Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism

Who watches over the party-state? In this engaging analysis, Maria Repnikova reveals the webs of an uneasy partnership between critical journalists and the state in China. More than merely a passive mouthpiece or a dissident voice, the media in China also plays a critical oversight role, one more frequently associated with liberal democracies than with authoritarian systems. Chinese central officials cautiously endorse media supervision as a feedback mechanism, as journalists carve out space for critical reporting by positioning themselves as aiding the agenda of the central state. Drawing on rare access in the field, Media Politics in China examines the process of guarded improvisation that has defined this volatile partnership over the past decade on a routine basis and in the aftermath of major crisis events. Combined with a comparative analysis of media politics in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, the book highlights the distinctiveness of Chinese journalist-state relations, as well as the renewed pressures facing them in the Xi era.

Author: Maria Repnikova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/20/2018
Pages: 283
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781316647158

About the Author
Repnikova, Maria: - Maria Repnikova is a scholar of comparative authoritarianism and political communication in illiberal contexts, with a focus on China and Russia. She holds a Doctorate in Politics from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. In the past, Repnikova has researched Chinese migration to Russia as a Fulbright Fellow and held the Overseas Press Club fellowship in Beijing, and she was also a post-doctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication. She speaks fluent Mandarin and Russian, and has spent extensive time in both China and Russia. She teaches international communication, Chinese media politics and society and information politics in non-democratic regimes.