| ID | 186565 |
| Title Proper | Framing as an Information Control Strategy in Times of Crisis |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Shouzhi Xia ; Xia, Shouzhi ; Zhang, Dong ; Huang, Huang |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | How can authoritarian regimes effectively control information to maintain regime legitimacy in times of crisis? We argue that media framing constitutes a subtle and sophisticated information control strategy in authoritarian regimes and plays a critical role in steering public opinion and cultivating an image of competent government during a tremendous crisis. Using structural topic models (STM), we conduct a textual analysis of more than 4,600 news reports produced by seven Chinese media outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that Chinese media, instructed by the propaganda authorities, used a heroism frame to feature frontline medics’ sacrifices when saving others in need and resorted to a contrast frame to highlight the poor performance of the United States in the fight against COVID-19. We also show that both state and commercial media outlets used these two frames, though the tone of commercial media coverage was generally more moderate than the state media version. |
| `In' analytical Note | Journal of East Asian Studies Vol. 22, No.2; Jul 2022: p.255 - 279 |
| Journal Source | Journal of East Asian Studies Vol: 22 No 2 |
| Key Words | Framing ; Authoritarian Regimes ; Information Control ; Text Analysis |