National Key Textbook -- History of Foreign Journalism and Communication

Author: Zheng Chaoran / Cheng Manli / Wang Taixuan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-10-01
Features: Additionally, the title of this book is "A History of Foreign Journalism and Communication" because it breaks through traditional frameworks of journalism studies, attempting to examine the history of journalism and communication as well as the evolution of various media within the broader context of human societal development. From a macro sociological perspective, it analyzes the relationship between journalism and communication and political systems, economic structures, cultural backgrounds, and social environments. We aim to achieve the following goal: after understanding the history of journalism and communication, readers will also gain insights into the broader history of human society, rather than being confined to the narrow scope of industry history.
In 1997, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council elevated journalism and communication studies to the status of a primary discipline, under which journalism studies and communication studies became two secondary disciplines. In line with this, the title of this book is "A History of Foreign Journalism and Communication." The book consists of eight chapters, twenty-four sections. The first chapter serves as an introduction, summarizing the development of human communication activities. Chapters two to seven are devoted to the history of journalism and communication in various continents and countries, with a focus on introducing countries with significant global influence, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, and Egypt. Each country includes discussions on the origins, development, current status, and future trends of newspapers, magazines, news agencies, and broadcasting. The eighth chapter explores debates over the new and old orders in global journalism and communication.
The reasons for organizing chapters two to seven by country are two-fold:
(1) From a historical perspective, the journalism and communication industries in different countries have their own unique development patterns, which are closely intertwined with the political and economic changes of each nation. Organizing chapters by country facilitates an accurate understanding of the political evolution and economic transformations of each nation. More importantly, within this macro historical context, the development of journalism and communication can be accurately reflected. Therefore, we argue that structuring a global history of journalism and communication by country helps to record history objectively and prevents artificial fragmentation of historical narratives.
(2) From the reader's perspective, the history of journalism and communication is largely composed of news events, news figures, news media, and news systems. A significant news media often has a long history, undergoes numerous transformations, and may span several stages of a country's journalistic development. Discussing it within a single chapter (for a single country) ensures a comprehensive and clear narrative, which is particularly important for beginners. The same applies to the history of media development and the history of news systems.
Of course, journalism and communication industries across countries also share many commonalities and follow similar development patterns. For example, the modern press in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States all underwent three stages: the period of the bourgeois revolution, the era of partisan newspapers, and the era of penny papers, each with similar manifestations. If the book were to simply describe each country individually without cross-temporal comparisons or theoretical generalizations, it would be difficult to outline the macro developmental trajectory of global journalism and communication and hinder readers' understanding of the overall landscape of foreign journalism and communication.
For this reason, this book, in its introductory chapters, analyzes, compares, and synthesizes the overall development patterns of global journalism and communication across countries, dividing the narrative into five major media. Additionally, the title "A History of Foreign Journalism and Communication" reflects its break from traditional frameworks of journalism studies, attempting to examine the history of journalism and communication and the evolution of various media within the broader context of human societal development. From a macro sociological perspective, it analyzes the relationship between journalism and communication and political systems, economic structures, cultural backgrounds, and social environments. We aim to achieve the following goal: after understanding the history of journalism and communication, readers will also gain insights into the broader history of human society, rather than being confined to the narrow scope of industry history.