A Survey of Journalists in Xinjiang

This survey report presents a portrait of working journalists and their working and living conditions in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. A typical journalist in Xinjiang is a well-educated, local minority, married woman in her mid-thirties with limited experience living inland or overseas. Compared with their colleagues in the coastal regions of China, Xinjiang journalists are more likely to be more loyal to their media organizations, work in a quota system, and have lower incomes. However, they perceive themselves as members of an upper middle class. Xinjiang journalists have strong political awareness, high degrees of self-censorship and split views on journalistic professionalism. Ethnic variation is manifest in many aspects of their working and living experience. This detailed portrait of journalists in Xinjiang offers a window for further discussion on the patterns of political communication in this region.