Understanding China’s News Media in Historical Perspective

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sei Jeong Chin
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
The State ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
State Control ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The Chinese media has been discussed either as a challenge to the authoritarian regime or as an instrument to consolidate state power in the recent debates concerning the impact of the Internet and the expansion of social media on China’s authoritarian rule. Both views have adopted the framework that was developed out of the liberal model of media in the West. In the liberal model, the news media should go through full-flown commercialization to achieve autonomy and independence from the state. The independence of the news media from the state is the precondition for the news media’s role as watchdog of the state and check on the government. However, the liberal model does not fit the actual historical experiences of the news media in China. Throughout the 20th century, state control of the media expanded in the context of state-building, war, and revolution. The Chinese media did not go through full-flown commercialization to the extent that the media would achieve complete independence from the state. Rather, in the context of state expansion, the media and the state became interdependent rather than antagonistic. In the state-dominated environment, the media did not necessarily seek independence from the state. Nevertheless, even without independence, the media can still play a significant political role within the limits and boundaries set by the state. This has important implications for understanding the resilience of the contemporary Chinese government.

How to Tell the Truth without Outraging the Press?

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Li Xiguang
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chinese News Media

The commercialization of meclia in China has cultivated a new journalism business model characterized with scandalization, sensationalization, exaggeration, oversimplification, highly opinionated news stories, one-sidedly reporting, fabrication and hate reporting, which have clone more harm than good to the public affairs. Today the Chinese journalists are more prey to the manipu/ation of the emotions of the audiences than being a faithful messenger for the public. Une/er such a media environment, in case of news events, particularly, during crisis, it is not the media being scared by the government. but the media itself is scaring the government into silence. The Chinese news media have grown so negative and so cynica/ that it has produced growing popular clistrust of the government and the government officials. Entering a freer but fearful commercially mediated society, the Chinese government is totally tmprepared in engaging the Chinese press effectively and has lost its ability for setting public agenda and shaping public opinions. 

Who is Setting Emotions? A Comparative Study on Emotion Diffusion in Social Media among Public, Government and Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhuan Zhou ◽  
Yi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Time Point

BACKGROUND During the COVID-19 outbreak, social media served as the main platform for information exchange, through which the Chinese government, media and public would spread information. At the same time, a variety of emotions interweave, and the public emotions would also be affected by the government and media. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate the types, trends and relationships of emotional diffusion in Chinese social media among the public, the government and the media under the pandemic of COVID-19 (December 30,2019, to July 1,2020) . METHODS In this paper, Python 3.7.0 and its data crawling framework Scrapy 1.5.1 are used to write a web crawler program to search for super topics related to COVID-19 on Sina Weibo platform of different keywords . Then, we used emotional lexicon to analyze the types and trends of the public, government and media emotions on social media. Finally cross-lagged regression was applied to build the relationships of different subjects’ emotions. RESULTS The highlights of our study are threefold: (1) The public, the government and the media mainly diffuse positive emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic in China; (2) Emotional diffusion shows a certain change over time, and negative emotions are obvious in the initial phase of the pandemic, with the development of the pandemic, positive emotions surpass negative emotions and remain stable. (3)The impact among the three main emotions with the period as the time point is weak, while the impact of emotion with the day as the time point is relatively obvious. The emotions of the public and the government impact each other, and the media emotions can guide the public emotions. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study of comparing pubic, government and media emotions on the social media during COVID-19 pandemic in China. The pubic, the government and the media mainly diffuse positive emotions during the pandemic. And the government and the media have better effect on short-term emotional guidance. Therefore, when the pandemic suddenly occurs, the government and the media should intervene in time to solve problems and conflicts and diffuse positive and neutral emotions. In this regard, the government and the media can play important roles through social media in the major outbreaks. At the theoretical level, this paper takes China's epidemic environment and social media as the background to provide one of the explanatory perspectives for the spread of emotions on social media. At the some time, because of this special background, it can provide comparison and reference for the research on internet emotions in other countries.

Framing media populism: The political role of news media editorials in Duterte’s Philippines

Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146488492095950
Author(s):  
Jefferson Lyndon D Ragragio
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fourth Estate ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

Editorials are a political force used by news media to fulfil its watchdog function in fragile democracies like the Philippines. However, they also serve as a platform to invite a more positive reading of strongman administration. Against the backdrop of media populism, the article will problematize how the Fourth Estate articulates its political stance by examining the tensions and complexities in editorials. It will highlight the ways the media deals with subjects and stories surrounding Rodrigo Duterte. Through an analysis of editorials of four leading dominant news outlets (Bulletin, Inquirer, Rappler, and Star), three meta-thematic categories of media frames are uncovered. First, character degradation frames delineate how the media denounces the ties of Duterte with other political actors, particularly the Marcoses and China’s Xi. Second, pro-establishment frames echo the optimistic mantra of the government amid crisis. And third, non-editorial frames exhibit the failure of media to publish watchdog-inspired editorials. Each of these categories has underlying frames that are indicative of the democratic potential, or lack thereof, of news media.

Introspection into the Battle over Broadcast Regulations in India

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pallavi Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The State ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Regulatory Controls

Across the world, media entities are subjected to regulations following the universal perception that media content and media operations radically influence political debate, social policies and economic growth. This is accompanied by the tension of how to regulate the media and how to secure a free independent media on the other. Though regulation of the media content can take on several forms ranging from direct control of the government, guidelines from the industry associations, pressure from advertisers or suggestions by the civil society groups, it is normally aimed at protecting the public from perceived harm, or with enriching their knowledge or appreciation of culture. In India, the state has zealously guarded its control over broadcast news media, however, the emergence of new stakeholders in the postliberalization era has resulted in a complex mesh of regulatory controls. This paper traces the historical context of the broadcast regulatory framework in India and explores the various sites of contestations between the various stakeholders, particularly the state and the broadcasters, with specific reference to news on television.

scholarly journals Advertising and Media Capture in Turkey: How Does the State Emerge as the Largest Advertiser with the Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism?

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110186
Author(s):  
Servet Yanatma
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
The State ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Competitive Authoritarianism ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the distribution of advertising in newspapers in Turkey and the impact of the government on the allocation, in particular, of official announcements and of advertising by partially state-owned enterprises and private companies loyal to the ruling party, as well as pressure on other commercial advertisers, during the rule of the Justice and Development Party between 2002 and 2020. It demonstrates that the government has, in the last decade, largely used the advertising sector as a “carrot and stick” tactic to control newspapers through the distribution of official announcements and advertising by state-owned enterprises. It further finds that the state has emerged in recent years as the largest advertiser financing the “captured media,” control of media ownership has proved to be not enough to ensure docile news media. Turkey has shifted to competitive authoritarianism in recent years, and this article demonstrates the selective allocation of advertising, which is a strong component of suppressing the independent media. The article uncovers the impact of government on advertising, using two data sets to show: (i) the total spend on official announcements received by each newspaper and (ii) how much advertising space in square centimeters state-owned enterprises have placed in each newspaper. Interviews with editors-in-chief of newspapers also expose the direct role of government in the distribution of advertising.

scholarly journals Covid Economic Policy and Media Response: an Analysis of Culture and Media Content

2020 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 07004
Author(s):  
Amirudin Amirudin ◽  
Agus Subiyanto
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Economic Strategy ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This study explores the media's response to Indonesia's economic strategy in overcoming the impact of Covid-19 based on the assumption with the worst scenario, Indonesia will deal with an economic slowdown of minus 0.4%. Most research shows the public response to the implementation of economic strategies gives a positive perception, but not necessarily with the media response. This research was conducted from 1 April to 30 April 2020, designed using content and culture analysis methods to reveal how the media responds to national economic policies with data sources from the news media. The unit of analysis in this research is news and opinions from media people (newspeople). Analysis was carried out with a taxonomic model to the national media Kompas, Detik, and Tempo to find patterns of media response. The study found that media response patterns manifested in 3 patterns: (a) supportive, (b) neutral, and (c) resistant. In general, the supporting pattern is the most prominent in the three media. This pattern is dominant because the media considers the best attitude in a crisis situation is the concern of the state. The media sees this form of concern as reflected in the economic strategy adopted to deal with the impact of Covid-19. To maintain positive media perceptions, researchers recommend that the government needs to continue to protect and mitigate vulnerable groups that are experiencing economic damage by implementing two strategies: (a) basic needs access or meeting basic needs, and (b) sustainability livelihood access or providing opportunities for vulnerable groups to have sustainable livelihoods.

scholarly journals The Impact of the News Frames on Report of the 2020 Pandemic in China’s National Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Tang Hai ◽  
Zhu Zhe ◽  
Qi Lihong
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Frame Theory ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
News Frames ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Foreign Media ◽  
Chinese News Media ◽  
The Impact

News frames is a general application of the Frame Theory in journalistic practice, and the setting of the Frame Theory in news media, to some extent, may make the news agency have more choices of the topics, more channels of the report, and more impacts on readers and audiences. It is for this reason that news media are very interested in setting up their news frame to guide their reportage. It won’t be surprised that when important affairs took place, the media set a theme for their coverage; while at the same time, audiences recognized that they are allowed to know the facts as well to evaluate the events properly. The coverage of disaster news is one of the concrete examples. However, when reading the reportage framework of the news in China, it can be seen that media would be likely to set similar frames for the focus of the report, and this potentially created complexity and difficulty in analyzing disaster news events in terms of content classification, reporting form, and news-making on effectiveness. The outbreak of the 2020 COVID-19 gathered media to work on a centralized proposal – anti-epidemic, so that textual, audio-visual contents and other forms of reporting show a diversified perspective for disaster news. This reporting from is a new challenge for Chinese news media, reflected in their practice on how Chinese government and people fought against the virus, how Chinese medical community dispatched their team to assist COVID-19 fight, and how Chinese media responded to the vilification of foreign media during that period. This paper takes three established media Hubei Daily, CCTV and China Daily as examples for an in-depth analysis.

scholarly journals The impact of digital technologies on modern society. An example of a social credit rating system in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
A. P. Klimovich
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Development ◽  
The State ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The issue on the first principles of Internet building in China has been considered. An overview of establishment has been made and the specifics of the development of the Chinese information technology industry in recent years has been analysed. The influence of the state policy on digital technology market has been studied. The principles of Chinese authorities’ actions in relation to the domestic and foreign high tech markets have been highlighted. The causes of the Chinese industry rapid development, based on the state activity aimed at supporting the local manufacturers, have been analysed. Protectionism policy defining the government control pattern has been evaluated. Chinese development main program scale, embracing not only national, but also world economics, has been considered. It has been shown how domestic economy policy coincides with Chinese government foreign policy and how it is directly reflected in it. A parallel has been drawn between the principle of establishing of social credit system and the idea of counting merits and drawbacks, laying in the basis of finely built system of rewards and punishments of traditional Chinese society. A connection of this tradition with the official goal of the system, stated by the government of China to teach the Chinese society to become more honest by complete surveillance over people, has been shown. It has been shown how this system classifies people into several categories, creating the lists of those to reward and those to censure. The mechanism of how the state uses private companies’ resources, applying all its power to influence on them, has been considered. A critical analysis of the foundations of the system from the point of view of Western democracy values has been carried out. An overview of development prospects of the studied system and the assessment of the risks associated with it have been made. It has been noted that despite the fact that the basic ideas for the system are borrowed from the international practice of the financial sector, making decisions on authorizing going beyond the judicial system and transferring the classification of people in the lists of good and bad to the level of algorithms run counter to the principles of European and international law.

How to Tell the Truth without Outraging the Press?

MedienJournal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Li Xiguang
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chinese News Media

The commercialization of meclia in China has cultivated a new journalism business model characterized with scandalization, sensationalization, exaggeration, oversimplification, highly opinionated news stories, one-sidedly reporting, fabrication and hate reporting, which have clone more harm than good to the public affairs. Today the Chinese journalists are more prey to the manipu/ation of the emotions of the audiences than being a faithful messenger for the public. Une/er such a media environment, in case of news events, particularly, during crisis, it is not the media being scared by the government. but the media itself is scaring the government into silence. The Chinese news media have grown so negative and so cynica/ that it has produced growing popular clistrust of the government and the government officials. Entering a freer but fearful commercially mediated society, the Chinese government is totally tmprepared in engaging the Chinese press effectively and has lost its ability for setting public agenda and shaping public opinions. 

scholarly journals Adopting microblogging solutions for interaction with government: survey results from Hunan province, China

2020 ◽  
pp. 002085231988748
Author(s):  
Vincent Homburg ◽  
Rebecca Moody ◽  
Qiaomei Yang ◽  
Victor Bekkers
Keyword(s):  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Hunan Province ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Authorities in the People’s Republic of China communicate with citizens using an estimated 600,000 Sina Weibo microblogs. This study reports on a study of Chinese citizens’ adoption of microblogs to interact with the government. Adoption results from trust and peer pressure in smaller-network ties (densely knit, pervasive social networks surrounding individual citizens). Larger-network ties (trust in institutions at large, such as the Chinese Communist Party, executive organizations, the judicial system, the media, etc.) are not associated with the adoption of microblogging. Furthermore, higher levels of anxiety are correlated with lower levels of use intention, and this finding underlines the impact of the Chinese authority’s surveillance and control activities on the lives of individual Chinese citizens. Based on these findings, we outline a theory of why citizens use microblogs to interact with the government and suggest avenues for further research into microblogs, state–citizen communication patterns and technology adoption. Points for practitioners Our research identifies trust in individual civil servants, citizens’ anxiety and peer pressure as drivers of Chinese citizens’ intentions to use the Weibo microblogging platform to interact with the Chinese government. This insight allows practitioners to better understand citizens’ drivers and obstacles in the use of social media in state–citizen relations in China.

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