It seems to be the consensus among longtime China watchers that the Chinese media has become more radicalized over the last five years, with both online and traditional channels now feeding the public conflicting stories of both reflexive scorn for the status quo or patriotic jingoism. But how radical are things getting? And what are the limits to how much further they can go, or will be allowed to go, on either side?
This week on Sinica we look at two of the extremes. First up, a discussion between Jeremy Goldkorn and Brook Larmer, whose recent essay on Chinese Internet humor for The New York Times looked not only at what is being said online but who is saying it and why. And then we turn the other way, talking with journalist Christina Larson and Sinica stalwart David Moser about the Global Times, a commercial newspaper under the auspices of the People’s Daily so untempered in its nationalism that many consider the paper a government mouthpiece, with some even comparing the publication to Fox News.