A Collective Push for Marketization: The Emergence of Critical Reporting and Journalistic Independence in 1980s China

Based on an analysis of 316 critical reports published in the 1980s by three Chinese newspapers operating at different administrative levels—supplemented by journalists’ memoirs and second-hand interviews—this study demonstrates that critical reporting reflected a field-level shift toward greater journalistic independence from state directives, even as it developed alongside state-led reforms and aligned with official marketization discourse. This study further explains how the New Enlightenment Movement and the Reform and Opening-Up—two parallel forces in the construction of a market society—contributed to the emergence and evolution of critical reporting. It argues that journalistic independence was not only facilitated by established market mechanisms, as previous research suggests, but also by the very process of market formation. The cultural idea that transformed individuals into market actors helped awaken journalists to their professional autonomy, while the collaboration between journalists and the state—essential to building a market system—created opportunities for that autonomy to develop.