| Description |
1 online resource (232 p.) |
| Contents |
Intro -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Reassessing Media Criticism under Authoritarian Rule -- Existing Explanations of Media Criticism -- Convenient Criticism -- Media Capture at the Local Level -- Contributions to Understanding Authoritarianism -- Addressing Citizen Grievances -- Limitations of the State-Society Framework -- Informal and Innovative Local Politics -- Fluid Yet Clear Media Control -- Redefining Media Politics under Authoritarianism -- Nonlinear Implications for Authoritarian Durability -- Sources and Methods -- Plan of the Book |
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1. Convenient Criticism -- Defining and Categorizing Media Criticism -- Television Critical Reporting versus Print Investigative Journalism -- Organic Criticism versus Orchestrated Criticism -- Television Livelihood News Programs -- Reporting Urban Governance Problems -- Variations in Critical Reporting -- The Livelihood News Programs -- Coding -- Scope -- Intensity -- Bureaucratic and Political Conveniences -- The Principal-Agent Problem -- Opaque Political Selection -- Leadership Style -- Media Convenience -- Commercial Interests -- Advocacy Journalism -- Citizen Convenience |
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Calibrating Expectation and Reinforcing Hegemony -- Conclusion -- 2. Tangled Maneuvers -- Media Control and Critical Reporting -- Sorting Layered Incentives -- Shifting Media Preferences and Journalistic Learning -- Journalistic Tactics of Maneuver -- Demonstrative Cases -- Encouraging Critical Reporting -- Limiting Critical Reporting -- Conclusion -- 3. Political Edge -- Historical Use of Media Criticism -- Supervision by Public Opinion -- Other Media-Related Policies -- Local Leaders' Career Interests -- Formal Institutions of Cadre Promotion -- Informal Politics of Getting Ahead |
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Frequent Leadership Turnover -- Differing Incentives at Provincial and Municipal Levels -- Individual Differences in Leadership Style -- Conclusion -- 4. Keen Partner -- Media Reforms and Competition -- Redefining Television Journalism -- Journalism in Livelihood News -- Advocacy and Populism -- Advocacy-to Bridge the Government and the People -- Populism-to Channel Citizen Grievances -- Political Constraints -- The Governance Context of Media Criticism -- Illegal Construction in Residential Complexes -- Pollution -- Food Safety -- Aligned Interests -- Conclusion -- 5. Criticism and Correction |
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Expectations and Hypotheses -- Data and Measurements -- Leadership Style toward the Media -- Media Competition -- Governance Context -- Explaining Variations -- Bivariate Analysis -- Regression Analysis -- Demonstrative Cases -- Xi'an Zero Distance -- Orchestrated Criticism -- Organic Criticism -- Zero Distance -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Advancing Bureaucratic Control and Political Careers -- Addressing Citizen Grievances -- Enhancing Media Advocacy -- Limits of Convenient Criticism -- Implications for the Authoritarian Rule -- Appendix A: Ethnographic Observation and Interviews |
| Summary |
Why and how does critical reporting persist at the local level in China despite state media control, a hallmark of authoritarian rule? Synthesizing ethnographic observation, interviews, survey and content analysis data, Convenient Criticism reveals evolving dynamics in local governance and the state-media relationship. Local critical reporting, though limited in scope, occurs because local leaders, motivated by political career advancement, use media criticism strategically to increase bureaucratic control, address citizen grievances, and improve governance. This new approach to governance enables the shaping of public opinion while, at the same time, disciplining subordinate bureaucrats. In this way, the party-state not only monopolizes propaganda but also expropriates criticism, which expands the notion of media control from the suppression of journalism to its manipulation. One positive consequence of these practices has been to invigorate television journalists' unique brand of advocacy journalism |
| Notes |
Description based upon print version of record |
| Subject |
Television broadcasting of news -- Political aspects -- China
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Local mass media -- Political aspects -- China
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Investigative reporting -- Political aspects -- China
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Press and politics -- China
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POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / Local.
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Local mass media -- Political aspects
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Press and politics
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Television broadcasting of news -- Political aspects
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China
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781438480312 |
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1438480318 |
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