A Study On Ma Xingye’s Journalistic Career

Ma Xingye, a well-known journalist, educator, scholar, and publisher, remains one of the most important figures in the study of the history of Chinese journalism of the 20th century. He is not to be ignored. In 1931, Ma Xingye was sent by the KMT-operated Central Political School (CPS) to the University of Missouri’s acclaimed School of Journalism to pursue his studies in Journalism. In 1934, he was called back. Since then, Ma Xingye had remained "a journalist within the framework of the KMT regime". As an "enlightened liberal amongst the conservatives" (saying by Li Jinquan), he spent his life between conflicting forces:his ideals and reality. His life was an endeavor to compromise, to coordinate, to balance interests, to find common ground between opposing powers, to attempt to reach the "golden mean" -the harmonious "middle road" - within the extent permitted by the administration. In addition, he tried to strike a balance among the "Three Principles of the People"-western journalistic professionalism, and Chinese traditional Confucian values. His attempt was to integrate these three elements and to internalize them as his own ideology and to implement them.This dissertation sets out to explore Ma Xingye’s life experience and journalist career, and to present the three stages of adolescence, youth and adulthood. Ma Xingye chose to become a "journalist within the framework of KMT regime" as a result of historical, social and personal necessity. Such necessity originated from his family background, his mentors’influence, his personal pursuit of ideals, his obedience to social reality (especially that of the KMT) and the historical context within which he lived.The study on Ma Xingye’s practice in journalistic education features to divide into three stages:"rookie for trials", "full-time gardener", and "part-time mentor". This method proposes two concepts:the "Central Political School (CPS) Model" for KMT-operated journalist education and the "CPS(NCCU) Journalism Clan". It points out that the "CPS Model" of journalist education was based on the imitation of the "Missouri Model" representing professional journalism education, and formed with features of traditional Confucianism and the "Three Principles of the People".The study on Ma Xingye’s journalist operation and press management systematically maps out and recounts 44 years of experience as manager and executor of policies in organizations such as the Central Daily News (CDS), the Central News Agency (CNA), press sector of the KMT "Central Propaganda Agency", the "4th Department of the KMT Central Committee", "China Press Institute", and "Mass Communication Education Association". It demonstrates that within the historical and social context of the time, the ideals of western professional journalism and the humanistic spirit of traditional Chinese Confucianism would eventually be reconciled to the reality of the KMT administration.The study on Ma Xingye’s journalistic ideas represents the first academic attempt to clarify the logic of his three stages:"emergence", "development", and "expansion". It also summarizes the three components to his journalist ideas: "professional journalism with the guidance of Western journalistic professionalism", "journalism for the ’Three Principles of the People’focused on the priority of national interests", and "modern mass communication in service of the "Chiang Quotations". It is proposed that the core and essence of Ma’s journalistic ideas is the responsible and free journalism with the guidance of the "Three Principles of the People". The study is followed by the analysis of the features and limitations in Ma’s responsible and free journalism with the guidance of the "Three Principles of the People" and western journalistic professionalism.The study on Ma Xingye’s personality as a journalist crystallizes into the "Ma Style" possessed by Ma Xingye as a representative figure in journalism within the KMT framework, who took the "Three Principles of the People" as political orientation, Western journalistic professionalism as methodology, and traditional Chinese Confucianism as the core of spiritual pursuit. "Ma Style" is sustained with the practice of "taking Chinese tradition as purpose and western examples as means" and "coordinating opposites".In the history of Chinese journalism during the 20th century, although Ma Xingye was not the mainstream that pushed or obstructed the development or changes of journalism in his times, his unique social role turned him into an important figure that no study on journalism history during the period of Republic of China could afford to evade, because he not only represents himself, but also represents the group of "journalists within the KMT framework" who shared similar or identical life experiences, life philosophy, ideals, and methods for realization. Historical, objective and dialectic evaluation of Ma Xingye’s role and historical position in the history of Chinese journalism during the 20th century, especially the development of journalism during the period of Republic of China is the goal for this dissertation to achieve in analyzing the important representative of "journalists within the KMT framework".