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New Addition to Wiley's Political Science Books Offering

Shanghai-based former journalist and China media expert Doug Young provides a fascinating look into the crucial but poorly understood relationship between China’s media and the Communist Party in the new publication of ‘The Party Line: How The Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China’.

China’s Communist Party, using the media as its megaphone, is more interested in reporting a version of the truth that it wants its people to believe, in contrast to the media’s more traditional role as public watchdog in Western societies. The Party Line explains how China’s 1.3 billion people share remarkably similar views on a wide array of domestic and global issues ranging from foreign relations, to government corruption and global warming.

The official version of news is formed at the top in organizations like the Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television before being allowed to trickle down to regional and local media. As a result, the average consumer gets strikingly unified messages despite the appearance of many voices in the local media.

The Party Line presents a holistic look at the media to help readers understand how Chinese media operate, and in turn how that influences the view that Chinese people have of their country and the outside world.

The book includes detailed analyses on several major historical events from the 1950-53 Korean War, to the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In exploring these events, Young provides insight into why the Chinese media reported on those events the way they did, and what their approach said about the Communist Party’s agenda at the time.

“After more than a decade of working as a reporter in China, I find the Chinese media especially fascinating for their remarkable focus and ability to stay on message,” said Young.

Written in a straightforward prose for ordinary readers, The Party Line is the only mainstream English book which offers an unparalleled insight into China’s media industry and how it has changed over time.

The Party Line is now available online and at all leading bookstores. For more information, go to: www.wiley.com/buy/9780470828533.