Does China’s Remaining Non-State Media Have a Future?
New draft regulations could cripple outlets like Caixin, considered a bastion of investigative journalism scrutinizing corporate and government dealings.
In a bid to further concentrate state control over public messaging, China released draft regulations last month that would ban “non-public capital” from funding “news gathering, editing and broadcasting.” The proposal is contained in the Market Access Negative List (2021), released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s main economic planning agency.
If adopted, the Negative List would deal a significant blow to Caixin, a print and online financial news service revered for investigative journalism, including into the death toll of COVID-19 in Wuhan last year.
Six days before the draft regulation’s release, Caixin publisher and founder Hu Shuli posted a cryptic message to Weibo interpreted by many as fighting words expressing contempt for Xi Jinping and the proposed media reform.
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Jesse Turland holds a degree in Chinese language and Asian Studies from the University of Melbourne and writes about contemporary Chinese society.