China Weekly as a form of environmental advocacy journalism

This study examines the environmental journalism published in the small, monthly magazine, China Weekly, and investigates how this publication functions as an environmental advocate seeking to promote positive, environmental change in China. In doing so, this research considers two questions: Firstly, what does environmental advocacy mean in a Chinese context and how does China Weekly perform this role and, secondly, how does a rapidly changing media market threaten China Weekly’s future as an environmental advocate? This study demonstrates how, through its collaborative work with environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) and its environmentally-themed photojournalism, China Weekly produces a form of journalism that avoids pointed critique of government and instead focuses on the less contentious goals of environmental consciousness raising and education. It also argues that, while political restrictions do impact the magazine’s environmental advocacy journalism, it is the economic and technological challenges that China Weekly currently faces which are threatening the magazine’s future as an environmental advocate.