Newswise — "Changing Media, Changing China" is the title of a workshop to be held at the University of California, San Diego, May 5-6, to explore how the commercialization of media and the emergence of the Internet are affecting economic, social and political life in China.
The conference, organized by Susan Shirk, professor of political science in the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD, and Research Director of the University of California's Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation, will be carried out through a $40,000 grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, with additional support from the CNA corporation of Washington D.C.
In announcing the conference, Professor Shirk said, "It is well known that China is undergoing amazingly rapid change but all too little attention has been given to the impact of the development of market-oriented journalism and the Internet on Chinese business, politics, legal system, and society. Our conference will examine these issues. I am particularly pleased that we will benefit from the perspective of Hu Shuli, Founder and Managing Editor of Beijing-based Caijing magazine and Miao Di, dean of the Literature School and Professor of Television Art at the Communication University of China, who are spending the spring quarter at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, UCSD."
Other participants will include professional journalists from the US and China as well as political scientists, sociologists and communications scholars. Some of the topics on the agenda are the impact of commercial competition on media content, the response of local and central authorities to media scrutiny and changes in public attitudes towards information access. The workshop papers will be developed into a book.
The McCormick Tribune Foundation, located in Chicago, has awarded $45 million in journalism grants since 2000. CNA Corporation is a non-profit research organization that conducts public policy research, especially on national security issues.
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