Intellectual-run-newspapers versus Statesman-run-newspapers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explicate two competing journalistic paradigms in China in the pre-reform era. The time frame is from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the launching of the reform and open policy in 1978. A common view is that during that period the Chinese government, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, adopted the Soviet press model, in which media were tightly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and journalism was overwhelmingly dominated by the principles of a party press. In this paper, however, I argue that two journalistic paradigms operated simultaneously during that period: while the CCP and the government tried to impose the principle of statesman-run-newspapers, some journalists tried to maintain a tradition of intellectual-run-newspapers. The differences between the two paradigms regarding the role of the media, journalistic identity, levels of autonomy, narrative style, historical origin and others are discussed. The paper concludes that although intellectual-run-newspapers faced severe crackdowns, the inspirational force of the paradigm never became extinct. More importantly, it has been a continued influence on critical-minded journalists in China today.