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The Legitimation of Media Regulation in China

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Abstract

This paper explores media regulation in China and argues that the country’s broadcasting regulatory strategies of becoming more legal–rational and law based have been affected by two forces: the Chinese Party-state’s attempt to recast the foundation of its political legitimacy, and the legitimizing power of legal rationality per se. The legitimization of media-regulatory efforts have primarily centered on procedural justice of the rule of law in the following ways: enacting stable new broadcasting laws (stability); instituting public consultation in rule making (procedural inclusiveness); strengthening law enforcement (enforcement); and placing checks on administrative power (restriction of state power). The advantages of this procedural legitimization are that it provides predictability by restricting arbitrariness in the exercise of administrative power and providing some opportunity for public participation, while limiting regulatory authority. On the other hand, Chinese media regulation still requires mechanisms to secure its operational transparency, accountability and deliberation to avoid being cast as a legitimizing ritual. This paper also argues that procedural legality and justice is a necessary, but insufficient condition for obtaining the media regulator’s legal–rational legitimacy, and given the status of the country’s constitution and its weaknesses in political participation, accountability and transparency in national law making, the content of the media regulation itself must also manifest the social and political values of protecting citizen and media rights.

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Notes

  1. In the traditional model, “a leader claims the right to rule on the basis of a long-established or widely accepted tradition.” In the charismatic mode, “legitimacy is based on the charisma of a leader.” The term goal–rational (teleological) legitimation describes the dominant form of legitimation in many socialist states, in which the leaders seek legitimacy in terms of their ability to steer a given country to the distant end goal of communism. The new traditional form is taken by the communist leaders who attempt to enhance their own authority by reference to an earlier phase of the communist era (Holmes 1997, pp. 44–45).

  2. Senior official at the SARFT’s Department of Law and Regulation, 18 September 2003, personal interview.

  3. This figure was gathered from the SAPPRF.

  4. The Film Promotion Law was open for public consultation in 2011.

  5. http://zqyj.chinalaw.gov.cn/index.

  6. Other departments at the State Council and local broadcasting departments were also consulted.

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  1. Room HS317, School of Film and TV Arts, Humanities and Social Science Building (HS), South Campus, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Yik Chan Chin

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Chin, Y.C. The Legitimation of Media Regulation in China. Chin. Polit. Sci. Rev. 3, 172–194 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41111-018-0099-x

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