Politics, Professionalism and Power in an Online Newsroom

This paper reports a case-study of the impact of digital media on editorial decisions in a Chinese “commercial” paper. It demonstrates that the introduction of digital media has provoked a re-orientation of the mechanisms of control in the overall newspaper. Control in the Chinese newsroom has been extensively studied but the introduction of new media created problems which demanded significant adjustments to established patterns,

In common with most of the Chinese press, this newspaper has been suffering from declining circulation and falling advertising revenues and has been under pressure to adopt a stronger online presence. The paper launched a New Media Department in 2014. In order to produce online material, they hired new staff, most of whom were recent journalism graduates who possessed the necessary technical skills. The Department was headed by a small number of experienced editors.

Despite strict regulations about suitable sources of news stories, the new journalistic cohort made several “mistakes” of a journalistic, political and commercial character, resulting from their limited tacit knowledge of practical Chinese journalism. They also lacked political experience and knowledge about the economic situation of the paper. Although they were able to avoid obvious errors, they lacked sufficient knowledge to make fine distinctions about what should and should not be covered.

The newspaper’s leadership reacted negatively to these errors. They demanded changes to the material published in online. They wanted some articles taken down and others to be published at once. They insisted on the reworking of other articles. These conflicts became so serious that the leadership intervened in the online newsroom. They sent experienced journalists from the offline edition to lecture the staff and instructed journalists from the offline newspaper to submit articles directly for unedited publication online.

These interventions provoked resistance, but the online editors were unable to defend their staff. While these measures produced a greater degree of conformity, they proved insufficient to ensure complete adherence. Eventually, the group management decided upon re-organization. They introduced a new editorial layer of experienced journalists from the offline edition, as “gatekeepers” between the young journalists and the online outlets.

These findings illuminate a number of points both about the transition to online journalism and about the socialization of journalists. Firstly, they confirm the findings of other studies that editorial control in the “mixed” media environment remains vested in the printed newspaper. Secondly, contrary to arguments that new technologies are transformational for journalism, they suggest that journalistic cultures exert a strong “conservative” influence on news production. Thirdly, they cast doubt upon the adequacy of the world-wide trend towards the educational certification of entrants to journalism in preparing them for the practical realities of the occupation. Finally, they demonstrate the adaptability of the “Chinese model” of journalism to changing circumstances.