994). The foreign programs on Shanghai Television Station (STV), the second largest in China, increased almost four times from 1985 ( 11.8%) to 1990 (42.6%) (Chan, 1994). SECOND PERIOD WITH COMPETITION MODEL ( 1991 ~ PRESENT) After the Tiananmen Square Event in 1989, many Western media scholars and politicians predicted a deadlock in the media development in China. Ironic as it may be, a new competition model of media development debuted in Shanghai. The new model went into operation on October 28, 1992, when an independent 24-hour radio station known as Oriental Radio Station (ORS) was established and an independent TV station, Oriental Television Station (OTV), was set up three months later, on January 18, 1993. The establishment of ORS and OTV has ended the monopoly history of one radio station and one television station in one Chinese city since 1949. These new stations started fierce competition, on an equal basis, in the market, with the existing Shanghai People's Radio Station (SPRS) and Shanghai Television Station (STV). Advertising Competition The competition, the essence of the new media model, first got intensified in the advertising revenues which became the bulk of income for broadcast stations in Shanghai following the end of government subsidies in 1993 (Steitmatter, 1994). This is especially true for ORS and OTV, which started operations with bank loans rather than government subsidies. Of course, competition for advertising, different from that in the West, still retains Chinese characteristics ("Guo Qing"), a vague term used to describe anything particular to China and that can't be explained with Western notions. Instead of competing for greater number of clients and ads, STV and OTV are vying for only the richest customers, as the economically vibrant Shanghai has far more advertisers lining up than there is air time for sale. The Head of the Chief Editor's Office at OTV, said, "The demand for ad time far surpasses the supply. So our real competition is for richer clients--foreign-funded companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble--that can pay premium rates and guarantee long-term contracts" (Streitmatter, 1994). Because of this, competition has led to a sharp increase in ad revenues for all stations. STV doubled its ad revenue from 1991 to 1994 while OTV jumped to 150 million ($20 million) in 1993 from zero. The same is true with SPRS and ORS. Though the increase margins of advertising revenues for these media have become somewhat smaller, the advertising revenues have always been on the rise till now (Xie, 1998). Despite the “soft” competition, a keen competition still follows for higher ratings, which are released on a monthly basis by an independent agency, Shanghai Urban and Rural Sampling Team. These monthly ratings, ignored by media and advertisers before 1990, received great attention when ad competition started, because ad rates now are based primarily on these ratings. Lively Styles Competition for the advertising pie inevitably resulted in journalistic reforms of reporting styles and programming. To end the dominance of STV and SPRS, OTV and ORS improved timeliness and focused on lively coverage of news reports. Reporters were dispatched to the fields in the locality, other provinces in China and even abroad for international coverage. Western reporting techniques such as radio actualities and TV voice-overs and standups were introduced to Chinese audiences. Instead of just reading news scripts prepared in advance, common before 1990, radio and TV reporters now often provide spot news (including live reports), reporting news stories from the field just as their Western counterparts do (Streitmatter, 1994). In 1997, as shown in Table 2, spots news consisted of more than 60% of STV and OTV's news programs. Table 2 Spot News in STV's and OTV's 30-Minute News Programs (6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.) STVOTVTotal News Items270268Spot News167171Percentage of Total61.263.8The counting is based on the "composite week," selected randomly by XU Xiaowei from December 1 to 29, 1997. STV, on the other hand, makes full use of its rich human resources to add variety to its programming. In September 1995, STV premiered an English channel to cater to the needs of increasing foreign population in Shanghai. The channel broadcasts four hours a day, including news, features, foreign movies, weather reports and ads. Phone-in hotlines and magazine shows also are gaining popularity. SPRS's phone-in program, "990 Citizens and Society," which started in 1993, has become so popular that national and local officials often join the phone talk and discussed strategic policies with ordinary citizens over phones. During his visit to Shanghai, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Mr. XU Kuangdi, the mayor of Shanghai also became the guest speakers of the Program and talked with eight listeners via the hotlines. OTV's magazine show "Dongfeng 110" covered actual criminal cases.Not only is it produced with the Shanghai police, but it features a uniformed officer as an anchorwoman. Another of OTV's groundbreaking programs is a fifty-minute show, "Across the Pacific," which features interviews with Chinese residents now living in the United States. It is a joint venture of OTV and two American companies (Streitmatter, 1994). TV game shows are also in great demand in Shanghai. The two competing six-minute game shows for STV and OTV are "Great World" ("da shijia") and "Oriental Space" ("dongfeng shikong") that are on air at the same time (8 p.m.) during the weekdays. Restructuring Keen competition also calls for a change in the structure of the fast-developing electronic media. In order to raise efficiency and competitiveness and get rid of unqualified employees, and with the approval from the relevant government authorities, the electronic media system underwent an organizational restructuring in early 1995 by the introduction of a producer-responsibility system, much like that in the West 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 下一页
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