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The constitution of journalistic autonomy during national reintegration: a study of China-beat reporters in Hong Kong.

香港主權移交中國以後,傳媒雖維持獨立自主和商業運作的模式,但過往的研究發現,政治力量對新聞的影響越來越大。例如新聞機構對新聞內容施行政治審查和媒體機構老闆及高層接受政治任命。這是否意味香港新聞界正衰失它的獨立性?本文研究香港新聞界的獨立性在1997 年後的政治融合中如何被構成。 / 政治經濟學派和美國組織研究著重新聞界如何抗衡外部對新聞獨立性的影響,但究竟新聞獨立性是什麼?新聞獨立性與專業性之間有何關係?這方面的討論十分缺乏。本文提出以布迪爾〈Pierre Bourdieu〉理論補充對新聞獨立性的理解,並以布迪爾理論為基礎,整理出一個場域理論框架以分析新聞界的獨立性。布迪爾的理論認為新聞獨立性是一個相對的理念,而且會隨著社會變遷而改變。場域理論框架幫助理解外界壓力如何影響新聞獨立性,和解答為何某些記者有較大新聞獨立性。本研究組合了布迪爾的慣習〈habitus〉慨念和根據布廸爾理論而建構的決意〈commitment〉概念來分析不同記者行使不同新聞獨立性的狀況。 / 本研究顯示,由於政治環境的變化,香港新聞界自八十年代起由政黨新聞範式轉換為客觀新聞範式。在1997 年前後,新聞界面臨需要融入新政體的壓力。本文以香港的中國新聞記者為分析個案,檢視政治融合壓力下的新聞報導工作和記者的獨立性有何轉變。本文的研究對象─中國新聞記者〈或稱中國組記者〉是指在香港媒體工作、專職報導中國新聞的香港記者。本研究選擇他們作研究個案是因為他們位處中港融合的前線。本研究共訪問了二十二名記者,另外亦從中國組記者的著作及演講中搜集研究材料。 / 研究發現,香港的中國新聞報導正在「去政治化」。雖然記者察覺到新聞的製作過程存在政治審查,但他們在採訪時選擇配合官方─包括參加由官方安排的採訪團、使用內地媒體的內容和以官方發言作平衡報導。當記者認為自己正在客觀地報導,他們不覺察在政治力量對新聞製作的影響。本文分析記者的工作流程和新聞內容,發現中國新聞的去政治化正侵蝕新聞獨立性。此外,根據記者個人的文化資本和對報導中國的決意程度,本研究將中國組記者分成三類:局外記者、局內記者及共融記者。局外記者抗拒融入中國內地,但不察覺客觀報導包括的政治性。局內記者受他們的文化資本限制,不察覺資料來源和工作流程中存在的政治影響。擁有高文化資本和對聞工作高度投入的共融記者,由於對新聞工作有所反思,建立了一套對抗政治限制的報導策略,亦令他們能維持較高獨立性。 / Studies show that there has been an increase in political influence on the news media in Hong Kong during national reintegration. Although Hong Kong media has appeared to retain much of its autonomy and seems to continue to exercise control over its commercial media system to a large extent, the Chinese State has been active in co-opting media owners and senior management, and there have been some instances of political censorship within media organizations. Does this imply the loss of professional autonomy in the Hong Kong journalistic field? This study sets out to examine the constitution of journalistic autonomy during the period of national reintegration in Hong Kong. / Theoretically, this study enriches the understandings on journalistic autonomy by bringing in Bourdieu’s theory of field. Political economists and American organizational studies both place stress on resisting the influences of political and economic forces on journalistic autonomy. But is autonomy only defined by resistance? Journalists commonly believe that journalistic professionalism can help them to retain autonomy. But professionalism does not necessarily bring autonomy. This study incorporates Bourdieu’s field theory to understand journalistic autonomy as it helps to understand autonomy as a relative concept. Also, Bourdieu’s concept of field and habitus can help us to understand not only the interaction between the journalistic field and other fields and how that constitutes the degree of autonomy, but also to consider autonomy on an individual level ─ the autonomy that individual journalists can achieve. Based on Bourdieu’s theory of field, a field-analytic model of journalistic autonomy is constructed. Especially, this study integrates Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and the concept of commitment developed from Bourdieu’ theory to understand the degree of autonomy that journalists can achieve in their work. With these ideas, a new entry point into the study of journalistic autonomy in social change is opened. / This study finds that since the 1980s, Hong Kong’s journalistic field has shifted from partisan journalism to objective journalism in order to resist the turbulent political environment. In recent years, research on the Hong Kong news media has documented the threat to journalistic autonomy from pro-China political power. The present study chooses to focus on the China-beat reporters as a case study to examine the constitution of journalistic autonomy through an analysis of journalistic practice. China-beat journalists are the journalists who report on China for the Hong Kong media. The reason for focusing on China-beat journalists in this study is that they are at the frontier of the battlefield between the journalistic field and the political field. For this research, I conducted in-depth interviews with twenty-two journalists, and examined books and public talks related to China reporting. / Findings of this study reveal the de-politicization of China reporting. Though journalists are aware of the censorship on reporting, they are co-opted into the institutionalization of the Chinese State by joining official press tours, sourcing from Mainland media outlets and official press conferences, and balancing their reports with interviews with government spokespersons. While journalists perceive these practices as exercising objective reporting, they are unconscious of the political power embedded in these interactions. The de-politicization of China reporting in recent years reflects the erosion of autonomy as many journalistic practices are aligned with political power, and this is reflected in the news content. This study finds that journalists’ cultural capital and commitment in the field constitute different form of journalistic autonomy. According to these two criteria, China-beat journalists are categorized into three types: Detached journalists, Attached journalists, and Synthesized journalists. The labels describe their cultural and emotional attachment in between Hong Kong and Mainland China. Detached journalists resist integration with China but neglect the blind spot of the political character of objective journalism. Attached journalists’ career paths are constrained by their cultural capital, and they fail to see the political forces embedded in news sourcing and journalistic practice. The high cultural capital and commitment of Synthesized journalists help them to be reflexive in journalistic work, which helps them to articulate their own autonomy and gain skills to resist the growing domination of political forces in the journalistic field. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Tsui, Yuen Sze. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-194). / Abstracts also in Chinese; includes Chinese.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:cuhk.edu.hk/oai:cuhk-dr:cuhk_1077727
Date January 2014
ContributorsTsui, Yuen Sze (author.), Chan, Joseph Man (thesis advisor.), Chinese University of Hong Kong Graduate School. Division of Communication, (degree granting institution.)
Source SetsThe Chinese University of Hong Kong
LanguageEnglish, Chinese, Chinese
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, bibliography, text
Formatelectronic resource, electronic resource, remote, 1 online resource (x, 194 leaves) : illustrations (some color), computer, online resource
CoverageChina, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China
RightsUse of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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