The Study Of Program Production By Dragon TV From The Perspective Of Field Theory

Shanghai assumed an important role in China’s reform and opening process with its special historical culture, geopolitics structure and political and economic status. The development of Shanghai Dragon TV is a representative and typical case among provincial satellite televisions. With "field" theory as an entry point, this paper selects the Dragon TV as a case study to examine the real-world TV content production from three aspects of news production, teleplay production and program production, centering on the TV’s program production mechanism as well as the scripts of typical programs under the background of its development history. Through this study, the author attempts to provide an in-depth investigation on the content production practices of Shanghai Dragon TV during China’s social transformation process which is inspected in the context of historical opportunities of international metropolis and Shanghai culture, and then discusses the impact of field domain such politics, economics and culture on TV practices.This study, mainly using research methods such as in-depth interviews, participant observation and textual analysis, makes thorough investigation on SMG through on-site participation in various stages of programme making, including pre-planning, production and promotion. Theories from media sociology and cultural studies will be adopted to build China’s Television content production-to-consumption patterns during transition – which means the focus will be placed on media organizations that are affected by factors such as ideology, capital and culture and how their scripts contribute to the reconstruction of social modernity.The introduction part of this article will provide an overview on the background and significance of this research, review the current research status and achievements, summarize the main issues existed in those research conceptions and propose specific research ideas and methods to provide a clear research framework. In Chapter I, the evolution history of Dragon TV under the background of the development of provincial satellite television will be depicted briefly. Chapter II, III and V will give a thick description on the real-world content production of Shanghai television industry respectively from three levels of news, variety show and teleplay to analyze the capital interaction within the production filed of Dragon TV among powers from economic, political and profession fields and explore the spatially-enabled operation of the systems and the control of capital on television. Finally, discussion about the role Dragon TV playing in shaping Shanghai’s modernity will be stressed in the fifth chapter based on phenomena such as the exchange between individual and public sphere and the consumption in both spheres. Also, the regional propagation of provincial satellite television and the construction of urban groups’ identity are discussed from geographical, ethnic and national perspectives.The map of Chinese television during transition period is constantly being redrawn and re-traced. The development process of the Dragon TV presents flowing images of provincial satellite television pushing forward against all odds under the joint effect of political, economic and technological factors. The role-shaping and identity-building journey Dragon TV experienced on the long path from exposed locally to nationally and even internationally represents a typical case with universal significance. In the conclusion, the author points out both the specificity of Dragon TV as a case for Chinese provincial TV development process and its universal referential value for the development of other provincial satellite television and makes suggestions on the development strategy of provincial satellite televisions in the transformation of China.