The structure of Chinese society has undergone fundamental changes since the 1990s.A new form of society is appearing and taking shape.
The profound and complicated changes in Chinese mass media system started in 1978 and accelerated in 1992.Regarding the social function of Chinese mass media，it is commonly believed by academics that they are still an integrated part of the political governance structure but are，to some extent，fulfilling the function of public sphere.
The basic question this dissertation attempts to tackle is how television news，as the first medium，has been participating in the process of social construction and meanwhile being constructed by society since the 1990s.In other words，how should we understand and assess the changes that have occurred in practice of Chinese television news and what are their influences.
Centering in this question and guided by the analytical framework of field theory，the dissertation proceeds to identify：the closest fields and spatial model related to the field of television news；the capital and negotiating mechanism among four most related fields to the field of television news——politics，market，culture and audience；the overall changes in these four important fields and the fragmentary influences they exercise upon the field of television news；the subfields fragmented from the field of television news；their capital negotiating mechanism with the four important fields，and their influences on the mentality system of the practitioners in the subfield of television news；the changes this changed mentality system bring upon the habitus of news production，and their effects on the social function of news；the implied messages contained in the field shift of television news for social transformation；the assessment and suggestion about the tendency of the field shift of television news；and the possible effects on the research of the author’s perspective.