Chinese Government Manages Political Crises on Social Media with Entertainment-Oriented Narratives

Bingxin Fa, Purdue University

Abstract

News travels quickly on social media and can easily develop into a political crisis. Investigating the crisis management strategies of authoritarian governments would greatly enhance our understanding of authoritarian resilience in the digital age. This dissertation argues that existing researchers have not fully integrated the interaction between governmental and nongovernmental actors into their models, nor have they quantified the impact of online information on public opinion. Based on knowledge of the communication management discipline and with knowledge of computer-assisted software, this dissertation develops cybernetic models that describe the interaction logic of the four most important actors in the crisis management process on the largest social media platform of China, Sina Weibo: The government, the government-hired 50 Cent Party, the general key opinion leaders, and the ordinary “netizens” (internet users). Posts and comments on Weibo are collected and analyzed using computer-assisted software, and their influence on public opinion is weighted based on their visibility to the public.An important yet understudied strategy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) emerged and is named the entertainment-oriented narrative. It has three forms: (1) likening the reality to an unreal TV show or a fictional scene; (2) using cute emojis and anthropomorphism to represent crisis-related concepts; and (3) framing the country as a pop star (idol) and encourage citizens to defend it regardless. The CCP uses these three tactics to trivialize the importance of crisis events, deflect public criticism, and discourage the public from critical thinking. Case studies show that this strategy has become a regular practice of the CCP and worked effectively when the crises do not seriously and massively affect local citizens’ lives.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Woods, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Communication|Political science|Asian Studies|Management|Social psychology|Internet and social media studies

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