| Sumario: | This article analyses the operational choices and policy impact of the Anti-Falungong Publications Campaign in 1999–2000, in particular, the campaign strategy, publisher selection, propaganda themes, and public receptivity. It finds that the state-controlled publications industry still possesses formidable institutional capacity, producing three series of 120 titles in nine months, in a vintage year of major anniversaries and special events all requiring commemorative publications. But the campaign also reveals some basic institutional weaknesses of the propaganda system. The 120 anti-Falungong titles had only limited circulation. None of the 120 titles made it to the best publications or best-sellers list. The above findings suggest that the publications industry is more market-driven than regime driven, its operational choices informed more by best-selling trends and financial bottom-lines rather than dictates of the Propaganda Department.
|
|---|