One Rising China, Multiple Interpretations: China's 60th anniversary celebration through the lens of the world's printed media
What does a rising China mean to the world? While some countries take China as a salient threat, others regard China as their role model for development and governance. However, limited research has offered a systematic comparative analysis in this regard. China's spectacular celebration of its 60th anniversary uniquely showcased its increasing military might, mounting economic wealth and carefully-maintained mass support. Taking advantage of simultaneous worldwide news coverage of this all-in-one event, we scrutinize how different societies responded to a rising China. We find significant variance in the news coverage from 42 top printed media in 21 sampled societies. Moreover, these societies' political features affect their newspapers' reporting styles the most. This analysis significantly enriches our understanding of the rise of China.
Hong Kong Citizens' Beliefs in Media Neutrality and Perceptions of Press Freedom: Objectivity as Self-Censorship?
Premised upon the argument that the professional norm of objectivity is intricately related to the strategic struggle for press freedom in post-handover Hong Kong, this article examines how citizens' beliefs in media neutrality——a central manifestation of objectivity——relate to their perceptions of media self-censorship and press freedom.
Evaluation of media and understanding of politics: The role of education among Hong Kong citizens
This article discusses the future of the liberal media system in Hong Kong. It examines whether the political culture in the city would support a media system that primarily understands itself as a watchdog and a critique of power holders. While local political scientists have pointed to the prominence of the idea of ‘consultative democracy’ in the city's political culture, the present authors argue that there are in fact competing visions of democracy in the public arena. As different conceptions of democracy imply different understandings of media's role in politics, this study analyzes a survey to examine citizens understanding of media and politics, especially with regard to the relative emphasis being put on the media as a watchdog versus the media as a platform for consultation. More specifically, the analysis focuses on the role of education in shaping people's attitudes. Drawing upon political communication research in the West, the analysis also examines how people's evaluations of the media and of political institutions are related to each other. The findings suggest that Hong Kong citizens in general are quite receptive to the idea of the media as independent from and even a critique of the government, while people with higher levels of education are the most fervent supporters of the liberal media. The implications of the findings will be discussed.