China's boldest advocate for press and speech freedom provides a collection of his 1981-1999 arguments for greater freedom of press and speech, as presented to China's government, Party officials, and its intellectual community. Sun is the former Director of the Institute of the Institute of Jouranlism and Communication and the original Director of the Committee to Draft China's Press Law.
His published articles-and four new ones for this book-chronicle a continuum of painstaking, relentless, and, ultimately, influential logic. He elucidates the media's disastrous role in the Cultural Revolution, the characteristics of socialist press freedom, the counter-productivity of centralized media governance, the need for law and for media diversity, and the freedoms necessary to empower the proletariat.
Sun's intention is not opposition. He evokes the country's founding premises, the principal power of the proletariat, and the pattern of early, market economy successes to chisel away at entrenched centralism and lingering feudalism. This collection offers rare entry into the mind of an exceedingly brave and principled man who-for 20 years-has declared those principles through unmitigating difficulty and dullness.
An important think-piece for all scholars and researchers involved with press freedoms and contemporary China. Review: This book should be required reading for everyone interested in understanding how the contentious issues of press freedom is viewed in China today. Sun Xupei proposes that China work toward a media system that is a cross between the current state-controlled media system and the commercial system of the West.
While his ideas on press law may seem impractical or even abhorent to U.S. media scholars, nevertheless, they represent important statements of a brave man's personal and professional struggle to liberalize journalism in a nation that still is emerging from its feudal and bloody past. Dr. Xupei's voice has been heard in China for years as he has raised issues of press freedom that would otherwise have been overlooked.
We can thank his editor for giving us this opportunity to hear his voice in the Westen world. -Dr. Maurine Beasley former writer for the Washington Post Professor of Journalism University of Maryland
Related ProductsLoading similar products...
Stay informed about the best deals and price drops. Choose which notifications you'd like to receive from PriceCheck.
