Why Does Media Marketization Reinforce Media Control in Post-Tiananmen China? - A Political Economic Theory of Media Control By Nanchu He B. E. China Petroleum University, 1986 M.E. Petroleum University, Beijing, 1989 B.A., York University, 2006 M.A., University Of Victoria, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Political Science © Nanchu He, 2015 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author Why Does Media Marketization Reinforce Media Control in Post-Tiananmen China? - A Political Economic Theory of Media Control By Nanchu He B. E. China Petroleum University, 1986 M.E. Petroleum University, Beijing, 1989 B.A., York University, 2006 M.A., University Of Victoria, 2009 Supervisory Committee Dr. Amy Verdun (Department of Political Science) Co-Supervisor Dr. Feng Xu (Department of Political Science) Co-Supervisor Dr. Min Zhou (Department of Sociology) Outside Member of the Committee ii Supervisory Committee Dr. Amy Verdun (Department of Political Science) Co-Supervisor Dr. Feng Xu (Department of Political Science) Co-Supervisor Dr. Min Zhou (Department of Sociology) Outside Member of the Committee Abstract The current Chinese media political literature ascribes China‟s effective media control to Communist Party censorship. Up until now, scholars and authors have overlooked how the enormous social and economic changes that China has undergone since economic reform has affected media control. This dissertation explores how such changes influence media control in China. It first examines the Chinese political economy and then focuses on studying China‟s media, which has gone through considerable change since economic reform. Previously, Party ideological indoctrination and violent suppression were rampant. Today‟s situation, however, could be characterized as indoctrination mingled with entertainment or “indoctritainment” (Sun 2002), and repression with an absence of full freedom of the media. I argue that “repressive state capitalism” has propelled economic development in China, particularly since 1989. In the reform era, repression coexists with economic development and is actually productive to Chinese economic growth because repression has both ensured state intervention in the economy and safeguarded a stable environment that is pivotal to the flourishing of economic activities. Using this political economic approach, I propose a political economic theory of “marketizing media control” to account for effective media control after media marketization, beginning with an empirical investigation of the traditional media and ending with an investigation of the new media in China. In short, repressive state capitalism is my contribution to political economic theory and marketizing media control is my contribution to Chinese media politics. iii Table of Contents Supervisory Committee…………………………………………………………………. ii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….. iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………... iv List of Abbreviations………………………...……………………………..…………… vi Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………. vii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….. xi Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………………………….. 1 The Puzzle…………………………………………………………………………. 1 The Particular Puzzle……………………………………………………………… 14 Methods…………………………………………………………………………… 23 The Structure. ……………………………………………………………………... 32 Chapter Two: Repressive State Capitalism……………………………………………… 34 Literature Review of Chinese Political Economy………………………………… 34 Repressive State Capitalism………………………………………………………. 51 Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework………………………..………………………... 71 Literature Review of Chinese Media Politics……………………………………... 71 Chinese Political Economy………………………………………………………... 94 -Why Has Repressive State Capitalism Ensured Economic Growth in China?....... 97 Media Marketization………………………………………………………………. 140 A Theory of Media Control: Marketizing Media Control.………………….……… 143 Chapter Four: China‟s Media Development Since 1949 156 -A Historical Institutional Approach…………………………………….. Brief History of China‟s Media Development since 1949……………………….... 156 I. Media Development during 1949-1955………………………………... 159 II. The Short 1956 Media Expansion into People‟s Daily Life…………… 163 III. Media Exaggerations in the Great Leap Forward………………………… 164 IV. Dark Journalism in the Cultural Revolution……………………………… 167 V. Media Reorientation and Rejuvenation in the Reforming Era………….. 171 VI. The Brief Media Freedom during the Period of 1989 Student Movement.. 178 VII. Media Commercialization and Expansion since 1992…………..………… 181 Media Marketization……………………………………………………………….. 190 I. Media Commercialization………………………………………..…… 192 iv II. Marketization of the Media……………..………………………………….. 194 III.Media Grouping………….………………………………………………… 198 The Characteristics of the China‟s Media Market…………………………………. 201 Chapter Five: Marketizing Media Control in China‟s Traditional Media………………… 208 Job Responsibility Initiates Marketizing Media Control…………………………… 209 Material Compensation and Mentality Change…………...………………………... 217 1. Material Lure to Media Professionals Is Introduced by the Media Itself…….. 222 2. Material Compensation to Media Professionals……………………………… 226 i). Material Compensation to Media Managers………………………………. 227 ii). Material Compensation to Journalists.......................................................... 232 3. The Journalist Evaluation further Pushes Journalists to Pursue Material Gain.. 240 4. Benefit Prospect to Media Professionals............................................................ 243 Collective Interest Strengthens Marketizing Media Control……………………….. 253 Three Case Studies of Marketizing Media Control………………………….. 264 A. The Dong Zhou Shooting………………………………………………… 268 B. The Tonghua Steel Riot…………………………………………………… 277 C. Chen Yongzhou‟s Arrest…………………………………………………... 287 Punishment as a Way to Redraw the Boundaries of the Media…………………….. 301 Chapter Six: Marketizing Media Control of China‟s New Media........................................ 311 Governmental Monitoring and Control on the Internet…………………………….. 314 Marketizing Media Control in Internet Companies………………………………… 324 Punishment on Internet Companies………………………………………………… 331 Chapter Seven: Conclusion – Repressive State Capitalism and Marketizing Media Control in a Historical Context 339 References……………………………………………………………………………..….. 359 v List of Abbreviations ACFTU: All China Federation of Trade Union AOL: American On Line, an American Internet service corporation BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation BBS: Bulletin Board Service CCP: Chinese Communist Party CCTV: China Central Television CEO: Chief Executive Officer CNBC: Consumer News and Business Channel CNNIC: China National Network Information Center CNN: Cable News Network, an American real-time news corporation CSYB: China Statistics Yearbook DPBs: Domestic Private Businesses ESPN: Entertainment and Sports Programs Network FDI: Foreign Direct Investment GAPP: General Administration of Press and Publication GARFT: General Administration of Radio, Film and Television GDP: Gross Domestic Product GNI: Gross National Income HBO: Home Box Office, an American television channel ICPs: Internet Content Providers ISPs: Internet Service Providers ID: Identification IDC: Internet Data Center NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization PCs: Propaganda Circulars PD: Propaganda Department PRER: Pearl River Economic Radio SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SEZs: Special Economic Zones SOEs: State-owned Enterprises TVEs: Township and Village Enterprises WTO: World Trade Organization US: The United States of America vi Acknowledgements I was born in a village in Hunan Province, China in 1965. My primary school from grade one to six was taught only by a peasant teacher of our village, but I passed the university entrance examination with excellent grades and was admitted by the East-China Petroleum University in Shandong Province (the name was eventually changed to Petroleum University) in 1982. Later, I entered the Masters program of Geophysics at Petroleum University in Beijing in 1986 and was conferred a Master of Engineering days after the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. I was not interested in politics until the 1989 Tiananmen Student Movement began on April 15, 1989, when we (students) listened to the news of Hu Yaobang‟s death (then General Secretary of the Communist Party). At the time, I was woken up by what I saw and what I heard. When I had participated in sit-ins in the Tiananmen Square at night during this period of time, a fellow student told me that “the Chinese political system raises a pig (a corrupt official in his eyes) and then kills it, and then it raises and kills another pig.” His metaphor opened up my mind. I began to wonder why it is the case in China, and I have been interested in Chinese politics since then. After the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre happened, this violent event and my own experience in the student movement forced me to consider what would end the vicious cycle of Chinese politics from massive and nationwide wars to totalitarianism or despotism and then back to wars again when the regime collapses. My answer is democracy as many other democracy advocates would agree. However, I realized that I needed to live in a democracy to see how democracies ensure smooth transitions of government, curb rampant corruption, and safeguard the people‟s