Practising Global Journalism

7 China

Introduction

In modern China, a succession of monumental but failing pro-democracy movements, from the May Fourth (1919) to the June Fourth (1989), have persistently appealed to liberal-pluralist values, with calls for press freedom being prominent (Lee, 2000a). And continues Lee Chin-Chuan, Chinese journalism cannot be expected to make substantial advances in press freedom without the backing of a viable market economy, but the existence of a market economy does not guarantee press freedom (Lee, 2000a). In this chapter on the media in China, much will be made of the relationship between press freedom, news values and the changes in the market economy over recent years. One of the results of these forceful changes in the market economy ...