“转译”与“逃逸”:中国媒体融合实践聚簇中的行动者网络

Translation and Escape:Actor Network from Assemblages of Media Convergence Practice in China

运用行动者网络理论(ANT),分析中国媒体融合实践中隐含的知识生产逻辑及其“实验”特性,并从知识生产与新闻生产的角度对中国媒体融合这一混杂的现象进行阐释,引出ANT分析的必要性。通过对媒体融合过程中人类行动者的追随及其“转译”行为的分析,揭示了中国媒体融合行动者网络的复杂性和虚弱性。同时,以技术等因素为例,对媒体融合聚簇形成过程中的非人行动者及其如何被人类行动者“转译”和如何“转译”人类行动者进行分析,指出技术与社会在媒体融合实践中是互嵌的,部分行动者的存在有着不同意义。分析发现,在中国的媒体融合行动者网络中,由于主要行动者无法形成“强制通过点”,未来的媒体融合探索还将持续很长一段时间。

Scholarship on media convergence,both within and beyond China,has been constrained by an overemphasis on human actors as the exclusive subjects.This study leverages actor-network theory(ANT),coupled with empirical insights from researchers’experiences and observations,to dissect the multifaceted actors embedded within the assemblages of media convergence in China(i.e.,various heterogeneous elements are combined to achieve media convergence),and to reveal the specific interaction process of various heterogeneous actors inside and outside the news industry when participating in media convergence from a new perspective.The investigation uncovers an underappreciated hidden dynamic-the“logic of knowledge production”-that is intrinsic to China’s media convergence-knowledge production logic,which is the result of the primary actors in media convergence-the relevant departments of the Communist Party of China being“translated”by other actors in the process of“translating”other actors.In addition,various levels of media also produce immutable mobile,with the goal of hoping that their“knowledge”can become“consensus”of the new industry,and the providers of“consensus”can get advantage in the actor network to“translate”other actors.For human actors involved in media convergence of China,relevant departments of the Communist Party of China and government are the primary actors.They incorporate relevant social entities into their actor network of media convergence through processes such as problematisation,purport,registration,and mobilization.However,other entities also have their own initiative,and they will formulate different strategies based on their own position in the network,which may not necessarily meet the setting of the primary actor.From a micro perspective,the same phenomenon exists within the news organizations.Human entities such as the technology companies and capital companies outside the news industry also interpret media convergence from their respective perspectives,attempting to“translate”other actors.The current dilemma is that the primary actors in Chinese media convergence also find it difficult to set themselves or their media integration plans as“obligatory passage points”,resulting in weak actor networks in some cases.The primary actor among non-human actors is technology.Technology,as an actor,not only allows other human actors to speak on its behalf,but also sometimes even becomes the core actor in the actor network and the spokesperson for media convergence.However,if technology can’t find an alliance,it can’t successfully embed it into the social structure of the news production.Analysis also found that there are hidden actors such as geographical location,social position,various indicators and Apps.From a policy standpoint,the primary actors need to leverage various resources,such as political and economic means,to establish their policy goals as obligatory passage points for other actors.For the practice of media convergence,the quality of the specific plan when adopting a certain technology,system or institution does not depend on its surface advancement,but on whether it can successfully“translate”the main internal and external actors.In the future,China’s media convergence policy should focus on how to mobilize the participation of entities outside the news media.