Ambiguities and contradiction: Issues in China's changing political communication

Abstract

The state in China has sought to bureaucratize media management even though control remains tight. Further, economic reform has unleashed a momentum sufficiently robust to loosen part of that control. Media messages in the age of new technology may be averted, compromised, and resisted to a larger extent. Given the crumbling of other Communist regimes and the increasing interaction with Hong Kong and Taiwan, the PRC's media stand at the threshold of significant change. The post-Cold War era demands new conceptual frameworks and richly contextualized ‘thick descriptions’ for journalists to understand China.