Digital News and Negotiated Agency: The Digital Transition within China’s Newspapers

This dissertation brings the case of China, where journalism is practiced under a different political system than the West, into the global conversation about changing media practices in the digital era. By building on the research traditions of the sociology of media production and adopting a social constructivist approach towards technological change in relation to communication, this study examines how digitization is taking form at three digital newspapers. Through newsroom observation and in-depth interviews, it reveals the ways in which different social powers shape each newspaper’s path towards digitization. Moreover, the role of journalists in news production is addressed through an investigation of how journalists self-identify in the context of a changing media field and, in return, of how journalists’ practices affect the way that journalism is defined. My observations of what they say and do provide a window to examine the ideas and values of the Chinese social system. My study finds that the impact of digital technology on these three newspapers is ambivalent. While news production in all three newsrooms was adjusted to meet the new standard of online news, the level of new technology involved and the level of expertise were subject to available resources and investment at each organization. The Chinese state’s strong political motivation to control the media combined with the media’s pragmatic response to a changing field are two pertinent factors that affected the media’s performance. From a historical perspective, this research shows that the swing pattern that occurred during commercialization continued into the digital era. The changes at the three newsrooms also indicate a noteworthy turn in the Chinese media system. With economic crisis looming, a new form of party organ is in formation. Most critically, the current economic crisis has had a concerning effects on the mindset of Chinese journalists. A higher level of self-censorship is at play at all three newsrooms, while journalists’ conventional, top-down views towards their audience persist. However, journalists actively seek new ways to claim expertise away from the party line, primarily focusing on innovating new news forms as well as developing skills and techniques