In China, no media entity is bigger than CCTV (Central China Television), the country’s mammoth state-run national network. CCTV reaches more than a billion viewers, broadcasting documentaries, comedies, drama, and journalism.

Who produces CCTV’s news, and what constraints do they face? In “Two Billion Eyes,” published recently by The New Press, Ying Zhu, a professor of media culture at City University of New York, offers a rare inside look at the journalists of CCTV, who work under intense political and financial pressures. Zhu, who grew up and graduated from college in China, spent three years reporting her book, winning the trust of journalists who talked candidly about the frustrations of trying to produce first-rate journalism while staying within the party’s boundaries.

In one example, she describes CCTV’s initial coverage of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province: She found its unsparing portrayal of the horror to be a “redemptive” moment for a network that is widely seen to have helped cover up the SARS epidemic in 2002. But as propaganda officials began getting involved, Zhu wrote, reporters were forced to focus on the “heroes” of the earthquake, and ignore issues such as inadequate building codes and local corruption.

Zhu spoke with Ideas by phone from New York. This was condensed and edited from multiple interviews.

IDEAS: You call CCTV a “hybrid” operation. What does that mean—is it a company, or a state mouthpiece?

ZHU: It is state owned and controlled, yet financially self-reliant....CCTV is considered a public TV like PBS or BBC in its public service mandate, but is financially self-reliant like US commercial networks such as CNN or NBC....So it has to respond to the marketplace, but ultimately the party has the final say.

IDEAS: What is the attitude among Chinese citizens toward CCTV?

ZHU: CCTV has largely become irrelevant to the young and also the educated population, which has mostly opted for the more open cyberspace....Yet TV remains the party’s most manageable vehicle of cultural engineering.

IDEAS: What about the hundreds of millions of people in the countryside?

ZHU: It continues to be part of the daily experience of most people in the rural areas. This is their routine. They turn on CCTV. They don’t feel motivated to look for other information. They’re not as suspicious as the urban population.

IDEAS: In your book, the journalists express very familiar ideals of openness and the importance of impartial information. Where are they trained?

ZHU: Most are educated in the top communications colleges in China, and many have also gone abroad, such as in Britain, to study television journalism.

IDEAS: Were the CCTV journalists you spoke to nervous about being quoted?

ZHU: It took me, really, a couple of years to get through to them. You have to establish trust and rapport, and the fact that I am from China and share a similar cultural background and upbringing really helped.

IDEAS: It sounds like you found some corruption.

ZHU: Corruption is a way of life [in China today], and journalists are not outside of that toxic environment.

IDEAS: How does it play out?

ZHU: You cover a news event, and you get a red envelope with cash. Or you see something corrupt, you get paid to keep your mouth shut. Journalists are not a highly paid profession. This is lucrative under-the-table money.

IDEAS: You also mentioned a government directive that undermined investigative reporting.