Socialization and Control in the Digital Newsroom in China

This chapter analyses the mechanisms of socialization in a Chinese digital newsroom. Young journalists were recruited to a newly established digital beat in the organization in response to media convergence trends in the country. Given their lack of tacit knowledge, newly hired journalists do many things judged as mistakes by their seniors, ranging from political errors to failure to follow standard professional practices. The analysis demonstrates that Chinese journalism cannot be understood purely by reference to political censorship, that the norms of professional practice are still set by journalists from the print edition of the newspaper, and that the skills necessary for professional practice can be acquired only in a practical context.