This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Representations of Migrant Workers in the Chinese Evening Newspapers ! By Cui Ying! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Name of degree: PhD ! The University of Edinburgh! Year of presentation: 2014! ! ! ! !1 ! ! Abstract ! ! The media plays a crucial role in framing social issues, and it decides whether and how these issues become social problems of wider public concern. This study offers a detailed analysis of this process with regard to the reporting of issues related to migrant workers over the last two decades in Chinese evening newspapers. Using data from evening newspapers in Jinan, a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, and discourse analysis are used to explore how these representations have changed. ! ! The findings show that, contrary to the previous studies which found that representations of migrant workers in the Chinese evening newspapers tended to be mainly negative, portrayals of migrant workers, in reality, are more dynamic and complex. Actually, positive reports about migrant workers have dominated some evening newspapers. Using a large number of interviews with senior management staff and journalists, this study also illuminates the reasons for the changing representations of migrant workers in the evening newspapers, which are the result of the interaction of politics, market forces and professional practice of Chinese journalists. ! ! ! ! ! ! !2 ! ! ! Declaration of originality: ! ! I, Cui Ying, declare that the work presented in the PhD thesis is my own and that it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification: ! ! ! ! ! ! Signed: _________________________________________________________________ ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !3 ! ! Acknowledgements ! ! I am extremely grateful for the guidance, advice and inspiration that I have received from my supervisors, Dr Daniel Clegg and Professor Natascha Gentz, both of whom have been very thoughtful and supportive at every stage of this research. Daniel is so kind and patient, and has tolerated many of my stupid questions. Professor Natascha is a real expert on Chinese media, and she always leads me into a new perspective to look at Chinese issues. I would also like to acknowledge the supervision that I received in the early stages of this research from Professor Jochen Clasen, who gave me a lot of wise suggestions on the direction of this research. I am grateful to Dr Nick Prior, who encouraged me to film my fieldwork, and Mrs Elizabeth Leith, who helped me with the final proofreading. I would like to give a special thanks to my examiners, Dr Ingela Naumann and Dr Qing Cao who gave me a lot of suggestions to improve my thesis. ! Significant thanks are, of course, due to all of the interviewees who trusted me and participated in this research. Without them, this thesis would not exist. I would also like to express my gratefulness to Dr Min Zhao, who has provided emotional and intellectual support over the past 4 years. ! The greatest credit should be given to my husband, Nick Cross, who witnessed every progress of this research: You are a gift from God to me, and I feel so lucky that I have you in my life. ! Finally, this thesis is dedicated to my father, who had never said that he loved me in words, who had always been proud of me, who planned to attend my graduation ceremony, but who died 4 months before I submitted this thesis. !4 ! ! Additional ! ! During my field work, I followed Sun Hua, an award-winning investigative journalist at the Jinan Times, observing and filming how he works under the multiple forces bearing on him. Due to the complexity and controversy of this research method, this set of data was not used in this thesis, but made into a 30 minute documentary film, for the Al Jazeera network. This documentary film is called “Balancing a Dream”, and it was first broadcasted in May, 2012 and re-broadcasted in October, 2012 by Al Jazeera English. This film was also screened in UK, at the London based media club “Frontline” on 19 July 2013. ! ! “Balancing a Dream” is a by-product of this research, which can be viewed as a visual reference to this thesis. In parallel with the research focus in this thesis, it sheds light on how a local Chinese journalist worked in his own way under the political pressure and the pressure from the market forces to realise his professional dream. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !5 Table of Contents: Chapter 1 Introduction! 12! 1.1 Brief Background 12 1.2 Motives and Goals 14 1.3 The Gap in the Current Literature 15 1.4 Contributions of the Present Study 16 1.5 Terminology 17 1.6 Problems and Limitations 21 1.7 Ethical Issues in this Research 23 1.8 Thesis Structure 23 Chapter 2 Research Background ! 27! 2.1 Issues Concerning Migrant Workers in Contemporary China 28 2.1.1 Labour Migration and the Contribution of Migrants 28 2.1.2 Housing, Labour Disputes and Social Welfare 32 2.1.3 Family Separation 35 2.1.4 A Threat to Urban Society? 37 2.1.5 Policies, Organizations and Migrant Workers 39 2.2 Chinese Evening Newspapers in the Transition Era 42 2.2.1 Rapid Growth of Evening Newspapers 42 2.2.2 Furthering the Party"s Agenda 44 2.2.3 Income from Advertisements 46 2.2.4 Dual Objectives of Evening Newspapers 47 2.2.5 Corruption in Journalism 49 2.2.6 Political Constraints on Freedom of Content 51 2.3 Concluding Remarks 53 Chapter 3 Literature Review! 54! 3.1 Media Representation of Social Issues 55 3.2 Portrayal of Migrant Workers in the Chinese Evening Newspapers 58 3.3 Main Factors that Shape the Reports 60 in the Chinese Evening Newspapers 60 3.3.1 Political Influence 60 3.3.1.1 Political Obligations of the Media 61 3.3.1.2 Mass-line Journalism 62 3.3.1.3 Contributing to a Harmonious Society? 65 !6 3.3.1.4 A Public Relation Function for the Party 68 3.3.1.5 The Role of Propaganda 70 3.3.2 The Influence of Market Forces on the Content of Papers 71 3.3.2.1 From “Bad News” to Human Interest Stories 71 3.3.2.2 Classified Advertising and Migrant Worker Readers 74 3.3.2.3 The Influence of Homogenized Competition on Content 76 3.3.3 Professional Practices of Chinese Journalists 78 3.3.3.1 Watchdog Journalism 79 3.3.3.2 The Role of Reports in Helping 81 Socially Disadvantaged People 81 3.4 Concluding Remarks 83 Chapter 4 Methodology ! 86! 4.1 Aims and Research Choices 86 4.2 Data Collection Methods 87 4.2.1 A Case Study: Four Evening Newspapers in Jinan 87 4.2.2 In-depth Interviews 93 4.3 Analysis Techniques 98 4.3.1 Newspaper Content Analysis 98 4.3.2 Newspaper Discourse Analysis 100 4.3.3 Thematic Content Analysis 102 4.4 Summary of Interview Data and the Process of Analysis 103 4.5 Case Study in Jinan and Its Generalisability 104 4.6 Limitations 105 4.7 Concluding Remarks 107 Chapter 5 The Changing Balance of Negative and Positive Reports ! 108! 5.1 Selection of Reports For Analysis 108 5.2 Classification of the Selected Reports 111 5.3 Proportions of Positive vs Negative Reports 111 5.4 Concluding Remarks 115 Chapter 6 Analysis of Terms Used to Describe Migrant Workers ! 116! 6.1 Meanings of Terms Used to Describe Migrant Workers 117 6.1.1 Terms Based on Social Class 118 !7 6.1.2 Terms Based on Geographic Origins 123 6.1.3 Terms Based on Combinations of Two Classes 126 6.2 The Distinctive Terms Used to Describe 129 Migrant Workers and Their Children 129 6.2.1 Changes to the Most Frequently Used Terms 129 6.2.2 The Distinctive Terms Used to Describe 136 Migrant Workers and Their Children 136 6.2.3 Full Real Names and Pseudonyms 140 6.3 The Reasons for the Changes in the Terms Used 144 6.3.1 The Influence of Formulation 144 6.3.2 The Influence of Humanistic Concern 146 6.3.3 The Influence of Journalism Ethical Standards in Journalism 148 6.4 Concluding Remarks 149 Chapter 7 Reports on Criminal Offences and Industrial Accidents Involving Migrant Workers ! 150! 7.1 Selection of Themes 150 7.1.1 Industrial Accidents Involving Migrant Workers 152 7.1.2 Criminal Offences by Migrant Workers 153 7.2 Analytical framework 155 7.2.1 Reporting the Causes 155 7.2.2 Linguistic Analysis 157 7.2.3 “Enfranchised” or “Voiceless” 158 7.2.4 Sources of News 159 7.2.5 Visual Analysis 161 7.2.6 The Public Sector in the Reports 162 7.3 The Presence of Migrant Workers in the Themed Reports 163 7.4.1 From Subjective Judgements to Critical Analysis 164 7.4.2 Changes in Use of Language 169 7.4.3 From Voiceless to Speaking for Themselves 174 7.4.4 From Official News Sources to News Hotlines 175 7.4.5 Analysis of Images about Crime and Accidents 176 7.4.6 The Portrayal of Authorities in the Reports 185 7.5 Concluding Remarks 186 Chapter 8 The Reasons for Changing Representations ! 188! 8.1 How Politics Influences Reports about Migrant Workers 188 !8 8.1.1 “Changing Angles”