Legal News and Legal Journalism: Volume 5, Research on Legal News

Author: Zhao Zhongjie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: The development of China's contemporary news and communication industry has been exceptionally rapid. However, it is a fact that our legal system for regulating news and communication activities has lagged behind the realities, urgently needing improvement. Strengthening the research on news law and regulation is not only necessary for the news and communication industry but also a pressing need for socialist democracy and the rule of law. Both news and law serve as tools for social supervision, and there is an inevitable and inseparable mutual dependence between them. News plays a role in promoting and supervising the rule of law, while law regulates and constrains news and communication activities. In any democratic society, it must be a rule-of-law society, and engaging in news and communication activities in a society with sound democracy and the rule of law requires adherence to legal constraints and safeguards.
In the West, journalists are often referred to as the "uncrowned kings," seemingly endowed with supreme privileges. However, the frequent occurrence of legal disputes involving media and journalists has mercilessly proven that any social activity requires a "measure" to be assessed. News media have the right to supervise society but also the obligation to accept legal constraints. The "measure" for assessing news and communication activities is news law and regulation. Only with a well-established news law and regulation can news and communication activities operate with flexibility. Therefore, establishing a comprehensive news law and regulation as soon as possible is highly necessary and important for news and communication activities, especially for legal news and communication.
Currently, Chinese society is fully advancing toward legalization, and the legal system of the socialist market economy has taken shape. As an indispensable organic part of this framework, news law and regulation must be established as soon as possible. All of the above provide an excellent opportunity and research platform for the teaching and research on legal news and news law and regulation at the School of Journalism and Communication, Southwest University of Political Science and Law. In the past decade, the scientific research of the school's faculty has been closely focused on news and law, legal news, and news law and regulation, achieving certain breakthroughs and innovative results in theory and practice. These achievements have been well demonstrated through five volumes of "Research on Legal News."