Beneath the Silence: The Cat-and-Mouse Game Between Media Censorship and Chinese Journalists in New Era

Despite ongoing media censorship in China, the post-reform era saw a brief "golden age" for the media, during which commercialized media flourished and renowned investigative journalists emerged. However, this period was short-lived, as Xi Jinping's rise to power from 2012, media control has intensified dramatically as part of a broader trend toward re-totalitarianization of Chinese society, significantly constraining journalists' professional practice. This study adopts a mixed qualitative approach, incorporating in-depth interviews with nine journalists from both official and commercialized media, along with documentary evidence, to explore how censorship permeates the process of news production and how journalists navigate these constraints. It identifies ten distinct types of censorship across four key stages of news production—topic selection, interviewing, publication, and consumption—operating at three levels: editorial, institutional, and individual. It also highlights twelve coping strategies employed by journalists, including both active and passive forms of resistance. By introducing the concept of "re-Party-ization" and placing it within the framework of Regionally Decentralized Totalitarianism, the research provides a vivid account of how commercialized media has been re-totalitarianized through capital, administrative, and content management. Combining top-down institutional control with bottom-up "everyday resistance," this thesis illustrates how journalists, under the constant Cat-and-Mouse Game between censorship, strive to maintain professional integrity, while enduring psychological strain and "professional erosion" The study contributes new empirical insights into media censorship in China, expanding discussions on media and social control in authoritarian and totalitarian contexts. More importantly, it serves as a historical record of the real-life struggles and precious perseverance of journalists under political pressure, preserving valuable evidence of China's media landscape for future reflection and potential reform.