Analysis On The Effectiveness Of The State Council Decree No.477

In order to fulfill the holy promises made by China's Olympic bid, Chinese government issued the Regulations on Reporting Activities in China by Foreign Journalists During the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period (Regulation 477 for short) at the end of 2006. The new regulation ensures the foreign journalists to cover all issues about China and their reporting activities to be much easier. Chinese government wants the regulation to be a reference for the next step of innovation about politic system and media policy, by which the government also hopes to rebuild a good national image in the world. On the other hand, some of the western countries and international organizations consider this as an opportunity to promote the democracy, openness and freedom in China. They want to take this opportunity to resolve some historically unsettled political issues.To take the Regulation 477 into effect, a series of detailed guides followed up after the promulgation. By now, Regulation 477 has been implemented for more than a year, but some western countries still question it for some reasons while affirming its significance. The foreign journalists in China have sensed the convenience brought by the new policy, whereas they still meet restrictions in news gathering and reporting. Therefore, the Chinese government's hope for China to build a brand-new image has faced grim challenges. The reports of China didn't change greatly because of Regulation 477. On the contrary, a number of issues related to human rights became the spotlight of western media.A huge gap between ideal and reality arises due to the cultural and ideological differences between China and the West, the stereotypes gained by foreign media and audience, Chinese government's caution toward reform and Chinese's high expectation on the Olympic Games. An attempt to remove the gap and renew China's image calls for not only great courage and determination of the Chinese government, but also understandings of the western countries and the self-conscious changes every Chinese ought to make. Though we haven't reached the expectations of Regulation 477 yet, there's every reason to believe in its future effects in the next few years.