中國大陸自1980年代起倡議制定《新聞法》,從全國人民代表大會、全國政治協商會議到學術界和新聞界,展開有如浪潮般追求新聞自由、追求言論與出版自由的行動。伴隨著改革開放政策的開啟,中共也一度展開研擬《新聞法》草案的工作,但後來在反對資產階級自由化的政治運動下,乃至於後來發生了六四天安門事件,以及「蘇東波」共產主義國家民主化轉型的浪潮,制定《新聞法》的倡議從而轉向寂靜。本文回顧中國大陸倡議制定《新聞法》的背景,就其歷程與發生過爭議做個大要是的介紹。本文研究認為,在中共的認知當中,西方所謂的自由和民主所形成社會制度和政治體制,皆是用來保護資產階級的既得利益,而新聞自由的核心特徵,則是新聞媒體獨立於政府的行政、立法和司法三權之外,成為具有監督這三權的第四權。此對中國大陸堅持共產黨的領導以建設社會主義國家來說,本是難以相容的。
Since the 1980s, Mainland China has initiated the enactment of the "Media Law". From the National People's Congress and the National Political Consultative Conference to academia and the press, it has launched a wave of pursuit of freedom of the press, the pursuit of freedom of speech and the press. With the " Economic Reform and open up" policy, the Chinese Communist Party also began to work on the draft of the "Media Law", but later, under the political campaign against bourgeois liberalization, even the "Tiananmen incident" and the "Su Dongbo" Communism, the wave of democratization transition in the ideological countries, the initiative of the "Media Law" turned to silence. This article reviews the background of China's initiative to formulate the "Media Law", and makes a major introduction to its history and disputes. This article considers that in the CCP's perception, the social and political systems formed by the so-called freedom and democracy in the West are used to protect the vested interests of the bourgeoisie, and the core feature of press freedom is that the news media is independent of the government. In addition to the three powers of administration, legislation and justice, it has become the fourth power to supervise these three powers. This is inherently incompatible with China's adherence to the leadership of the Communist Party to build a socialist country.