This is not only because readers are served up so many incredible, unbelievable,  extraordinary stories each time they unfold a page, but also because they constantly feel the changes in media itself if they are adequately familiar with the country’s media in the past.

What amazed me recently is a newspaper commentary on a local civilian in Henan province who was acquitted of murder and released after spending eleven years in prison. After his release, the peasant reportedly thanked repeatedly the local government, the local officials, the court and the judge who sent him into prison but now set him free. The newspaper was clearly against such gratitude, saying ‘How ridiculous!’ and ‘No “thank you” to the government,’ asking why they should be thanked for correcting wrongs and for doing their job adequately.

This would be unimaginable 10 years ago. A media reader then would frequently come across news headlines like, ‘Thank you, Government!’, ‘Thank you, Mayor **!’ ‘Thank you, Party’. The media are advocators of the grateful culture towards the government, which has its root in history. Older Chinese citizens would easily recollect their experiences half a century ago in the Mao era when almost everyone was required to carry in their pocket a ‘red handbook’ and recite the lines as a ritual when they went about their everyday life. The major narrative of the ‘red handbook’ was to teach people to be grateful to the CCP and particularly Chairman Mao for having ‘liberalised’ them.

But today, the media has subverted itself by clearly saying ‘no thank you’ to the government. Why? What makes the change so radical? What kind of media ideology does it represent and reflect? Clearly, the Communist ideology is dying, and some media are no longer the ‘children’ of the party or the government. But what are they now? A proper answer is deserved.