Power interplay and newspaper digitization: Lessons from the Pengpai experiment

Abstract

This study looks at Pengpai (The Paper), the first news app launched in China by a traditional media organization, in order to understand how media practices in the context of contemporary China have shifted. The case of Pengpai, which was released in July 2014, is not only about economical and technological modernization but also relates to the re-negotiation of the relationship between the state, professionals and the public. Drawing on interviews with journalists, content analysis, a newsroom observation and Pengpai’s coverage of certain events, this research sheds light on the covert power interplay at work in newspaper digitization in China. The ambivalent accomplishment of Pengpai reveals the relationship between the state and journalists as a negotiation process that includes dialogue and conflict.