State as Salesman

International Economic Engagement and Foreign News Coverage in China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7971569
AutoresChengyuan Ji (0000-0001-8892-3982, Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Hanzhang Liu (0000-0003-1003-1372, Pitzer College, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen39
Número1
Páginas122-145
Fecha de publicación2022-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1058-4609 • E-ISSN: 1091-7675
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10584609.2021.1960451
OpenAlexW3215529236
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas41

How does an authoritarian regime cover news about foreign countries for its domestic audience? What accounts for the variation in news coverage received by different foreign countries? While existing literature points to political concerns at home, in this article, we argue that a regime’s economic interests can also be a driving force: the desire to deepen its international economic engagement can motivate the regime to treat foreign countries differently in its news coverage. To test this argument, we examine foreign news coverage by China’s state-run television network between 2003 and 2018. Combining textual and quantitative analysis, we find that countries with stronger economic ties with China receive more favorable news coverage. Moreover, the manipulation of coverage favorability is achieved through selective reporting: negative events such as armed conflicts receive less coverage when taking place in a country with close economic ties with China. These findings contribute to our understanding of international news flow, especially in a non-Western setting. They also demonstrate a pragmatic rather than political use of information control by an authoritarian government

Argument (complex analysis · Authoritarianism · China · Economics · Foreign policy · Government (linguistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · State (computer science · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Media Studies and Communication · Social Media and Politics