Trustable News from China? How Chinese Journalists Negotiate Epistemic Authority in Transnational Digital News Production

Abstract

The adoption of social media platforms by news organizations invariably coincides with transformations in the production, expression, and acceptance of news as public knowledge claims. This study explores how a special subset of Chinese journalists—the foreign-aimed journalists—negotiate their epistemic authority while producing transnational news on foreign platforms. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews, findings reveal four major tensions as Chinese journalists strive to negotiate authority among foreign audiences: reaffirming professional boundaries; navigating the management directives; maintaining a state messaging position; and understanding digital infrastructure. This study further contextualizes how, parallel to digital transformations, cultural transformations around journalistic knowledge claims are linked to historically and socially embedded priorities and constraints. The established conceptualizations of digital journalistic authority require expansion, as China’s case illuminates the complex interplay between technology, politics, media regulation, and individual agency in shaping the epistemic landscape of contemporary journalism.

Keywords:

• Platform
• digital news production
• epistemic authority
• China

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Special Issue editors and reviewers for their invaluable and patient feedback, as well as their constructive criticism, which greatly contributed to the improvement of this manuscript. I also appreciate the support from the Center for Journalism, Media, and Democracy at the University of Washington. Lastly, I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the anonymous respondents during my fieldwork in China.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This is a fabricated brand to protect the respondent’s identity.

2 CGTN is a rebranded flagship outlet formed from the merger of three state media entities, China Central Television (CCTV), China Radio International (CRI), and China National Radio (CNR). CCTV and CRI have a foreign-aimed business.

3 Including major brands such as China.org.cn, Beijing Review, China Report, China Hoy, People’s China, China Pictorial, etc.

4 Xi Jinping’s 2019 speech (“把握国际传播领域移动化、社交化、可视化的趋势”). See http://www.qstheory.cn/zhuanqu/2021-06/02/c_1127522386.htm.