Research Direction, Characteristics and Significance

Research Direction: Journalism and Communication

The characteristics of this research direction:

Firstly, adapting to the concrete practice of news reforms in China, we establish the theoretical system of journalism and communication of great Chinese characteristics, and provide policy foundation and decision-making consultation for the news communication administrative departments.

Secondly, we undertake the systematic practice summaries and theory of the latest experience and method of work for different news media in content, means, method and art of news communication. Meanwhile, we offer consultation, plans and suggestions for the news media practice.

Thirdly, adapting to the needs of development of information and globalization, we focus on the theory and problems of international communication, in order to provide theoretical support and method instruction of international news communication in heated competition to enhance its leading position.

Fourthly, with the rapid development of computer technology popularization and online communication, we probe into the impact and influence of online communication to traditional media, form the online communication theory and instruct the practice of online communication.

This research direction depends on School of Journalism, (RUC), the only key school in the discipline of journalism around China by the Ministry of Education, and was authorized to confer the Master degree and the Doctor degree in Journalism in 1979 and 1984 respectively. We won the key discipline of Communication and the key discipline of Journalism and Communication all over China in 2007. At present, the chairman of Journalism and Communication Committee, Chinese Higher Education Association and director of Journalism major Committee, Self-study Examination Committee for Higher Education of are from our Research Center for three times successively.

Our Research Center is playing the leading role in research studies, as follows:

Firstly, rich strength in teaching and research
Our Research Center is made up by outstanding professors from both home and abroad, a group of young and middle-aged researchers with talents, and a team of almost one hundred adjunct professors with the first-rate level all over China.

Secondly, outstanding achievements in teaching and researches
We published the earliest teaching materials and monographs relating to the modern history of Chinese journalism, contemporary history of Chinese journalism and communication, history of world journalism and communication, we directed and edited the longest, with great time span, the most authoritative book, called The General History of Chinese Journalism (three volumes). We also published the first teaching material of Journalism Theory in China and the first key teaching material of Communication discipline awarded by Ministry of Education. Some publications of great influence are news gathering, news writing, news editing, news commentaries, photo journalism, broadcast journalism and television journalism, etc. Among them, some has been appointed as teaching materials in the major of journalism and communication in China. We offered the earliest courses on online communication, made a series of investigation of media websites both home and abroad, and established the first laboratory of online communication researches in the national schools and departments of Journalism and Communication. Among all the Journalism schools and departments in China, our Center has undertaken most of the research projects funded by the country, Ministry of Education, Beijing and other departments. The outputs of our research projects have been broadly adopted.

Thirdly, great achievements in talents cultivation
Among 8000 graduates from School of Journalism (RUC), a great number of them have been the nucleus of cadres of various central-to-local media agents and sections and the backbones of some journalism schools and departments, institution. More than 200 graduates assumed the office of leading cadres of central, provincial press circles. Comparing with the other journalism schools and departments in China, our graduates have won most of the awards in press circles, such as Fan Changjiang News Writing Award and Taofen News Writing Award.

Fourthly, close combination of teaching and researches with news practice
We participate in the making of projects of news media reforms, the plans of programs and the analysis of communication effects, publish a series of books on the Chinese news media and on famous news program. And we sum up the new experience in news reform, providing decision-making foundation and innovation suggestions from media and administrative news circles.

The research direction will bring the advantages of comprehensive studies into full play, attach great importance to the innovative researches into the key theoretical and practical issues in the news reform in China, and the latest international research projects.

Research Direction: Public Opinion

Public Opinion Research Institute takes people’s ways of looking, attitudes and opinions of reality and social problems as its research objects, takes the relationship between public opinion and society, between public opinion and news communication as its ties, and takes the explanation of social phenomena of public opinion, forecasting the changes and development of public opinion, discussing the basic principles of regulatory role of it, promoting the healthy development of our society as its aims. Researches of public opinion can be divided into basic research and applied research. Basic research belongs to the category of theoretical public opinion, focusing on the dialectic reasoning method and qualitative method, expounding the essence and law of social public opinion, explaining for the complicated social public opinion. The distinguished features of the applied research are public opinion poll and the public opinion investigation; by means of consulting, measuring, communicating and transmitting the public opinion and social public feelings to reflect the hot topics in society and the stream of development sincerely, objectively and effectively, and to provide the basic data and valuable suggestions for reference to social decision-making and public opinion organizations to some extent. In China, the history of theoretical research and applied research of public opinion of modern significance is short, but it has already demonstrated its power, and has been playing a more and more important role in expressing of public opinion, scientific policy-making and the practice of news communication.

Public Opinion Research Institute was the first academic institution specialized in public opinion investigation and research. Our institution has undertaken nearly 100 public opinion investigations of broadly social impact and highly academic value. Among them, the domestic projects of great importance are "The National Survey of Reporting Effects of News Media Trend", "The Citizen Sample Surveys of Political Structure Reform and News Communication", "The Expectation Survey of Capital Celebrities in the Year of Long", "The Sample Surveys of the Current Social Interpersonal Relationship in China", "The Popularity Survey of Chinese& Foreign Enterprises", "The Citizen Sample Surveys of Hong Kong Issues", "The Program Patterns Research of World-famous Channels & Key Headings", “Beijing’s Newspaper Issuing Markets Survey", "Survey of Experts on the Qingdao’s Construction of An International City", "The News Reform Attitude Survey of the National News Press", "The Image Survey of National Specialized Newspapers and Periodicals on Computer", "The Image Survey of Chinese Newspapers of Economy", etc. The main international cooperation programs are as follows, "The International Comparative Research between Teenagers and Mass Media", "he Social Psychology and Values Survey of City Dwellers in China", "The International Consciousness Survey of City Dwellers in China", "The Survey of Public Problems of Arts Outlook in Market-oriented Economy", "Survey of Social Technology Development and Values Changes", "The National Sample Survey of Language Consciousness and Values of Foreign Languages", etc. These projects provide basic dada and foundation for the Party and government to understand the public opinion, check out the administration effects and scientific decision-making directly, specialized analysis and direction for news communication reforms and practice, and necessary information and service for scientific workers in enterprise and public service. These public opinion polls and researches are highly thought of by the Central Party, National People's Congress, and the General Administration of Press and Publication. On the foundation of massive empirical studies, the full-time and part-time experts of Public Opinion Research Institute wrote the first research monographs and a number of high-level academic papers in China, and published Basic Theory of Public Opinion,  Public Opinion Research in China, etc in the field of public opinion research. And it was the first to give courses in the theory and research methods of public opinion survey, public opinion studies, mass communication effects, etc in China. During the 15 years public opinion research activities, our Public Opinion Research Institute not only accumulated a wealth of experience in theory and practice, but established the key research base of national public opinion studies.

At present, China is in the transition period of reform of economic structure, construction of political democracy, and social culture, and great changes have taken place of social benefit structure, various conflicts become apparent. Due to the influence of economic and information globalization, the social values and public opinion activate. Under the background, it is especially important to enforce the public opinion research, enlarge its research field. The discipline of public opinion not only focuses on the continuous survey and supervision of the public opinion, but further meets the needs of government, news public opinion institutions and market, enhances the research aspect, such as alert index of the social public opinion, network public opinion, self-discipline of public opinion survey, and promotes the transformation of public opinion research to the public opinion.

Research orientation: Media Economics

Media economics study direction is mainly engaged in the economic functioning laws and management methods of resource compensating ways of information communication activities and various news media, as well as the effects of media economic activities on national economy. The characteristic of this discipline lies in its not only breaking through journalism and communication usage of its own discipline, and the tradition of applying sociology and politics as analysis methods, but making the analysis methods of economics into the research studies of journalism and communication. Owing to the stability and scientific extent of analysis methods of economics, it will help improve the level of the scientification and standardization of journalism and communication. Moreover, it can enlarge and deepen the understanding of traditional discipline of journalism and communication to a series of basic concepts and theories to a large extent, by applying the research methods of economics for studying the function of news media, the characteristics of media products, distribution between communication resources and communication power, etc.

With the information society approaching, human being ask great needs for information communication, the resources being used for information communication increase unceasingly , the media economy's scale is getting larger and larger. Meanwhile, information (especially the news information) has such great influence on politics and economy of a society that the balance between rational distribution of communication resources and communication power are becoming more and more important. The media economics research is spreading all over the world in the 1970s. Currently, media economics is experiencing rapid development as the inter-discipline course of journalism, communication, economics, sociology, and most of the American and European universities, offering the course of mass communication, take it as the compulsory course of master and doctorate curricula.

This research direction is on the basis of Media Communication Management Institute (RUC), which was the first research institute of media economics and management studies. Since its foundation in September, 1995, it organized multi-facet, multi-subject experts and scholars from correlative departments of the Party and government, media and universities of all kinds, and scientific research institutions, and did researches of widespread, creating and founding significance in the fields of media economics and management. A number of achievements have been highly thought of and adopted by the responsible institutions and industry organizations of Party and government, such as the scientific papers and reports on the current assets property and economic policy of media, the industry self-discipline of newspaper, effects of Party& government culture industry policy. Therefore, the Media Communication Management Institute has been awarded as the newspaper economic research center by China Newspaper Industry Association, and to publish the journal of this association China Newspaper Industry.


eanwhile, accepting the entrust with responsibility from Harbin Daily Industrial Group and sorts of that, our Media Communication Management Institute undertook monographic studies on “China Legal Person Management Structure of Newspaper Group”, “The Status Quo of Media Industry in China”, managerial strategy and development plans of specified media, etc. In addition, the main special professional of this research direction has offered courses of news media management and administration for the undergraduates since 1987, and from 1997 onwards it began to enroll master degree students in the research direction of news media management and administration. On the basis of coordination of teaching and deepening the researches, the full-time and part-time researchers publish the first academic works oriented in newspaper industry management.

Presently, along with the socialist market economic system's establishment in China, the media industry is also carrying out the industrial production process in the economic functioning modes. Macroscopically, a set of effective news policy and communication resources distribution methods under the planned economy in the past have fell behind the practical needs for development, obviously. Microscopically, news media of all sorts show urgent theoretical needs in how to realize the maximization of social benefits and economic benefits under the socialist market economy condition, and how to function the management activities effectively according to the media economic laws and characteristics of media management. In such circumstances, the significance and functions of launching media economics research will be more and more important and urgent.

Meanwhile, the significance of media economics studies not only lies on the promotion of the standardization, scientific methods in the discipline of journalism and communication, but will bring a lot of direct social benefits and economic benefits in practice.