New Times for Chinese Newspapers? A Case Study of Beijing News’s Investigative Reporting in the New Media Age

• In Event: News Ethnographies in the 21st Century

Abstract

Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in the investigative reporting unit of Beijing News, this paper examines how new dynamics, represented by emerging economic pressure facing newspapers, the increasingly draconian political climate under the new leadership, and the development of new media, pose fresh challenges to the activities of Chinese investigative journalists. In order to keep the newspaper competitive, the investigative reporting unit of Beijing News has reshuffled its organizational structure and readjusted its reporting strategy. The paper concentrates upon the interplay between political and economic factors in defining the broad context that Chinese investigative journalism operates within. As a consequence it calls for a reconsideration of the primacy of political analysis that has dominated studies of Chinese journalism. The paper demonstrates that the political analysis of Chinese newspapers needs to be supplemented by increasing attention to the impact of other factors, notably technological developments and economic pressures.

Authors

• Ke Li, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Colin Sparks, Hong Kong Baptist U