On Journalist’s Day in China, two warning bells
By David Bandurski — Tensions between professional values and the party line have quietly marked every Chinese Journalist’s Day since the holiday was inaugurated on November 8, 2000. Nine years ago, the November 8 issue of Guangdong’s Southern Weekend argued boldly that journalists should show “social conscience” by exposing the truth. On the same day, however, propaganda leaders stressed that journalists must “be firm and unshakeable in carrying out the news theory and policy direction of the ruling party.”
This year, Journalist’s Day has come and gone with little cause for celebration among journalists in China who harbor professional ideals. The holiday was marked, in fact, by two distinct warning bells.
The first warning bell came as recent troubles at Caijing magazine culminated in the resignation of editor-in-chief Hu Shuli (胡舒立).
Hu’s departure marked the end of Caijing as one of China’s most outspoken and professional media outlets, and as a key destination and training ground for top journalists. It also underscored the way the professional spirit in Chinese media is now being squeezed more tightly than ever between the priorities of government censorship on the one hand and the prerogative of commercial profit on the other.
The second warning bell came in the form of a speech by politburo member Li Changchun (李长春) to mark Journalist’s Day, in which the ideological chief laid stronger emphasis on media control and avoided all pretense of caring about the public’s “right to know.”
In a sobering analysis of this year’s speech, Song Zhibiao (宋志标), a journalist who works at Southern Metropolis Daily‘s editorial page, noted important changes from Li Changchun’s 2008 speech. Song’s post was quickly expunged from mainland-based websites.
[ABOVE: A search for Song Zhibiao's analysis of Li Changchun's Journalist's Day speech through Baidu.com comes up with a warning saying results cannot be shown because they do not comply with laws and regulations.]
As in last year’s speech, Li gave top priority to “the principle of party spirit [in journalism]” (党性原则), the notion that news media must adhere to the party’s propaganda discipline and to “correct guidance of public opinion.”
But this reiteration of the priority of media control was complemented in this year’s speech by clear changes in official language concerning citizen’s rights and information.
Song notes that in Li Changchun’s 2008 speech the term “truth in the news” (新闻真实) made an appearance. This year, the term made a rapid exit.
Perhaps more worryingly, Hu Jintao’s so-called “four rights” — the right to know (知情权), right to participate (参与权), right to express (表达权) and right to monitor (监督权) — which appeared in the political report to the last Party Congress in 2007 and made Li’s speech last year, were dropped altogether this year from the main portion of Li’s speech dealing with priority work for the future. The language appears only in Li’s preamble, which outlines “valuable experiences” in media policy over the past 60 years.
These rather conspicuous absences seem to indicate that top leaders would rather not stake out a position on the ethic of neutrality (中立价值) for the news media, and intend to emphasize the news media’s fealty to the party over any interest, however tentative, in social rights.
Li Changchun’s speech on Sunday also placed a great deal of emphasis on the idea of “discourse power” (话语权) — the CCP’s “discourse power,” that is. This underscores in particular an interest in strengthening the party’s capacity to make its voice heard both domestically and internationally.
This is also an important reason why the term “public opinion channeling,” or yulun yindao (舆论引导), rises in the ranks of Li’s speech this year. This further drives home what we have been arguing here at CMP for months — that the party is reworking its media control system to allow traditional controls and active agenda-setting (“grabbing the megaphone“) to work hand-in-hand.
This change, which we have called Control 2.0, sees the priorities and tactics of propaganda as transcending national boundaries and requiring much more clever and aggressive techniques of persuasion. It can be glimpsed again in Li Changchun’s language this year about the need to “coordinate overall national interests on both the domestic and international fronts” (统筹国内国际两个大局).
In other words, China’s is taking its propaganda campaign global, and the success of domestic controls hinges on China’s success or failure on the international battlefield of public opinion.
More on that in tomorrow’s post, which deals with China’s unique vision of “soft power” as what one might call “attractive coercion” — in apt distortion, of course, of Joseph Nye’s formulation of “soft power” as “the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion and payment.”
Getting back to Li Changchun’s speech, though. Song Zhibiao sums up both the 2008 and 2009 speeches with the phrase, “Light on citizen’s rights, heavy on official power” (轻民权重官权).
But unlike last year, this year’s speech makes no effort whatsoever to conceal this fact. It is a bald pronouncement of the way things will be, and the way they should remain for some time to come.
“This is the news we receive on this Journalist’s Day,” Song concluded balefully. “We can avoid this holiday, but we cannot avoid attack from these principles that have been newly packaged and presented. This is the situation we in the press must face.”
[Posted by David Bandurski, November 10, 2009, 2:30pm HK]
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[...] For another take on this little known holiday in China, David Bandurski at the China Media Project at Hong Kong University wrote this piece on Monday: On Journalists Day in China, Two Warning Bells [...]
For those who are interested, here’s the text of Song Zhibiao’s editorial. I found it at a Tianya blog.
李长春08、09年记者节的讲稿词汇比照
2009-11-9 星期一(Monday) 晴
李长春已经连续两年在记者节发表讲话。尽管这位中国的意识形态长官讲什么不会出人意料，不过对照这两年的讲稿，还是可以发现一些细节上的不同。和所有党政干部的讲稿一样，李长春的讲稿也是建立在一些关键词之上，由这个领域最为党性的词汇构成。从两年的讲稿可见，所有关键词汇都没有丝毫变动，但是在关键词的排序上出现了变化，对关键词的阐释比重也有选择。
截取李长春讲话中的“经验总结”部分，因为这部分内容“集中体现了60年来党领导新闻宣传工作形成的重要原则和成功做法”，“反映了社会主义新闻工作的本质特征和内在要求”。下面就从上述的关键词、排序及阐释选择等方面作一个简略的比较。由此可以更清晰地知道“党管媒体，党管干部”究竟是什么。
李长春选用的关键词，带有强烈的政党色彩和阶级专属功能。如果溯源，这些关键词的绝大多数肇始且定型于jiangzemin时代的总结。这些关键词主要有：党性原则，正面宣传，舆论导向，以人为本，三贴近原则，舆论引导，国内国际两个大局，话语权，主旋律，正确方向，国际传播能力。
具体对比的总结如下：
党性原则作为第一条首要原则，始终占据讲话的最重要位置。这是两年来从未变过的。教科书上有党性和人民性的争论，在这里早已经有了官方的标准答案。其实这是新闻界所有显晦区别的核心所在。
从关键词的顺序上看，08年是：党性原则—-三贴近—-舆论引导—-话语权—-国内国际传播力—-引导网络舆论—-领导和组织方式。09年是：党性原则—-舆论引导—-三贴近—-国内国际两个大局—-引导网络舆论—-领导和组织方式。08年被强化阐释的是三贴近原则，09年被强调的则是国内国际两个宣传大局。08年的表述是“主流媒体的国内国际传播能力”，到了09年则是“统筹国内国际两个大局”，暗示的主语和主体都发生了强烈变化。09年被重点阐释的还有“两管”原则，比上年更加清晰，范围更加窄更加明确，不再避讳管媒体和管人的结合。
09年的讲话除了党性原则，其实可以概括为“两个大局，两种管理”。如果说在08年只是强调主流媒体的国际传播能力，那在今年已用国际传播大局取而代之。这是宣传领导机关在思路上的明确呈现。“两管”原则同样如此，这都显示中央对新闻媒体的重要方针已经从比较含糊的表述，转为指向性明显、操作性很强的“成熟”阶段。
关键词之间的权属是不同的，层级地位明显不一样。“党性原则”占据词汇库的最高位置，其他关键词是这个“领主”在新闻技术、管理方式、重点所在等方面的延伸。更值得注意的是，讲话中涉及社会和人民权利的表述有了明显改变。其一是，新闻媒体的社会功能以及当遵守的民众原则，其地位明显下降。08年讲话中出现“新闻真实”一词，09年被迅速取消。其二，08年的“知情权”等四权也不见了，说明讲话有意模糊新闻的中立价值，有意贬抑新闻的社会属性。
与降低新闻中民权属性的提法相比，讲话极大提高了所谓“话语权”的权重。这里的话语权是党的话语权，不是百姓的话语权。无论是两个大局，还是网络舆论，还是公信力媒体，都是服从这个话语权的需要。也就是说，两年间的讲话可以“轻民权重官权”来形容。如果说08年还有有一些技术上遮掩，09年很明显不再做哪怕是敷衍一般的调剂了。这也是一个很大的改变。
对照两年的讲话，从主题上看了无新意，关键词的打乱组合也叫人眼花缭乱和头昏脑胀。08年的讲话多多少少引用了传播中的某些成果，加以技术性的吸收。尽管这是礼节性的调和浓烈的党性色彩，可在09年，已经不再有任何忌讳。铺张、强化、着重阐述党性原则已到了无所顾忌的地步。由此，新闻媒体的工具论已经不是回避与否的问题，而成了是否坚持的问题——换言之，新闻界的问题已经被转化成单一的立场问题，用古话说，就是顺昌逆亡。
这就是我们在记者节得到的信息。我们可以拒绝这个节日，却无法拒绝这些被重新包装的原则的侵袭。这就是新闻界要面对的境况。
2009年11月9日星期一 12：53
附08、09年李长春讲话中“经验总结”的对比。
回顾这一年的工作，我们在很多方面实现了创新和突破，积累了一些宝贵经验。我们要深入总结新闻宣传工作取得的新鲜经验，进一步深化对新时期新闻宣传工作规律的认识和把握，努力推动党的新闻宣传事业不断发展进步。我体会，做好新形势下新闻宣传工作，必须做到以下几点：（08）
在60年的辉煌历程中，新闻战线继承和发扬党的新闻宣传工作优良传统，不断探索新形势下新闻宣传工作的新思路、新途径、新方法，勇于创新，锐意进取，很好地履行了党和人民赋予的光荣职责，开创了工作新局面，积累了许多宝贵经验。（09）
一是必须始终坚持党性原则，坚持团结稳定鼓劲、正面宣传为主，坚持高举旗帜、围绕中心、服务大局，唱响主旋律，打好主动仗，牢牢把握正确舆论导向，不断巩固壮大积极健康向上的主流舆论。（08）
一是坚持党性原则，始终与党中央保持一致，牢固树立政治意识、大局意识、责任意识、阵地意识，不断增强政治敏锐性和政治鉴别力，确保新闻宣传工作始终沿着正确方向前进。（09）
二是必须坚持以人为本，贴近实际、贴近生活、贴近群众，把体现党的主张与反映人民心声统一起来，把坚持正确导向与通达社情民意统一起来，把正面宣传为主与加强和改进舆论监督统一起来，保证人民的知情权、参与权、表达权、监督权，不断增强新闻报道的亲和力、吸引力、感染力、公信力。（08）
二是坚持把正确导向放在首位，坚持团结稳定鼓劲、正面宣传为主，坚持真实、准确、全面、客观，围绕中心、服务大局，唱响主旋律、打好主动仗，及时准确、公开透明、有序开放、有效管理、正确引导，做好重大突发事件的新闻报道和舆论引导，不断提高舆论引导的权威性、公信力、影响力，确保新闻宣传工作在巩固全党全国各族人民团结奋斗的共同思想基础、推动经济社会又好又快发展进程中发挥积极作用。（09）
三是必须坚持把提高舆论引导能力放在突出位置，重视研究传播艺术，注意利用现代传播技巧，善于运用受众听得懂、易接受的方式，把握报道的方向和重点，注重引导的时机和节奏，提高舆论引导的有效性。（08）
三是坚持以人为本，贴近实际、贴近生活、贴近群众，把体现党的主张与反映人民心声统一起来，把坚持正确导向与通达社情民意统一起来，把正面宣传为主与加强和改进舆论监督统一起来，保障人民的知情权、参与权、表达权、监督权，不断增强新闻报道的针对性、实效性和亲和力、吸引力、感染力。（09）
四是必须坚持及时准确、公开透明，第一时间发布权威信息，满足人们的信息需求，回应社会关切，努力抢占先机、赢得话语权、掌握主动权，牢牢占领舆论引导的制高点。（08）
四是坚持统筹国内国际两个大局，加强内宣与外宣的协调配合，积极打造国际一流媒体，构建覆盖广泛、技术先进的现代传播体系，努力形成与我国经济社会发展水平和国际地位相适应的国际传播能力，争取话语权，扩大国际影响力，为我国社会主义现代化事业营造良好的国际舆论环境。（09）
五是必须坚持把提高主流媒体的国内国际传播能力作为一项紧迫的战略任务，打造国际一流媒体，构建覆盖广泛、技术先进的现代传播体系，形成与我国经济社会发展水平和国际地位相称的国际传播能力，使我们的图像、声音、文字、信息更广泛地传播到世界各地，进入千家万户。（08）
五是坚持改革创新，大力推进观念创新、体制创新、机制创新、内容创新、形式创新、传播手段创新、业态创新、科技创新，善于运用现代科技手段传播主流舆论，积极占领互联网等舆论新阵地，使新闻宣传工作更好地体现时代性、把握规律性、富于创造性。（09）
六是必须坚持积极发展、加强管理、趋利避害、为我所用，加强新兴媒体的建设、运用和管理，占领互联网等舆论新阵地，形成网上正面舆论强势，掌握网上舆论主导权，构建舆论引导新格局。（08）
六是坚持加强和改善党对新闻宣传工作的领导，加强新闻战线各级领导班子和队伍建设，坚持党管媒体、党管干部，确保新闻宣传工作的领导权牢牢掌握在忠于党、忠于人民的人手里，着力培养一大批高素质的优秀新闻人才，为新闻宣传事业健康发展提供坚强的政治保证和组织保证。（09）
七是必须坚持改革创新，在继承和发扬优良传统的基础上，创新观念、创新体制、创新机制、创新内容、创新形式、创新方法、创新手段，改进新闻宣传工作的领导方式、组织方式、工作方式、管理方式，不断增强新闻宣传的针对性和实效性。（08）
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