In theory, the Chinese Communist press is required to engage in criticism of other institutions and of Party or government bureaucrats through its news coverage and self-criticism of its own mistakes in response to criticism from readers. In practice, Party control of the press prevents any effective criticism or self-criticism. Basically, the newspapers must follow the party line, usually criticizing policies and factions now out of favor. Ideological error in such criticism can even result in the death of journalists. Even though newspapers are now much livelier and carry more critical reports than they did during the drab Cultural Revolution years, their freedom in news coverage and criticism is as precarious as before. In conclusion, criticism and self-criticism do serve some functions, mostly of distribution control, but these are far outweighed by their dysfunctions. Although from a macro-sociological perspective the Communist Chinese Press performs the same system maintenance function as the western press, its control by the Party prevents it from effectively fulfilling this function. (JL)