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China's Strategic Censorship

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  • Peter Lorentzen

Abstract

While it is often assumed that authoritarian regimes inevitably fear and restrict media independence, permitting watchdog journalism can actually help such regimes maintain power by improving governance. Yet such a strategy risks facilitating a coordinated uprising if discontent is revealed to be widespread. A formal model shows that under some conditions, a regime optimally permits investigative reporting on lower‐level officialdom, adjusting how much reporting is allowed depending on the level of underlying social tensions. This strategy yields many of the benefits of free media without risking overthrow. An extension shows why an increase in uncontrollable information, such as from the Internet, may result in a reduction in media freedom. The model sheds light on important aspects of China's media policy and its evolution and on authoritarian media control more broadly.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Lorentzen, 2014. "China's Strategic Censorship," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 58(2), pages 402-414, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:58:y:2014:i:2:p:402-414
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12065
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    Cited by:

    1. Kwan Nok Chan & Shiwei Fan, 2021. "Friction and bureaucratic control in authoritarian regimes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1406-1418, October.
    2. Bjørnskov, Christian & Freytag, Andreas & Gutmann, Jerg, 2018. "Coups, Regime Transition, and the Dynamics of Press Freedom," Working Paper Series 1225, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Edmond, Chris & Lu, Yang K., 2021. "Creating confusion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Jun Liu & Jingyi Zhao, 2021. "More than plain text: Censorship deletion in the Chinese social media," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(1), pages 18-31, January.
    5. Sergei Guriev & Daniel Treisman, 2020. "The Popularity of Authoritarian Leaders: A cross-national investigation," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03878626, HAL.
    6. Little, Andrew T., 2017. "Propaganda and credulity," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 224-232.
    7. Serikbayeva, Balzhan & Abdulla, Kanat & Oskenbayev, Yessengali, 2020. "State capacity in responding to COVID-19," MPRA Paper 101511, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Liu, Zhuang & Wong, T.J. & Yi, Yang & Zhang, Tianyu, 2022. "Authoritarian transparency: China's missing cases in court disclosure," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 221-239.
    9. Bjørnskov, Christian & Freytag, Andreas & Gutmann, Jerg, 2022. "Coups and the dynamics of media freedom," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    10. Yanfeng Zheng & Qinyu (Ryan) Wang, 2020. "Shadow of the great firewall: The impact of Google blockade on innovation in China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2234-2260, December.

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