the needs and rights of audience-as-citizens on the other. The constant changing power relations between the state and market, or between the state and civil society are also explored in sections that market and civil society interact respectively with the state to set the media agenda. The first finding of this thesis relates to the nature of contemporary Chinese television. As one servant for three masters, Chinese television is a mixed entity, which can be motivated to be a state agent, a market entity, and sometimes, a civil society player as well. In long term, Chinese television can be expected to be differentiated and reorganized as affiliates to the three institutions respectively along with the gradual establishment of a checks-and-balances system within and between the state, market, and civil society. The second finding concerns power relations among the three institutions. - 5 - While both market and civil society emerged to be more and more dynamic in motivating the media to accommodate new social agendas, the state remains as the primary power in setting the media agenda of Chinese television. - 6 - List of figures and tables Figures Figure 1 A Three Sector View of State and Society Complex ...................................................27 Figure 2 Three Sectors and Public Spaces in Contemporary China ..........................................44 Figure 3 Communicator-audiences Relationship.......................................................................56 Figure 4 Model of Media Agenda-setting..................................................................................59 Figure 5 Systems of Laws and Regulations on Broadcast Media..............................................94 Figure 6 Structure of SARFT...................................................................................................135 Figure 7 Organizations of the CPC and the state in Media Agenda-setting.............................137 Figure 8 Market Share of Chinese TV Audience in 2003........................................................154 Figure 9 Structure of Chinese Television Drama Market ........................................................173 Figure 10 Social Strata in Contemporary China ........................................................................181 Tables Table 1 Differentiation among the State, Market, and Civil Society ...........................................29 Table 2 Structural Changes of Chinese Economy from 1985 to 1995 .........................................36 Table 3 China as the World’s Third Largest Trading Power (US$, billion) .................................37 Table 4 China as the World’s Fourth Largest Economy in Terms of GDP (2005) .....................37 Table 5 Statistics of SOs and NPOs in China (,000)....................................................................39 Table 6 Two Usages of “Public” ..................................................................................................48 Table 7 Three Normative Models of Broadcasting Media...........................................................49 Table 8 Forms of Power ...............................................................................................................54 Table 9 Formal and Informal Institutions of the CPC..................................................................62 Table 10 Chinese Television in Different Development Stages.................................................64 Table 11 The Growth of Chinese Television from 1978 to 2004 ...............................................76 Table 12 Overseas Channels Approved for Transmission in China in 2003 ............................126 Table 13 The History of Broadcast Administration in China...................................................135 Table 14 Objectives of Economic Reform and Development of Chinese Television ..............140 Table 15 Formal and Informal Institutions of Market in Media Agenda-setting......................141 Table 16 Ratio of State Revenue to GDP .................................................................................143 Table 17 Government Fund and Commercial Income for CCTV Non-business Sector from 1983 to 2004 (,000 RMB Yuan) .........................................................................143 Table 18 Development of the Chinese Advertising Industry....................................................146 Table 19 Composition of Chinese Advertisement Market from 1999 to 2003.........................147 - 7 - Table 20 Composition of American Advertising Expenditure in 2003(%) ..............................147 Table 21 Development of Chinese Television Advertising ......................................................148 Table 22 Accessibility to Different Mass Media for Chinese (%) ...........................................148 Table 23 Viewing Time Per Day for Chinese TV Audience (minutes) ....................................149 Table 24 Composition of CCTV (non-business) Employees in May 2003..............................151 Table 25 Commercial Income and Expenditure of CCTV in 2003 ..........................................152 Table 26 Composition of CCTV Production and Management Costs in 2003 ........................152 Table 27 Advertising Revenues of Golden Time Bunch of CCTV-1, CCTV and all Television Broadcasters in China (million RMB)................................................153 Table 28 Market Share of the Top 15 Television Channels in 2002 and 2003.........................155 Table 29 Weekly Programs from 22:35 to 23:20 in CCTV-1 in 2003......................................158 Table 30 The Purposes of Watching Television for Chinese Audience in 2002.......................165 Table 31 Market Shares of Various Television Programs in 2003............................................166 Table 32 Market Share of Entertainment Program in 2002......................................................166 Table 33 TV Drama Production