Have two blades cut each other to tell sharp from blunt; and compare two theories to tell right from wrong.âWang Chong
Our development owes to the inextricable influences of the world, among which we can absorb the available and useful parts to us.âJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
An independent discipline holding a place in the academia must have its special object and unique values. The significance, object and method of the discipline shall be firstly clarified at the beginning of study. This chapter mainly aims to explain the significance, object and method of studies of comparative journalism and communication.
1 The Purpose of Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication
Instead of being the purpose, comparison is a means of study. An inscription of âKnow Yourselfâ hangs in the Delphi Temple in ancient Greece. To know yourself is one of the eternal subjects of men from of old. Cornelius Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, once stated that you should compare yourself to others, in order to know yourself. Also, according to the poetic drama Tasso written by Goethe, when you thought you had lost your values, compare yourself with others. Thus, it can be seen that comparison is a method of thinking and cognition of people.
Marxism points out that all things in the world are interrelated, interdependent, mutually transforming and struggling, so scientific understandings can never be obtained through any static, isolated and one-sided way to know the world. As a saying goes, ânothing can be identified without comparisonâ, which proves that comparison is not only a cognition method, but also a kind of scientific working method. Once indicated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the disciplines such as anatomy, botany and linguistics had made great achievements by comparing and finally identifying the differences among the objects of comparison, while comparison had shown universal significance in these disciplines.
The major three purposes of studies of comparative journalism and communication are as follows:
Firstly, explore the basic laws of journalism and communication.
Albert Einstein believes that science is âa coherent idea for finding the regular relationship between our sensory experiencesâ.1 When engaged in journalism and communication, the first thing is to know, understand and master its laws. By comparing the journalism and communication activities and undertakings in different countries and regions, finding their similarities and differences, further comparing their social, political, economic and cultural backgrounds and seeking for the reasons for the similarities and differences, you can explore the basic laws of journalism and communication activities and summarize universal experiences, in order to adjust and improve these activities, promote the effect of journalism and communication and fulfill the social mission of journalism and communication in a better way.
All phenomena reflect certain laws from different levels and perspectives. Being universal and repeated, the law is the essential connection and inexorable trend of the development of things. It is objective and inherently existing in things, which cannot be created, altered or eliminated by men, but can be identified and utilized. Science bears the task to upgrade perceptual knowledge to conceptual knowledge, unveils objective laws and guides peopleâs practices. As early as in 1843, Karl Marx pointed out it must be admitted that the newspaper and the magazine âfeatures something universally recognized by people that can even be seen in plants, i.e. the inherent laws, which shall not and can never be avoided.â2 The final purpose of journalism and communication is to find and identify the law, thus to guide journalism and communication practices and promote the communication effect.
The same with general laws, the journalism and communication laws are widely seen in different countries and regions, different historical periods and different media, and repeatedly emerge in communication of different social incidents and other facts. Therefore, when comparing and studying the journalism and communication activities in different countries and regions, comparing and analyzing the journalism and communication phenomena in different historical periods, and particularly comparing and researching the activities in different countries, regions and historical periods that show vastly varied media and communication environment, you can find, identify and master, more profoundly and keenly, the basic laws of journalism and communication as well as the universal experiences that are playing a part in all different conditions.
As to this purpose, the comparative journalism and communication mainly focuses on studying the journalism phenomena and activities that are playing a decisive and guiding role in journalism and communication activities, such as the media ecology, the communication environment and the communication system; and tends to apply the macro comparison as the research method, such as investigating the changes of journalism and communication phenomena and the evolution of media in a certain historical period or conducting comparative studies on different countries and regions. The Four Theories of the Press written by American scholar Wilbur Schramm et al. and the report Many Voices, One World prepared by the International Commission for the Study of Communications Problems have set a model for the macroscopical comparative study.
Secondly, understand the features of journalism and communication in different media ecologies.
The theory of media ecology regards the society as an organic structure, where the media system, the political system and other systems constitute stable relationships of interdependence and mutual influence. As discovered in the observation and study with the media as a subject, the media depends on the political, economic and cultural systems. Hence, the media ecology practically consists of two parts, the media environment and the communication environment. The study of the medial environment refers to a static observation and investigation on the environment for the media, mainly about the social and economic system as well as the communication system where the media exists; while the study of the communication environment conducts a dynamic observation and investigation on the whole condition for media operation, which means the multiple conditions and factors that affect the communication effect.
The medial ecology, i.e. the media environment and the communication environment, determines the nature, functions and features of journalism and communication. In other words, in order to understand the features of news media and media communication in different social systems, you must have an extensive and profound understanding of the social system and the economic system, the final strength that determines their features and characteristics. For example, when defining the nature of two kinds of newspapers and magazines in two social systems, Mao Zedong emphasized on their different economic foundations. He pointed out that the newspaper in a socialist country was a manifestation of the planned economy established based on the socialist economy, i.e. the public ownership, through the means of press; while the newspaper in a capitalist country was a reflection of the anarchic economy of group competition in the press sector.
On the basis of this fundamental difference, you can clearly define the nature, the functions, the editorial policies, the operating characteristics, the personnel management and the reporting style, etc., of the two different kinds of news media in two different social systems. The studies of comparative journalism and communication exactly aim to understand and master the different characteristics of journalism and communication in different media ecologies. Only by identifying the different natures, functions and features of the journalism and communication in different media ecologies, can you correctly understand the complicated journalism and communication phenomena under current circumstances, have the initiative in news exchange and international cooperation, know others and know yourself in a realistic way and develop the strengths, avoid the weaknesses and learn from others. The Internal and External Journalism History by Japanese journalism master Ono Hideo and The Comparison of Television Systems by Chinese Taiwan journalism scholar Li Zhan are considered as successful instances of studies in this respect.
Thirdly, learn from foreign experiences in a critical manner and promote the development of journalism and communication in China.
To learn from others is an important goal of comparative studies, while learning in a critical manner will be more effective. In foreign countries, particularly Western developed countries, based on the 400-year experiences of the journalism and communication development, the mature and efficient mechanisms and means of communication reports, news operation, industry management and team construction have been established, and rich experiences have been accumulated in dealing with the interactive relations between journalism and communication and the economic, political and cultural systems as well as the relations between the press and the government, parties, social groups and the public. Though these experiences, mechanisms and means are subject to the influence of bourgeois values, the bourgeois journalism and communication, essentially one of the social tools of the bourgeoisie, still reflects the understandings of the basic laws of journalism and communication, which can be learned and used by China.
China can find its shortages and weaknesses by comparing to foreign activities and undertakings of journalism and communication and thus can improve, transform and perfect the journalism and communication operation in China correspondingly. Since the Reform and Opening Up, the press in China has been engaged in increasingly active exchanges and cooperation with foreign presses and has constantly found its own shortages and weaknesses while identifying and sticking to its own advantages and strengths. According to Upholding the Four Cardinal Principles written by Deng Xiaoping, âWe have already admitted our backwardness of natural science and now we shall also admit our backwardness of studies of social science (the comparable aspects) compared to foreign countries.â3 The author strongly agrees with it and hopes to learn more experiences from foreign presses through the profound comparative studies, overcome the shortages and weaknesses of the press in China, promote the development of Chinese journalism and communication and contribute to the development and prosperity of journalism and communication worldwide. Bearing the same goal, many scholars have conducted all-around comparative studies on the journalism and communication systems and internal management mechanisms, the operation modes and works of journalism and communication, the operation and development of news media and the principles and methods of news operation and management between China and foreign countries, which have constituted the theoretical support and resource support to journalism reform that is carried out currently.
The press is now actively performing theoretical innovation and institutional innovation. Innovation never excludes studying beneficial experiences from the outside. The new cultural factors of a society may also derive from those of another society. Some scholars believe that the process of communication indicates a group studies from cultural factors in another society and integrates them into their own culture. A group can avoid certain mistakes and save much time in the development course by studying and learning from others.
All these demonstrate that it is of great significance to learn from foreign experiences in a critical way for promoting the development of journalism and communication in China and achieving more scientific studies of journalism and communication.
The academic values of comparative journalism and communication can be summarized with a saying of Friedrich Engels, the pioneer of Marxism, âonly a nation always equipped with theoretical thinking can reach the highest peak of science.â4 As the theoretical sub-discipline of the discipline of journalism and communication, the comparative journalism and communication applies theoretical thinking the most among all research sectors of journalism and communication.
2 The Object of the Studies of Comparative Journalism and Communication
Generally, the comparative study refers to comparing the issues that need to be studied and explored within a certain spatialâtemporal scale, identifying their similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses and advantages and disadvantages, and analyzing and demonstrating the factors that lead to the homogeneity and heterogeneity. The explicit time range shall be firstly determined for the study. All things develop along with the time axis and exist and change as time goes by. Only within a certain time range can the comparison and targeted analysis be done for the comparative study. Comparison may be vertically comparing the past and the present of the same object or horizontally comparing the objects of the same kind within the same time range. Secondly, the relatively stable and clear spatial domain shall be determined. The comparative study is generally conducted between one country and another, or one region and another, since this is more specific and direct. However, the comparison can also be made between one country or one region and some other countries or regions together. For example, the comparison between China and the West consists of several countries. Furthermore, the provinces or municipalities within a country, the different areas within a province and different media can also be compared, such as the comparison of media at the two sides of the Taiwan Straits, the comparison of the newspapers of Beijing School and the newspapers of Shanghai and Guangdong School, the comparison between the press media including newspapers and magazines and the electronic media including radio and television and the comparison between the traditional media including newspapers, magazines, radio and TV and the new media including online media, etc.
It is believed that the comparative study shall be extensive and all-round spatially and temporally. We advocate that diversified objects shall be incorporated in the comparative study. However, like the comparative literature and comparative law, the comparative journalism and communication shall have the object placed in the same time range, and shall conduct comparison mainly between one country and another one or several countries and one region and another one or several regions in terms of the spatial domain. The given time and space guarantee the quantity and quality of the comparative study and helps clarify and regulate on the study object.
Under the certain spatialâtemporal conditions, comparative journalism and communication covers extremely extensive objects of study. Everything, macro or micro, media or works, virtual or actual, internal or external, people or things, can be compared, analyzed and studied only if they are comparable, and can be considered as the object of study of comparative journalism and communication.
It is a kind of macro comparative study to compare the properties, characteristics, functions and missions, etc., of journalism and communication undertakings in different countries and regions under different social systems and historical conditions as well as their economic, political and cultural backgrounds. As introduced above, Mao Zedong had once pointed out the different properties of the two kinds of journalism and communication undertakings in the world in an article he wrote in 1957, which was essentially a comparative analysis of the property of newspapers based on the Marxist principle of the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure. Relative to the macro issues such as the properties, characteristics, functions and missions of journalism and communication undertakings, the studies on the business characteristics, working methods and norms of works, etc., such as the study on the different roles of journalists in China and Japan, the comparison of the media in China and the United States and the comparison of the news works and styles in China and foreign countries shall be deemed as the comparative studies on micro issues.
The comparative studies can also be conducted at the virtual and the actual level, respectively about the journalism and communication ideas and ideological trends and about the actual operating issues such as the newspaper layout, manner of writing and title production, etc., in different countries and regions. The investigation and analysis at both levels are necessary and meanwhile comparable. The former kind of study lays stress on theoretical perspectives and shows strong academic rationality; while the latter emphasizes the practices and presents strong operability. As to the journalism and communication ideas, foreign countries and China share quite a few common views but also see many differences. For example, both China and foreign...