Today, the media and society have become deeply intertwined, while the media’s ability to mobilize, amplify, and embed itself in social events now exceeds any previous stage. Photo: TUCHONG

As media technologies continue to evolve, the media’s involvement in social systems has grown both deeper and more diversified. Since the rise of social media, the media and society have become deeply intertwined and at times exhibit significant tensions. At the same time, the media’s ability to mobilize, amplify, and embed itself in social events now exceeds any previous stage in the history of social action.

The advent of a highly mediatized society has rendered mediatization-based governance imperative in both theory and practice. This new paradigm seeks to explore both “what media is” and “where governance is headed,” emphasizing collaborative participation by a wide range of social actors. As a process-oriented approach, mediatization-based governance’s value lies in the convergence of media concepts and governance concepts, the interpenetration of governance tools and contexts, and the integration of governance structures with governance effectiveness. This reflects the unity of governance subjects and objects, form and content, as well as instrumental rationality and value rationality.

In general, Western studies of good media governance focus on the vital role of the media in advancing democracy. In developing countries, the media also play an important role in enhancing state transparency, accountability, and good governance. Since the logic and practice of mediatization-based governance rooted in Western political systems have their own historical traditions, particularities, and limitations, mediatization-based governance in China and other countries requires localized perspectives and logic rooted in their respective national characteristics.

Early Chinese scholarship on mediatization-based governance focused largely on the self-regulation, social functions, and professional characteristics of the media industry. As media influence has extended into virtually every domain of social life, mutually embedded and integrated governance of the media and society has become a meaningful attempt at building a theoretical framework for mediatization-based governance.

Current discussions on the boundaries of mediatization-based governance examine the tensions between media logic and governance logic as well as their potential convergence. Reconciling the two necessitates close coordination among mediatization-based governance, government-led governance, and participatory governance by citizens, in order to fully leverage the contribution of mediatization-based governance to improving governance effectiveness. In the context of a deeply mediatized society, the media has substantially facilitated social engagement, communication, guidance, and public oversight, driving innovation in governance approaches and serving as a vital force in enhancing government credibility and governance capacity.

In China, research on the effectiveness of mediatization-based governance primarily follows a practical logic. It highlights the implementation scenarios of policies and institutions within real-world communication environments. For instance, in recent years, the Chinese government has promoted the participation of county-level media convergence centers in social governance, aiming to build a modernized, county-level governance system. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of mediatization-based governance is also considered within the context of public emergencies and risk scenarios. The rationale is that the combination of risk transmission and media technology has altered both the forms and transmission patterns of risks, such that mediatization-based governance now serves as a critical link between social, media, and risk systems.

Overall, the practical application of the concept of mediatization-based governance in China has yet to move beyond the institutionalist tradition in media studies. Existing discussions largely reflect the logic of state will and institutional construction, while studies from micro-level perspectives remain limited. As mediatization continues to expand, society may increasingly conform to or rely on media logic, making it difficult to ignore the significant impact of the media on contemporary social governance capacity and approaches. Therefore, deepening theoretical research on mediatization-based governance, while also addressing locally relevant issues to inform the development of a mediatization-based governance system, constitutes a crucial task for both the academic and professional communities.

Li Chunlei is a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication at Guangzhou University.