On Deng Tuo’s Thought Of Running Newspapers And Its Message To The Current Journalism

Deng Tuo was an outstanding Chinese journalist and statesman whose journalistic thought was the crystallization of his long journalistic working experiences. It originated from the theory of the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) newspaper. He was versatile, deeply influenced by traditional cultures and universally acknowledged as a wit in the Party circle. He integrated his own ideas of journalistic cause into the theory of the Party newspapers, formed his own peculiar characteristics, thus becoming a heritage deserving to be inherited for our current journalists.This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter one introduces Deng Tuo’s experiences of running newspapers. In1938, he became director of the editorial office of Anti-enemy Newspaper and developed a liking for journalistic cause from then on. In his journalistic career for thirty years, Deng Tuo was once highly appreciated by top leaders of the CCP, and achieved brilliant journalistic achievements. However, in the middle or late1950s, he lost trust from Mao Zengdong and incurred severe criticism. In the1960s he suffered criticism for his creation of works such as Midnight Words of Yanshan and Reading Notes in Sanjia Village, and eventually committed suicide with a false charge.Chapter two dwells on the basic content of Deng Tuo’s journalistic thought. As a party journalist, his ideas were basically structured by the theory of the Party newspapers. The principle of the Party spirit was the primary content of his journalistic ideas. Running newspapers had to absolutely obey the leadership of the Party committee, implement the party policy of running newspapers and stress the role of editorials in the guidance of public opinions. The mass line was also the important content of his journalistic thought, which was embodied by mass content, forms and writing in the journalistic work. As a leader in the journalistic battle line, he had some insights into the way to cultivate journalistic talents. He advocated that journalists should be trained in the practical journalistic work and called on young journalists to study hard and improve their political attainment. He also maintained that competent journalists of Party newspapers should be cultivated in this manner of teaching by precept and example in their work.Chapter three expounds the main characteristics of Deng Tuo’s journalistic ideas. He worked long in the journalistic front, acquainted himself with journalistic working rules, and formed three characteristics of being practical and realistic, becoming concerned about the country, and supervision by public opinions by combining his own profound knowledge and competence. He contended that being practical and realistic was the starting point of the journalistic work, that journalism had to keep the bottom line of reality, and that journalists had to be highly practical, stress investigation and research to obtain the truth as the supreme requirement. Becoming concerned about the country was the ultimate destination of journalistic work. Journalists had to be concerned about their family, country as well as the life of public citizens, and respect their journalistic right. Supervision by public opinions was the focus of journalistic work, in that journalistic cause of the Party was the mouthpiece of not only the Party but also the people. Journalists had to perform the supervising function by public opinions with the mass of people becoming the main body of supervision. Supervision by public opinions was the positive force to propel the work of the Party. Chapter four discusses the contemporary significance of Deng Tuo’s journalistic ideas. The journalistic cause after the reform and opening-up is confronted with the double problems of bureaucracy and commercialism, thus resulting in many bad phenomena. It is greatly essential for journalists to inherit Deng Tuo’s excellent tradition about his journalistic thought, promote his spirit of being practical and realistic in journalism, learn his feelings of being concerned about the country, and inherit his courage of supervision by public opinions, thus improving journalistic work and meeting the needs of the Party and people.