Communication Labour In Chinese Social Transformation

In the wave of globalization, Chinese media workers, bearing in mind the principle of journalism professionalism, have increasingly been facing the pressure brought about by marketization, new media and the strict control in ideology.As a result, their social status has declined, associated with the trouble in their self-identity recognition. In such a context, this article attempts to understand the power relations reshaping the identity transition of media workers, by closely looking at the rise of contingent employment in the media section, the new evaluation system when newspapers become thinner, the changing mode of media production, and the deteriorating living conditions of media workers.It is suggested that with faded occupational honor and high social status, Chinese media workers are trapped into a precarious condition similar to that of migrant and laid-off workers. Moreover, the radical uncertainty of their career and future life has produced daunting impacts on media workers, and accordingly, project managers have emerged.As a young scholar in journalism and communication and also a practitioner in the media industry for decades, I aim to understand how knowledge workers would be benefited and empowered in the information society that is largely dominated by the growing power of capital, technology, and ideology.