Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Theoretically, news award symbolizes the establishment of journalistic professional standards by acknowledging and promoting exemplary practices, which also serve as an important indicator of the level of professionalization. In mainland China, the most renowned journalism prize is China News Award, which was approved by the Central Propaganda Department in 1991 and sponsored by China Journalists Association annually. The finalist for China News Award, however, is nominated and recommended only by the news academia and news industries. These recommendations in application forms including (1) introduction of news work, (2) process of news gathering and presenting, (3) social value and (4) why we like it, signify the status of China’s journalistic professionalization in the context of Chinese political and economic system. Previous correlational studies often focused on Newspaper Commentary on Chinese journalists’ Day, obituaries and departure reports of traditional media reporters, analyzing the nostalgia for the golden age, especially the lost news ideal. This study, examines how mainland China’s news academia and industries use recommendations to strive for and exemplify journalistic standards and ideals to negotiate a new definition of journalism between professionalism and mouthpiece press theory. Specifically, based on the publicity and accessibility of research data, this study analyzes recommendation letters for China News Award from 2003 to 2017 with a focus on four aspects of journalistic professionalization: (1) image of the ideal journalist, especially the characteristics of the ideal journalist; (2) journalists’ definitions of occupational virtues an ideals; (3) public responsibility and (4) boundary drawing between “good” and “bad” journalism.