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Freeing an imprisoned press

Yang Peng knew that Chinese media is a tightly run government operation when he decided to study journalism. It's a reality he hopes to help change.

Peng, a doctoral student at China's prestigious Fudan University, believes that economically expanding China needs a free press to keep up with it. But until China's Communist Party loosens its grip on the nation's newspapers, Peng will not see a free press in China.

"A market economy needs a free flow of ideas," said Peng, 27. "But politically, there is still limited freedom for the press."

While Peng understands the impact of media on society, the Communist Party sees it as a critical means of maintaining its power. Glancing over the headlines of the China Daily or the Shanghai Daily is like reading a series of Communist Party pep talks:

"Leaders pledge to tap potential," headlined a story that graced the front page of the July 12 issue of China Daily. The article boasts of the good relationship between the Chinese government and leaders of the European Union.

According to Peng, nothing "bad" is ever printed.

He says, "We're only allowed to print good kinds of things." Even if it's not news.

Another front-pager merely rehashes the government's position on relations with the United States. "U.S. relations matter" the headline insists. What a shocker!

The articles contain no sources other than government officials. They are all optimistic, sugary tales of how the government is leading China to prosperity.

Perhaps the most telling example of the party's control over the newspaper is the newspaper's favorable stance on the one-China policy.

"Official: One-China principle crucial to links."

The article defends the one-China principle, which demands that Taiwan and Tibet become a part of mainland China, because it will make the national postage system more efficient.

Rather than being an investigative body and a tool by which the government is checked, Chinese press is merely a mouthpiece of the Chinese government. It is controlled by government officials at virtually every level, and it is a comfortable cushion for leaders like Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Jiang will never fear anything like Lewinsky Gate.

Chinese newspaper editors are Communist Party members. Any stories with even a hint of anti-government sentiment are weeded out before ever reaching the presses.

Without this convenient mouthpiece, the government has plenty to fear - like its nation's youth.

"The party is afraid of a students' movement," Peng said. "It's not afraid of farmers and workers going on strike; those people have families, have less freedom (to fight the party). But the students, they are young."

During the reign of Mao, the Chinese youth were used as a force for maintaining Communist control. But in today's post-Tiananmen Square era, the Chinese youth are smarter, more gung-ho about China's fledgling market economy and more willing to get rid of anything outdated. The government tries to keep certain sources away from its people - The New York Times is officially banned in China - but the Internet makes info flow impossible to control. The advent of the Internet and other means of receiving news makes the one-sided Chinese press seem even more antiquated.

True, media is always slanted. Even in the United States, where the press is so free that it focuses on Lewinskies and Elians instead of policies that matter, much of the press has a political leaning.

But at the very least, American press expresses a variety of different interpretations of the news. The same newspaper can print arch conservative George Will and arch liberal Donald Kahl right next to each other.

In China, the only opinion that receives airtime or ink is that of Jiang Zemin, or any other Chinese government official.

Of course, reverting to an instant free press isn't a good thing for China, either. It must ease into a state of free thought at a pace with which the Chinese people can keep up.

According to Peng, immediately freeing Chinese press could be disastrous.

"I don't think a press of absolute freedom is okay for China," Peng said. "But until now, the government has not had the ability to control the press for the benefit of the country, and free flow of information is needed for a market economy. Businessmen need a lot more than the China Daily."

China is dazzled by the wealth capitalism could bring to its nation, but its government also knows that economic reform will be coupled with political and social reform. And at the helm of social reform is a free press.

"The press has social responsibility," Peng said. "But a free press will evolve as the country evolves."