Author: Li Bin (Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, Academic Advisor).
*: Young Journalists, Issue 13, 2023.
Introduction: To promote Chinese-style modernization and journalism, it is impossible to work in a greenhouse, and we cannot but face the academic ecology of "respecting foreigners" and "opposing horses against horses" and "waging a great struggle with many new historical characteristics." Otherwise, it is inevitable that words will fall short of meaning.
One. Since the new era, it is gratifying to see a group of young talents who are upright and innovative, and come together, such as Pan Jiaojiao's rural radio network, Zhang Huiyu's grassroots communication, Wang Hongzhe's people's radio, Shengyang's Sino-Soviet polemic, Chen Na's workers' cultural palace and other research, all of which make people feel that "the sky is far from the mountains and the sky is far-reaching, and the moon is clear in Chengjiang". At the same time, it is not without regret to witness that some rising stars are attracted by Jiang Menglin's Western Tide and New Wave, or fall into the ancient road and westward wind under the coercion of the academic evaluation system and its institutional mechanisms, such as "either ascending or leaving", and thus drift away from the pursuit of true knowledge and truth.
Zhao Tingyang said it more bluntly:
Academia likes to deceive itself into saying that academia has a reason to go from book to book, to care only about concepts and not about truth.
No matter how profound the issues discussed in philosophy are, they must be related to the problems of life, and philosophy that has no meaning in the context of life is bad philosophy.
The above two "directions of the youth movement" can also be called two kinds of learning: one is living and the other is dead. **In Yan'an, I once said to Lu Yi graduates, you are only graduating from Xiao Lu Yi now, and there is still a big Lu Yi outside. At best, the dead learning is just a small Lu Yi, and the living learning is a big Lu Yi. One is immersed in oneself, as metaphorized by academic buzzwords such as embodiment, floating clouds and catkins have no roots, and the world is wide and far-reaching. One is oriented to the social life and historical practice of the myriad weather, and he likes that "the usefulness of academia is to serve the people" (Fei Xiaotong), "asking the canal to be as clear as possible, for there is a source of living water". In other words, living learning focuses on life, and is committed to explaining the world and changing the world, that is, Bai Juyi's so-called "articles are written for the time, and songs and poems are written for things", and the dead learning hides in a small building and pays attention to itself, such as "in the old house in the barren rivers and fields, two or three plain people" whispered. In short, to borrow a phrase from a scholar who "lives in a temple" said of Marx, journalism "should not be a document placed in a library for reference, but a spark spread among the world" ("Joy of Reading").
Undoubtedly, Chinese modernization requires living learning, not dead learning. For this reason, in addition to basing ourselves on the earth, empathizing with millions of ordinary people, and making it clear for whom we are writing books and for whom we are making speeches, we cannot do without two points: one is theory and the other is history. The so-called theory first refers to the classics such as Marne, Liemao, etc. As we all know, on the one hand, today's academic circles emphasize that everything is leisurely, theory is big, soldiers and horses are not moved, and theory comes firstOn the one hand, the theory of popular nationality does not include Marx, the "first thinker of the millennium", still less Lenin's words, which are basically confined to the United States and the West. If there is no such theory or a family's words, then whether it is a degree or a professional title, it seems to be out of the mainstream in the eyes of the academic community.
Here, we must also point out two tendencies toward Marx, one is the fundamentalism of the rubber column, and the other is revisionism that seems to keep pace with the times. Both fundamentalism and revisionism have suffocated the soul of Marxism. What is a soul?In a word, it is what Lenin called the unity of scientific and revolutionary. Scientificity is embodied in explaining the world, and revolution is embodied in changing the world;Scientifically pursues the organic unity of history and logic, and revolutionizes efforts to overthrow the old world and build a new world, which is what the Communist Manifesto says
In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, there will be a union in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.
In addition to the scientific and revolutionary Marxist-Leninist theory, living scholarship should extensively absorb all the achievements of civilization throughout the ages, including the scientific sayings of the United States and the West. Lenin said: One can become a communist only by enriching one's mind with all the intellectual wealth created by mankind. For example, he read the "Zizhi Tongjian"* 17 times, and the "Communist Manifesto" nearly 100 times during the Yan'an period. The vicissitudes of the sea show the true character of the hero, the way of learning, why not.
Living learning needs not only the nourishment of theory, but also the nourishment of history: "History begins with **, and the ideological process should also start from **" (Engels), "the law itself cannot explain itself." Laws exist in the process of historical development" (*
For journalism, the history of the Party, the history of New China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development, that is, the "four histories" are the lifeblood. To open up a discipline system, academic system and discourse system with Chinese characteristics and universal significance, it is necessary not only to gain insight into the ins and outs of 5,000 years of civilization, but also to grasp the "four histories". Zhang Wenmu said it well: "People who know 5,000 years of history can explain the things of the next 50 years, people who know 50 years of history can explain the things of the next 5 years, and people who only know 5 years of history are basically headless flies, busy with work, and their heads are the Tao, in fact, they don't know anything." ”
In 2018, at the annual conference of the Peking University School of Journalism, I talked about the "four histories": the study of the history of journalism in old China and the new China. At that time, I felt that the first 30 years plus the 70 years at the end of the Qing Dynasty involved the attention of our top ten, while the 70 years of New China and the 100 years of the Communist Party only accounted for 12 of them. Although this state of affairs has its origins, it cannot be left unchecked, because Chinese journalism and journalism mainly rely on two hundred years, and it is far from the late Qing Dynasty. Although the late Qing Dynasty is also a living water of journalism, after all, the laughter gradually fades into silence, and the ups and downs of the new China's journalism and journalism are closely related to the governance of the country and the stability of the country. You can't talk about the horizon in front of you, holding a golden bowl and begging for food.
Nowadays, journalism has been included in the "supporting disciplines" at the national strategic level, and all parties yearn for the discipline system, academic system and discourse system. To this end, it is all the more necessary to clarify what the Communist Party of China and New China think and do in terms of news dissemination, which is the foundation that supports the academic edifice of Chinese journalism.
In short, the complementarity of a theory and a history is the so-called organic unity of history and logic.
Two. So, where do living learning begin?Someone happened to ask a question that activated my thinking: What are the real problems that need to be studied and clarified urgently in the field of journalism and communication?The stakes are too big for me to respond comprehensively, so let's talk about two points of retreat.
The first point of understanding is the problem of the lack of journalism. The so-called lack of journalism arose in the 80s of the 20 th century, to the effect that journalism has only politics and propaganda and no learning, and is not academic. Now it is becoming clearer and clearer that the subtext of the so-called uneducated journalism lies in the uneducated journalism of the Communist Party of New China, while the United States and the West are not only educated, but also thoughtful. Therefore, for decades, we have been panting in pursuit of internationalization, that is, Americanization, from Schramm to materiality, from journalistic professionalism to constructive journalism, one "master" after another, one "classic" after another. Looking at the current **, the basic routine is that the ancestors narrate the words of a certain master and a certain classic in the United States and the West, and then use this as the sword of Shang Fang, comment on the situation of China's news dissemination, and finally confirm how the master's classics are correct and how the situation in China fits with them. Even the Ph.D., who studies the news people of New China, has to drag such a family of words or so-called theories, otherwise they may encounter trouble when they are submitted for trial and defense. This academic and academic style is exactly the same as that of medieval scholasticism, and it is also like the eight-strand selection of schools in the "Outer History of Confucianism".
The main basis for judging the pros and cons of Chinese journalism is the realistic movement of history as mentioned by Engels, not the abstract concept of ignoring history, ignoring reality, and ignoring practice, still less the so-called theories of the United States and the West, which are pretending to be crowned and wearing a deer, pointing a deer as a horse, and cutting down their feet. In other words, whether and what kind of learning Chinese journalism has should be based on the practice of Chinese-style modernization and the new form of human civilization, rather than on any idealism and assumptions, such as the new ideas freely conceived by some smart brains in the study.
Here, we should examine how the news theory of the Communist Party of New China has learned from learning, and how the news of the United States and the West has changed from the ignorance that once looked down to the learning that it looks up to now -- it must be called Greece, and it must be called the United States. In those days, all sides were full of confidence in China's road and its journalism practice, and were highly vigilant about imperialism's self-defeating heart, so in the 50s of the 20th century, the Department of Journalism of the Chinese National University translated "Four Theories of Newspapers and Periodicals" as a negative teaching material for criticism, and now it is regarded as an unborn master classic and called "internationalization". As we all know, the so-called internationalization in the mainstream of academic circles refers to nothing more than Europe and the United States, and even the United States, and internationalization is actually Europeanization, Europeanization, or Americanization. For example, "International Journals", "International Conferences", and "International Societies", the top ten are just American journals, American conferences, and American societies. With the rise of this kind of internationalization, the "internationalism" of Marxism-Leninism and Taoism gradually drifted away. Internationalism and internationalization seem to be talking about the world, but this international is not the other world, just like Li Kui and Li Gui, Li Kui and Marxist-Leninist communism are connected with China's Tianxia Datong bloodline, and Li Ghost is in the same vein with the bloody history of colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism.
Only by clarifying the essence of whether journalism is studied or not, can we build China's journalism in an open and honest manner.
The second point of understanding is about the issue of journalism in China. If there is a study of Chinese journalism, then what is Chinese journalism?Just as American and Western journalism are inseparable from Western-style modernization, Chinese journalism is also a discourse and practice that integrates with Chinese-style modernization. History and reality all show that Chinese journalism is not only a discipline and a specialty, but also belongs to the politics of the world and the hearts of the world. Specifically, on the one hand, Chinese journalism is inseparable from Liang Qichao's "China of China, China of Asia, and China of the world" and its news and communication heritage, and on the other hand, it shares weal and woe with Marxism-Leninism and a community with a shared future for mankind, and cannot do without the internationalism embodied in "The Internationale". In short, Chinese journalism is also the product of the combination of two things, that is, the combination of Marxist-Leninist truth with Chinese practice and the combination of China's excellent culture, which contains a myriad of situations, contradictory relationships, and broad space that are both rich and diverse, but also intricate.
In recent years, the research of young scholars has also provided samples for this, such as Fan Jingyi, Chen Wangdao, An Gang, Gan Xifen, Guo Chaoren, third-line construction and news communication, as well as reporter Marx, reporter ***, etc.;Dr. He Guimei of the Department of Chinese of Peking University ** "Research on Chinese Culture in the 80s", Dr. Xie Baojie of Beijing Normal University ** "Historical Investigation of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Writing from 1949 to 1966", Ph.D. ** "Model Play" of Zhang Qingyun of the Department of Chinese of Tsinghua University, etc. These achievements have benefited from the combination of the two to varying degrees. The academic buzzwords that are not painful, foggy, and entertaining themselves, including the technological myths that have risen again and again, which Professor Liu Jianming called "ignorance" and "naivety", are, in the final analysis, also a barrier to Chinese practice, a barrier to Chinese culture, and especially a barrier to the "four histories".
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, we planned and published a series of 10 books on "Chinese Journalism", the first series of 10 titles, and the second series of Fu Zi this year also planned 10 titles. To this end, we have put forward a general vision of Chinese journalism, including the Ten Principles of Journalism, which inadvertently contradicts the so-called "Ten Basic Principles of Journalism" in the United States.
1) Disseminate the political nature of technology and the principle of independent innovation, so as to distinguish it from the emerging technocracy
2) Journalism is the work of governing the country and ensuring the security of the country, which is different from the depoliticized "journalistic professionalism";
3) The first principle of public ownership of socialism and the social benefits of news dissemination, which is different from all kinds of privatization, capitalization and "dualism";
4) the principle of dialectical unity of journalistic authenticity and value orientation, which is different from the so-called "law of objectivity" in the Anglo-American journalistic tradition, which is self-deceptive and dangerous
5) Positive reporting is the main focus and follows the advocacy principles of the core values of socialism, including the tradition of "criticism and self-criticism", which is different from "rake dung", "watchdog", "fourth power", etc.;
6) the principle of the unity of the party spirit and the people's character and the mass line as the guarantee of the system, so as to distinguish it from the elite line inside and outside the system
7) The whole concept and principle of the whole party running the newspaper and the masses running the newspaper, which is different from the small circle of literati running newspapers, businessmen running newspapers, and colleagues running newspapers
8) The combination of the "transmission and communication mode" and the "ritual communication mode" is the principle of the integration of reason and reason, so as to overcome the cognitive bias of rationalism
9) The principle of unity of knowledge and action for journalists, so as to reject the high-ranking "ministers" (who want to be the people's husband, first be the people's students);
10) The principle of "internationalism" in which the world is one family and the people are connected, that is, the "Internachonelle" embodied in the Communist Manifesto, the Internationale, and the Memory of Bethune, etc., is different from the so-called "internationalization", that is, the Westernization or Americanization of the United States.
Three. It is clear that journalism and Chinese journalism can be learned, and only then can all the ways be justified. And with the full flow of academic thoughts, such as the "multi-voice always" that is willing to look forward to - a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend under the direction of socialism, and only then will a living culture of spring water finally be formed.
To promote Chinese-style modernization and its discipline system, academic system and discourse system, it is not and cannot be operated in a greenhouse, but it has to face great changes unseen in a century, and it is bound to encounter many difficulties, dangers and turbulent waves. Moreover, the closer we get to the goal of national rejuvenation, the more we encounter a counterattack from antagonistic forces, including the "enlightened gentleman and two-faced person" in the academic circles. If we do not break the academic colonial mentality of respecting the foreign, taking the foreign as the beauty, and obeying the foreign, and do not "carry out a great struggle with many new historical characteristics" without the non-Malaysian and anti-Malaysian ideological trends, it will inevitably be nothing more than words on paper. As a matter of fact, Chinese-style modernization, as well as its journalism and journalism, have been growing, developing, and growing step by step in the struggle against all kinds of backward, decadent, and reactionary forces. For example, in 1944, Yan'an's "Liberation**" pointed out in the famous editorial "The First Thousand Issues of this Newspaper":
Although the history of our modern newspapers is shorter than that of Europe and the United States, and it has been more than 100 years, there are still very few newspapers belonging to the people, and most of them have died before they reach maturity, or they have been destroyed or deteriorated in the middle of the process. The masses of the people have really gone through a great deal of hardship to set up a newspaper that is their mouthpiece, to report on their own activities, and to freely express their opinions.
This newspaper is the party newspaper of the Communist Party of China, and of course it is incumbent upon us to adhere to one policy, which is the ......The lives of the masses of the people, the anti-war activities of the masses of the people, and the opinions of the masses of the people were reflected in the newspapers.
If it is said that major problems such as the academic colonial mentality and the ecology of academic rivers and lakes are difficult to reverse for a while, then at least they can be broken up on seemingly soft issues at the same time, such as literary style. Throughout the ages, all serious learning, regardless of the position and value orientation, is inseparable from real talent and insight. Therefore, living learning also pays attention to the style of seeking truth and pragmatism, just like the Yan'an rectification and liberation of the first revision, in order to break the overall Sovietization of the "eight shares of the party", "eight shares of foreign" and "eight shares of learning", on the one hand, vigorously advocate the style of seeking truth from facts, on the other hand, the formation of a style of writing that does not steal, does not pretend to blow, is real, and is honest. In the pursuit of true knowledge and truth, we must not talk more about people, less nonsense, more approachable, and less deceitful. In Xiang Biao's words: "Try to use everyday language to explain the issues that you can explain clearly", "The public will not tolerate scholars hiding behind professional terms and repeating common sense with complex expressions". In this regard, predecessors such as Gan Xifen, Fan Jingyi, and Fang Hanqi have set an example and formed a set of excellent academic and literary styles of Chinese-style journalism, which are worthy of being carried forward by new young people in the new era.
This article was originally written by the author at the annual conference of the Peking University Journalism Research Association and the Youth Journalism History Forum held at Tianjin Normal University in April 2023).
This article refers to the citation format:
Li Bin. The Learning of Life and the Learning of Death: Chinese Modernization and Its Journalism[J].Young Journalists, 2023(13):45-47