The press and social change: A case study of the 'World Economic Herald' in China's political reform

This dissertation, set in the context of China's economic reform and opening up in the 1980s, investigates the role of the Shanghai-based World Economic Herald in the nation's political democratization, and analyzes its relationship with the nature of social change.;A prominent theme running through this study is that political democratization must be coupled with economic growth in order for the role of the press to change in China.;The dissertation utilizes the methodology of case study with an emphasis on content analysis. The findings reveal that in early 1989 the Herald waged an unprecedented struggle against the Party's tight control of the news media and for political democratization including press freedom. Results of the study also suggest that the Herald, throughout its 10-year existence, became more and more politics-oriented and outspoken in its coverage of key political issues. However its role in promoting political change was restricted by the nature of China's reform movement characterized by a separation of political reform from economic reform. In sum, the development and demise of the Herald provided a window through which it could be clearly seen how the press affected and was affected by the social change in China, in the historical period of the 1980s.;That the Herald made a suicidal move as an agent of political change in China rekindled the question of testing boundaries for the mass media in the study of the interrelationship between the press and social change. This dissertation concludes that given China's social-political-economic reality, testing the limits for the press was costly, but would prove worthwhile in the long run.;By arguing for synchronization of political democratization and economic growth, this dissertation provides a theoretical alternative to the so-called "repressive-developmentalist" theory which underlies the development of Taiwan, South Korea, and some Latin American countries. This study also calls for a reconsideration of economy-oriented Western theories about communication and development, and suggests that what the media can and cannot do in developing countries like China is basically governed by the given political, economic, and social system.