Negotiating fragmented women's news: state, market and feminism in contemporary Chinese media

Abstract

This study aims to explain the reasons for the transformation of women’s news in contemporary China. It concludes that in comparison with women news’s in the Maoist period, present-day women’s news is represented in a fragmented way. This article analyses the differences among the individual, professional, and institutional aspects in news production, while emphasizing the complicated interaction among feminism, state, and market to illuminate the reasons behind women’s news transformation. Due to the immanent masculinity of both state and market, feminism in China has to face a state^market complex, that is, double pressure. Comparing with state and market, the influence from feminism to journalism is quite weak and there is a long way to go before feminism realizes its own agenda for media transformation.