Changing Media, Changing China

This collection of essays--many of them written by pioneering Chinese journalists--explores how transformations in China's media are changing the country. The growth of Internet access in China has multiplied the amount of information available, the variety and timeliness of the news, and its national and international reach. The most dramatic effect of the Web is how fast it can be used to spread information and skirt official censorship. Nonetheless, China is still a long way from having a free press. As of 2008, it stood close to the bottom of world rankings of freedom of the press--181 worst out of 195 countries--as assessed by the international NGO Freedom House. In detailed case studies, the authors describe how the media is reshaping itself from a propaganda mouthpiece into an entity that practices watchdog journalism, how politicians are reacting to increased scrutiny from the media, and how television, newspapers, magazines, and Web-based news sites navigate the cross currents between the market and the CCP censors. In addition to Western experts on China, contributors to this volume include a number of prominent Chinese journalists: Hu Shuli, the editor-in-chief of China's leading business and finance magazine, Caijing ; Qian Gang, former managing editor of Southern Weekend , China's most progressive newspaper; Qiang Xiao, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual collaborative website China Digital Times ; and Zhan Jiang, former reporter and editor of the Yangzhou Daily News .

Susan L. Shirk is Director of the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, and Professor at University of California, San Diego. A leading authority on China, she has written numerous books and articles on the subject, including China: Fragile Superpower and pieces that have appeared in the Washington Post, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal.