摘要：自由主义报刊理论，起源于欧洲，现在盛行于北美尤其是美国的新闻学主导理论；发展新闻学，意思是新闻媒介要服从、服务、促进国家发展尤其是经济发展，这是中国等大多数发展中国家所盛行的，也就是要追求新闻的舆论导向。江泽民同志说，新闻工作是党和国家命运前途所系的工作，舆论导向正确是党和人民之福、舆论导向错误是党和人民之祸，要以“正确的舆论导向引导人”。有的人说，中国的新闻现状就是一味地追求舆论导向而背弃了新闻自由；也有学者说，如今网络上的舆论大有万夫莫敌之势，传统媒体也开始根据网络的议题来设置新闻，让人看到了新闻自由的一道曙光。本文正是从中西方媒体观念差异着手，结合现今热门的媒体事件报道，剖析当代中国的新闻自由该有的出路。
[关键词]新闻自由 舆论导向 话语权 网络媒体
Abstract： The freedom of press can be traced back to Europe and now prevails in the dominant journalism theories in North America, especially in the United States, while the development journalism is popular in most developing countries such as China. The development journalism means the media should submit to, serve and speed a nation’s development, especially the economic development which implies its purpose is to pursue the direction of public opinion. Jiang Zemin said, journalism bears on the destiny of the Party and state; the right guidance of public opinion is the blessing of the Party and the people and vice versa; we should “provide people with the correct orientation of public opinion” Some people believe that the present media in China comes down strongly in favor of the direction of public opinion and abandons freedom of journalism; others claim that the public opinion on the internet is surpassed by none, and the traditional media also sets the news based on internet topics which sheds a gleam on the freedom of journalism. This paper makes an analysis on the direction of the contemporary freedom of journalism from the perspective of the discrepancies between Chinese media and western media as well as coverage about the hot events nowadays.
Key words：the freedom of press; the direction of public opinion; the Medium Discourse Right; network media
舆论导向和新闻自由本来并不矛盾，但是在我国现行新闻体制下却存在冲突的一面。现实中，将媒体的政治“权力”的导向意识转变为职业“权利”自由意识，是一种制度性的转变过程，还需要一段时间。在政治文化逐渐走向开放和文明的过程中，以包容的心态看待舆论，正确引导舆论导向，提高大众的话语权，是政府对社会公众负责的一种表现。同时，媒体也要把自己定位成公众的代言人角色，而不是“判官”，不是“无冕之王”，提高自身专业素养，实现良性的官媒关系，媒体才能使舆论监督回归至正常的轨道，新闻自由权利才能得到更好地体现。
