Press Control in "New China" and "Old China"

Abstract

The editorials, which reflected the official line of the Kuomintang (KMT) and were distributed to KMT newspapers across China twice a week, proved quite useful during the Sino-Japanese War, but were thereafter considered irrelevant. The KMT gave less weight to ideology than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and thereby allowed greater journalistic freedom. Factionalism within the KMT inhibited successful interference in journalistic affairs. The nature of press control in China revealed by the examples seems absurd in its intensity and form—massive imitation has been unheard of in the history of the world's newspaper industry. The tactics used by the CCP in their battle against KMT-organized press control were effective. The CCP's effective rule in China has been the result of not only omnipotent organizational control, but also strict press control, during particularly xenophobic periods of China's history; anyone caught listening to foreign broadcasts risked spending time in prison.