Guiding Public Opinion through Social Agenda-Setting

China's media policy since the 1990s

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12423213
AutoresAlex Chan (0000-0003-2248-2437, autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume16
Fascículo53
Páginas547-559
Data de publicação2007-10-25
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670560701562267
OpenAlexW2021274593
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas34

Guidance of public opinion (yulun daoxiang) became the buzzword of the Chinese government's media policy from the 1990s. I illustrate this idea through borrowing the concept of agenda-setting from media studies. Partly, its introduction was a response to the crisis of the propaganda model in the mid-1980s. Recognizing its declining ability to control what people think, the party state shifted its focus from political ideology to social agenda. The guidance of public opinion is indirect, flexible and subtle in nature. It allows the state-controlled media to address people's daily concerns. Also, it realizes that responsiveness to public opinion is the key to guiding that opinion effectively. The media need to guide public opinion ‘correctly’, so as to promote political unity, social stability, and boost morale. An argument is advanced that the party state seeks to accomplish attention management through agenda-setting

Argument (complex analysis · China · Control (management · Economics · Government (linguistics · Ideology · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Public policy · Public relations · Social media · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics