I valori del giornalismo cinese nel contesto globale: un approccio discorsivo

In a globalised and tightly-linked world, media outlets are no longer just directly responsible to people within their own country, but also to audiences beyond their political, cultural and linguistic borders. International scholars have called for the creation of a uniform standard of ethics to be adhered to by journalists all over the world, highlighting the need to ensure that reporting is accurate, balanced and diverse, and that all journalists represent a global plurality of views with a global audience in mind. In this context, the Chinese media has undergone a process of internationalisation that has been accurately planned and managed by the national authorities, which has resulted in growing influence of the country’s media at global level. The trend is also the result of China’s ambition to “tell China’s story well” and to increase its “discourse power” by presenting its news and views to foreign audiences in a direct manner. The phenomenon raises questions about the values that guide journalistic work in China. Focusing on the practitioners’ discourse rather than the official discourse on the profession, this contribution discusses to what extent contemporary Chinese journalistic values have been shaped by Western media ethics, and to what extent Chinese media ethics are attempting to shape the ethos of news workers in the rest of the world.