Transparency in the Grey Box of China’s Environmental Governance: A Case Study of Print Media Coverage of an Environmental Controversy From the Pearl River Delta Region

Abstract

Through a case study of analyzing the print media coverage of an environmental controversy, this article aims to assess the status of transparency in China’s environmental governance. The case study is based on a landmark January 2000 event in relation to the Nanjiang Industrial Park in Sihui, a county city located in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong Province. The findingsof the case study send discordant and mixed signals, showing that transparency in the process of China’s environmental governance is vulnerable to the extra-media factor—government control of information and the prior consideration of economic imperatives. Although substantial progress has been made in terms of increasing the degree of transparency in environmental protection work, administrative practices have simultaneously enriched the government’s experience in the control of information for governance in the environmental arena, thus presenting an ongoing paradox.