Changes Of Bad News Report In The People's Daily

Since the launch of economic reform in late 1978, tremendous changes have taken place in all facets of society in China. Chinese media also experienced a great transition, during which the way Chinese government communicates with the mass through media was also influenced and altered. This paper argues that it is unsuitable to adopt the Soviet Communist theory (one of the popular Four Theories of the Press) to analyze Chinese media in such a dramatic transitional period as it is a normative approach which lacks historically and culturally dynamic and flexible view. A transitional approach is proposed to do an empirical research on the changes of bad news reports in the People's Daily historically, comparing bad news reports before and after 1978 with discourse perspective. After examining three kinds of bad news reports: reports on earthquakes, corruptions, and SARS, three new features of bad news reports in the People's Daily are found: diverse styles of writing, changes of the themes of political discourse (shifting away from class struggle) and higher degree of intertuality of media discourse. The trend of the way Chinese government communicates with the mass through media is then explored: firstly, reader-centered or interactive way of communication between Chinese government and the mass, secondly, more discourses on self-examination of the CCP and thirdly, build the People's Daily into a mainstream media so as to function as the authoritative guidance of the public opinion.After the empirical research, the paper further explores the historical and cultural factors that lead to the changes of Chinese official media and at last the paper tentatively proposes to construct a media theory that takes Chinese history, culture and present social situation into account.