Review by Choice Review
Using China's national news agency, Xinhua, as a case study, this dissertation-cum-book provides a microanalysis of the impact of marketization and globalization on China's media system over three decades. Xin (Univ. of Manchester, London, UK) details Xinhua's history and its interactions with national, local, and international structures, looking at changes not just to Xinhua but also to journalistic practices relative to investigative reporting, news values (e.g., timeliness), and paid journalism. Though repetitive at times, the study does a credible job pulling together much information in a well-organized format. The author interviewed about a hundred editors, reporters, and academics in three cities on the mainland and in Hong Kong, Macau, and London, and used Xinhua News Agency yearbooks as her primary sources. Though she worked for Xinhua for two years, Xin does not seem to draw on those experiences in her analysis. All interviewees were granted anonymity, making it difficult to distinguish between them or to know who is speaking at any given time. Reading would have been enhanced by more quoted matter, anecdotes, and interviewee opinions. Though the book treats the start of reforms in the 1970s through about 2006, virtually no literature predates the 1990s. Summing Up: Recommended. With these reservations. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. J. A. Lent independent scholar
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
