合法性转型与当代中国传媒的新使命

Legitimate Transformation and New Mission for Modern China's Media

合法性是指民众对政府统治正当性的认同。在改革开放前,当代中国是以共产主义意识形态作为自己的合法性基础,将社会主义唱"好"和将资本主义批"坏"成为传媒的根本使命。改革开放后,政府以政治绩效作为自己的合法性基础,市场经济催生了国人的求富欲望与权利意识,传媒必须以满足公民知情权、监督权和表达权作为新的历史使命。政治绩效合法性虽为公民权利意识找到了立足根基,并为传媒转型提供了历史动力,但这种合法性对经济绩效过分依赖,未能满足公民的政治参与诉求,因而成为阻碍传媒承担其新使命的关键因素。只有进行第二次合法性转型,走向法理型权威,将政府之权威奠定在规则、程序和制度之上,中国传媒才能真正实现其新使命,以回应时代需求。

Legitimacy refers to the citizens’ identity with the governance of a certain state.Before the Reform and Open Policy,modern China took the Communist Ideology as the base for its legitimacy,when the media’s fundamental mission was to beautify socialism and defame capitalism.After that,the government took political performance as the base of its legitimacy,and the market economy has induced people’s desire of being rich and aroused an awareness of rights among them.Media then should shoulder a new historic mission to satisfy the citizens’ right to know,to supervise and to express.Although the legitimacy based on political performance has made a ground for the citizens’ awareness of right and offered a historic drive for the media to transform,it depends excessively on economical performance and fails to meet the citizens’ demand of political attendance,hence becomes a crucial element to prevent the media from taking on its news mission.This paper holds that Chinese government needs to make a second transformation for its legitimacy,setting up its authority based on jurisprudence,rules,procedures and system.Only by doing this can Chinese media realize their new mission authentically and meet the demand of new age.