The State-Preneurship Model of Digital Journalism Innovation: Cases from China

Abstract

Digital innovation has been widely considered as a key solution to the current journalism crisis. While most innovation projects in democratic regimes receive funding from media organizations, venture capital firms, and foundations, many of China’s digital journalism projects are funded and led by the state—a model we define as “state-preneurship.” In this study, we compare this model with other digital innovation models on three dimensions: the amount and sustainability of funding, the extent of newsroom restructuring, and the transformation of journalistic culture. We focus on the early national success case, Shanghai-based news outlet Pengpai, as well as on eight of its regional copycats. Based on interviews with forty-three executives, journalists, propaganda officials, media investors, and scholars, we argue that while in the short run, state-preneurship has produced fast and large-scale transformations in the digital journalism industry, these changes appear as largely unsustainable in the long run. This is due to (1) the political contingency of state investments and (2) the limited transformation in journalistic culture.