Star Maps of Chinese Media

The following is the translation of an essay from the collection "What Does A Woman Want? (女人究竟要什麼?)" written by Chang Shi-kuo (張系國).  The essay began with the description of a talk given by the renowned mainland media verteran Qian Gang (錢剛).

The Skies of Taiwan Media Are Very Greek

[in translation]

... Compared to before, the main difference for mainland scholars nowadays is that they don't have to be the unwilling bringers of good tidings but never any bad tidings.  They now dare to speak critically about current affairs, including both the bad and the good.  Of course, they will still have to run the 60%/40% thing, with more good than bad.  Everybody can understand that.  This generation of mainland scholars generally knows how to speak out.  But Qian Gang is not only a good speaker, he is actually knowledgeable.  So this audience learned a lot from him.  When he finished his speech, the students at Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) had lots of questions for him.

Qian Gang spoke about the situation of mainland Chinese media.  He used a two-dimensional star map with a horizontal axis and a vertical axis to explain the development of mainland media.  The horizontal axis represents the degree of freedom.  The left-hand side of the horizontal axis represents lack of freedom while the right-hand side of the horizontal axis represents plenty of freedom.  The vertical axis represents the degree of market openness.  The top half of the vertical axis is where a planned economy is working (note: for example, a newspaper is financially supported by government subsidies and takes orders from government officials) while the bottom half of the vertical axis is where a market economy is working (note: for example, a newspaper relies on copy news and advertisements for financing).

Here is how Qian Gang descibed the mainland media through this star map.  He believes in the past, the stars that represent the mainland meda were in the top left corner.  They were neither open nor under the influence of market forces.  But now they are all moving towards the bottom right corner.  Qian Gang divided the changing mainland media into three sub-types.  The first type is the free press which do not totally bow to the dictates of the market forces.  This is the most ideal kind.  The second type is the free press which are leaning towards a market economy.  This is like the western media.  The third type is not very free but follow the market model.  This is the worst possible kind, and they are the targets of criticism by Qian Gang and other mainland media people with conscience.  Qian Gang gave many examples to show how the mainland media forget about "justice" when they saw the money.  But this audience was not surprised, because this is common knowledge on both sides of the Taiwan strait.

During the Q&A period, a smart student asked Qian Gang, "Can you draw a star map for Taiwan media?"  Qian Gang said that he cannot but he had two perceptive observations.  First, the media in Taiwan appear to be very free, but each of them has certain "concepts."  Certain reports based upon certain concepts will not be reported by certain media.  Secondly, the media in Taiwan appears to follow market forces, but this is not totally true because there ample examples of marketing communications inserted in them.  Without these marketing communications, some media basically cannot survive financially.

Due to these abnormal conditions, Qian Gang admitted frankly that he did not know how to draw a star map.  I admire Qian Gang for his perceptive observations on Taiwan media for he is a veteran media worker.  But after listening to Qian Gang's speech, I was able to construct a star map of Taiwan media.  The key is that you have to make a distinction between the "Virtual Star (太虛星)" and the "True Star (本命星)."  Each Taiwan media outlet is represented by two stars: the "Virtual Star" is in the southeastern corner while the "True Star" is in the northwestern corner, just as in the legend about "the skies fall down in the northwest and the earth crumbled in the southeast."  Thus, the Taiwan media appeared to show up in the bottom-right corner, but that only refers to their "Virtual Stars."  Their "True Stars" are located in the top-left corner!

This true/virtual phenomenon can be described by the line from poet Yu Kwang-chung: "The skies of the Taiwan media are very Greek" and this is hard for outsiders to understand.  At this time, the Government Information Office seemed to be ready to go after TVBS; the Kuomintang are selling off the television, radio and movie companies cheaply; the Government Information Office director is not interested in releasing news government but prefers to generation more news about the government suppressing the media.  These strange phenomena may be hard for outsiders to understand.

Actually, the two-dimensional star map for Taiwan media needs to be augmented by a third axis.  This third axis refers to the accuracy of the contents of the media reports.  The top of the axis represents high accuracy, and the bottom of the axis is the opposite.  With this third axis, the three-dimensional star map becomes more exciting.  Greater freedom of press does not mean that the accuracy of the news contents will be higher.  When the market tendency of the media outlet is low, it does not mean that it is less accurate.  We have seen many counter-examples.  Media in the lower-right corner (free press and market model) do not have to be high in accuracy, as some are like very low-flying warplanes. ...

台湾传媒的天空很希腊 张系国到清华访龙应台不遇。其实并没有完全不遇，原来应台开车南下到屏东老家去了，她回清华时，应邀访问台湾、在台北担任驻市作家的大陆传媒人钱钢也在座。主人龙应台要备课，不能陪我们聊天，我反而因此有幸随缘听了一场钱钢的精彩演讲。

和从前相比，现在大陆学者最大的不同是他们不再是一面倒报喜不报忧而内心又不很情愿的「喜鹊」。他们胆敢扮「乌鸦」批判时政，坏也敢说好也敢说，当然最后还是得四六开，好比坏多说些，这点大家都能谅解。这一代的大陆学者一般都能言善道。可钱钢不仅口才好，肚子里还真有点东西，听众颇有收获，他讲演完同学们的问题一箩筐。

钱钢的讲题是大陆传媒的现况。他用纵横两个轴线来阐释大陆传媒的进步，画出他所谓「大陆传媒的星空图」。这图的横轴是自由开放的程度，左方表示不开放，右方表示开放。纵轴则是商业市场导向的程度，上方表示不依从商业市场导向，下方则表示遵照商业市场导向。

钱钢绘出的大陆传媒的星空图是这样的。他认为过去大陆传媒的众星都在左上角的天空，既不开放也不依从商业市场导向，现在则纷纷朝右下角移动。钱钢又把变化中的大陆传媒细分成三类。第一类自由开放又不全然向市场低头，这当然是最理想的一类。第二类自由开放同时也具备商业市场导向，这一类最接近西方式的传媒。第三类有商业市场导向却并不太自由开放，这类最不理想，也是钱钢和其它有良知的大陆传媒人努力批判的对象。钱钢举了许多例子说明大陆传媒如何「见利忘义」 ，不过听众并不十分惊讶，因为在这方面倒是两岸有志一同。

在Q&A时间有位聪明的同学问钱钢，他画不画得出台湾传媒的星空图？钱钢坦白说画不出来。但他有两点深刻的观察：一方面台湾传媒表面上很自由，其实各有「理念」。不同理念的报导，某些传媒是不会采用的。另一方面，台湾传媒表面上遵循市场导向，其实并不尽然，置入性行销的例子比比皆是。如果没有置入性行销，某些传媒事实上收支无法平衡。

就因为有这些不正常的状况，钱钢直言他画不出台湾传媒的星空图。他对台湾传媒深刻的观察令我佩服，到底是报界老将，出手就不同凡响。不过听完钱钢的演讲， 台湾传媒的星空图我倒是画出来了。这关键就在于必须分清楚「太虚星」和「本命星」。每家台湾传媒都有两颗星：太虚星在东南，本命星却在西北，正应了「天塌西北、地陷东南」的故事。所以台湾传媒表面上都在右下角，但这是太虚星的位置，其实本命星原来都在左上角呢！

这种虚虚实实的现象，套用名诗人余光中的诗句，台湾传媒的天空的确很希腊，不是外人所能轻易理解的。现在新闻局秋后算账又要办TVBS了，国民党则低价抛售中广、中视、中影这三「中」，新闻局长不管发布政府新闻却天天制造更多压迫传媒的新闻，种种怪现象也不是外人所能轻易理解的。

其实钱钢的两度空间传媒星空图还不够立体，应该再增加第三个垂直轴线。这个轴线代表传媒所报导新闻内容的真实性，高表示真实性高，低则反是。如果增加了第三个轴线，这三度空间的传媒星空图就更加精彩了。传媒的自由度高，并不表示新闻内容的真实性就会高。传媒的商业市场导向的程度低，也不意味新闻内容的真实性必然差。我们看到许多相反的例子，所以右下角传媒的星星不一定就飞得高，有的反而像战斗机一般低空略过。前些时候台湾的某位黑道大哥出殡，盛况空前倍极哀荣，网路上流传过一句话：干记者不如干黑道。当记者都自叹不如黑道时，传媒的天空要不希腊也难。