Borrowing a Boat to Go Out to Sea: Chinese State Media Partnerships in East Asia and the Pacific

<a href="https://embed.stanford.edu/iframe/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpurl.stanford.edu%2Fkr739jz9396" class="su-underline">Show Content</a>

Abstract/Contents

Abstract: How do Chinese state media partnerships impact perceptions of China in East Asia and the Pacific? Content sharing partnerships allow Chinese state media to reach foreign audiences through local, trusted sources. Previous scholars identify media partnerships as the most impactful form of Beijing’s public diplomacy, but do not investigate variance in influence among partnerships. This thesis analyzes the relationship between partnerships and perceptions of China in 12 countries using an original dataset of 98 partnerships from 2006-2020. Partnerships are associated with an increase in favorable perceptions of China among foreign audiences. Unlike previous studies, this investigation records the size of partner groups, strength of ties, and language of publication. Surprisingly, the most influential partnerships are those with small, Chinese language media groups. These results contradict the conventional logic that partnerships with larger, multilingual media would have greater impact on perceptions of China. An interview with a Xinhua journalist and a case study of partner content during the Covid-19 pandemic suggest that small, Chinese language platforms are uniquely vulnerable to influence from PRC state media. Policymakers must support independent publishers to prevent the consolidation of the Chinese language media ecosystem.

Type of resource	text
Date created	June 3, 2021

Author	Junkin, Dylan
Primary advisor	Schultz, Kenneth
Advisor	Tiffert, Glenn
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/kr739jz9396

Use and reproduction: User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Junkin, Dylan. (2021). Borrowing a Boat to Go Out to Sea: Chinese State Media Partnerships in East Asia and the Pacific. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/kr739jz9396

Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, Theses

Loading usage metrics...