英国威斯特敏斯特大学中国传媒中心2009年年会征文通告

CHINA MEDIA CENTRE

　　University of Westminster

　　Call for Papers

　　Creativity and Innovation in Chinese Media

　　London June 4-5

　　The last thirty years have seen a transformation of the Chinese media.They have moved from being solely the “throat and tongue of the party”supported by state subsidies to a situation where the majority of theirincome is from advertising revenue, for which they must vigorouslycompete with each other. The need to gain and hold an audience aretoday central to the concerns of media managers, journalists andcreative workers. At the same time, they still need to follow the partyline and to carry positive messages about China’s development. Manyobservers have noted how these two tasks impose unique burdens on themedia and oblige them to develop new strategies to report the news andto entertain the audience.

　　The change in the economicsituation of the media, and the orientation on the preferences ofconsumers, has meant that Chinese media producers have had to find newforms of journalism and new kinds of programming that are attractive tothe mass audience.

　　In television, despite the regulatoryprotection that CCTV still enjoys, it must face sharp competition inmarkets like Guangdong from provincial and city stations whoseprogramming is much more attuned to local tastes and language.Nationally, provincial satellite channels, notably from Hunan, are inthe forefront of innovation in entertainment programming. Similarly,Phoenix TV is introducing new ways of reporting the news and winning asubstantial audience, particularly amongst the younger and eliteaudiences.

　　In the newspaper press there has been a series ofnew and innovative titles, which have much more sensational andpersonalised reporting than the old norms. Some journalists havereported on events and individuals that have had major repercussionsfor aspects of the legal situation. At the same time there has been anexplosion of journalism devoted to different aspects of lifestyle andconsumption, aimed squarely at the new middle class audience. In thebroader printed press, a new generation of magazines targetingaudiences like young women and, more recently, young men, have enjoyedsubstantial success in terms of circulation.

　　Social change,and in particular the rise of car ownership, has also led to a revivalof radio. The notorious traffic jams of big Chinese cities have createdwhat is literally a captive audience for the medium. So, too,increasing affluence and the spread of the internet has led to anexplosion of computer gaming, both offline and online, that isattractive to many young people.

　　The sources of these newideas are many and varied. Sometimes, as with TV dramas, there is thestraightforward purchase and broadcasting of foreign shows, manyoriginating from Korea, which have proved very popular with audiences.In entertainment programming, there have been notorious cases ofunauthorised borrowings from abroad (Supergirl is the most famousexample) but today there are more and more entirely legal purchases offoreign formats. In broadcast news, Phoenix uses presentationaltechniques developed by international broadcasters to deliver the samesort of news as CCTV in a more approachable format. In magazines, themodel is one of close collaboration in joint ventures between Chinesepublishers and big western publishers that have established Chineseequivalents of many of the most famous global fashion and lifestyletitles. These borrowings, however, are hardly ever simple transfersfrom one country to another: in almost all cases, Chinese importersmodify the original to fit better with the preferences of theiraudience.

　　Increasingly, however, Chinese media are seeking tobreak free from imported models and to produce media content that iswholly original. They are following in the footsteps of producers inother countries who started off with a debt to more advanced mediasystems but have increasingly generated their own nationally-specificcontent. Some Chinese media organisations have plans to developthemselves into truly global players, to generate wholly originalcontent, and to export their programmes, ideas and formats to othercountries.

　　These innovations in the media are taking place atthe same time as the much more general and very rapid social andcultural changes that are sweeping China. Millions of people flood intothe cities from the countryside and millions of urban dwellers haveseen their personal wealth and their cultural horizons transformed inthe last thirty years. Some welcome these cultural changes andcelebrate the forms of media that are attractive to this new audience.They welcome the relative freedom and the influence of foreign ideasand values, seeing them as the building blocks of the new China. Othersworry that the deluge of novelty threatens the traditional values ofChinese culture and seek to insulate the population from aliencultures. In the film industry, for example, some claim that the priceof international success has been the adaptation of traditional Chinesethemes and stories to fit western tastes. China will only succeed inexporting cultural products, they argue, if they are stripped of theirunique Chinese characteristics.

　　We invite papers that look at any aspect of this complex process of change. Our interests include, but are not limited to:

　　•Joint deals between Chinese and overseas media companies

　　•Intellectual property rights and the Chinese media

　　•Adapting foreign models to Chinese conditions

　　•Originating wholly Chinese media artefacts

　　•Managing the process of change, creativity and innovation in the Chinese media

　　•Planning entry into the global market

　　•The nature of cultural change in contemporary China

　　•New freedoms and new constraints for Chinese media producers

　　•Chinese media and foreign capital

　　Send abstracts (250 words maximum) by 1st February to Guo Dawei georgedawei@hotmail.com