The press and political continuity in China: The case of the World Economic Herald

This paper, utilizing the method of case study, investigates the role of the Shanghai‐based World Economic Herald in China's political democratization in the 1980s, and analyses its relationship with the social changes of that period.

A prominent theme running through this study is that political democratization must be coupled with economic growth in order for the role of the press to change in China.

Results of the study suggest that the World Economic Herald, throughout its ten‐year existence, became more and more politically oriented and outspoken in its coverage of key political issues. The findings also reveal that in early 1989, the Herald waged an unprecedented struggle against the Party's tight control of the news media and for political democratization including press freedom. However, its role in promoting political change was restricted by the nature of China's reform movement, which was characterized by a separation of political reform from economic reform. The development and demise of the Herald provided a window through which it could be clearly seen how the press affected and was affected by the social changes in China in the historical period of the 1980s.