Writing at Nieman Reports, published by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, China Media Project Co-director Ying Chan writes about China’s current press environment, and how new technologies such as microblogs are being actively used by journalists.
This edition of Nieman Reports introduces the work of the CMP, and also re-posts CMP’s translation of the January 10-points bulletin from the Central Propaganda Department.
Ying Chan, who served as a 1996 Nieman Fellow, established the Journalism and Media Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong in 1999.
Chinese Journalists Circumvent Government’s Tight Restrictions
‘Given how information from Yihuang was spread in China, this story signaled a landmark moment in contemporary Chinese media with the emergence of microblogs … as a valuable distribution tool for journalists.’
By Ying Chan
The state of journalism in China is bleak and exhilarating. Last year journalists pushed the envelope and scored many small victories. But huge challenges remain. Now reporters are bracing for a long bitter winter—one in which cold winds will blow on them even as the temperature rises—as they anticipate the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party that will convene in 2012. At that time there will be a change in the party’s senior leadership, and there are already reasons for the press to be concerned.
