A Study Of The Effects Of Mass Media In Coordinative Development Of Urban-rural Areas

The urban-rural dual structure is common problem facing by developing countriesin the world and also one of the main contradictions for China in future. The scholarsmainly concentrate the research on the coordinative development of urban-rural areasfrom the perspective of system level but seldom study it from the perspective ofunbalanced distribution of knowledge and information.The unbalanced distribution of knowledge and information is the essence ofrural-urban dualistic economic structure. The relationship between mass media andcoordinative development of urban-rural areas is studied from the angle of thecombination of the Economics, Management, Journalism and Communication. Themethods of Individual Analysis, Aggregate Analysis, Mathematical method,Questionnaire method, Positive analysis and normative analysis are all adopted in theresearch. We make great efforts on the following three aspects. First, we makeeffort on theoretical research. Based on literatures and theoretical analysis, wepropose that mass media is the main channel of the transmission of market signals.With the economic globalization and regional economic integration, both supply anddemand are in the global procurement, and the market signals spread worldwide. Themass media gradually becomes the main channel of transmission of market signals. Themass media is not only the transmission of market signals, but also the function ofeducation and training, knowledge transmission, policy-leading, advertisement,supervision, rights protecting and job searching. These functions will not only impact onthe improvement of the quality of labor in coordinative development of urban-ruralareas, but also affect the flow of factors and production, speed and range, adjustment forthe structure of urban-rural enterprises, propensity to consume and demand structure.The unbalanced distribution of mass media and huge difference between urban and ruralareas reveal that the market signals unevenly spread between rural and urban areas. Wediscuss the reason and impact of the unbalanced transmission and explore thepropagation rule for market signal. Second, we carry out a survey in Jiulongpo Districtand Dianjiang County in Chongqing to collect data and establish multiple regressionmodels to verify the relationship between mass media, income gap and laborproductivity. We find the relationship between income gap, labor productivity, andunbalanced distribution of knowledge and information in rural-urban areas by the empirical analysis. Third, we study the problems and characteristics of the mass mediain China, and explore the trend of media industry in China and the global mass mediaby the experience of urban-rural development promoted by mass media abroad. Finally,we find that the unbalanced distribution of knowledge and information is the basicreason for the differences between urban and rural development. The way of bridgingthe differences between urban and rural areas is to change the unbalanced distribution ofknowledge and information between the urban and rural areas. Attention should be paidto the study on balancing supply and demand of knowledge and information betweenurban and rural areas. The quality of labor in coordinative development of urban-ruralareas, factors and production, speed and range, adjustment for the structure ofurban-rural enterprises, propensity to consume and demand structure all could beimproved by mass media. We should define the differences between operating productsof mass media and public functions of mass media and make the different policies forputting forward the reform and development of mass media in China.There are3findings in the research. Firstly, we carry out a systematic study of therelationship between urban-rural areas and mass media from the perspective of theunbalanced distribution of knowledge and information in urban and rural areas. We firstpropose the mass media is the main channel of transmission of market signals. Theunbalanced distribution of knowledge and information can be guide and change by thesuitable policy made by government to a certain extent. Secondly, we find the relationshipbetween income gap, labor productivity, and unbalanced distribution of knowledge andinformation in rural-urban areas by the empirical analysis. The findings is not only typicaland but also universal for the country. Third, we set the new index system and multipleregression models for knowledge and information of urban-rural areas and verify therelationship between income, education level and expenditure of mass media.The findings of this research make certain contributions to the improvement ofresearch of coordinative development of rural-urban areas and mass media, and providesome theoretical reference for the future studies in this area. The results we get in thisresearch are beneficial for the government, scholars, operators of mass media andbusiness. It can provide a new perspective of the coordinative development ofrural-urban areas.