（8/29）【WINPEC Seminar】Media and public opinion research on China using text and survey analyses

Prof. Liang Tang and Prof.Eric Cheng will hold a WINPEC Seminar on August 29th.

 

Theme: Media and public opinion research on China using text and survey analyses

Date and Time: August/ 29（Thu）  15:00 p.m. ～  ：16:30 p.m.

Venue: Online (Zoom)

　Meeting link: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/81034468669?pwd=fNXj4dhTXAaSEMI89mb94SsqKNvWPA.1

　Meeting ID: 810 3446 8669

　Passcode: JE3eNq

 

Speaker:

Presenter①: Yuan Zhou

Affiliation: Research Associate, Graduate School of Law, Kobe University

Research areas: international relations, political communication, authoritarian regimes, text analysis

Language: English

Presentation title: Depicting Democracy as Chaos: An Analysis of International News in State Media

Abstract:

International news serves as a crucial source of information for many people to deepen their understanding of foreign events and global issues. Its reporting significantly influences the formation of public opinion in foreign policy and international relations. However, previous studies on Chinese media have mainly focused on the control and manipulation of domestic reporting, with insufficient analysis of international reporting. This study aims to reveal the characteristics and influencing factors of international news reporting by Chinese state-owned media. Specifically, it involves collecting international articles reported by People’s Daily and Global Times, two representativeChinese media, over the past decade, and analyzing the reporting on 192 United Nations member countries. First, using automated content analysis methods, the main topics reported are identified, and changes in the proportion of each topic over time are detected. Next, a latent semantic analysis model is employed to quantify the”emotional temperature” ofChinese media towards each country. Finally, this “emotional temperature” is used as a dependent variable to test the hypothesis that Chinese state media tend to report negatively on democratic countries. This study offers a new perspective on international news, which is considered to have a significant impact on foreign policy and public opinion formation. In particular, by focusing on the unique context of international news by Chinese state-owned media, it contributes novel insights to media studies under authoritarian regimes.

 

 

Presenter②: Peter Chai

Affiliation: Doctoral program, Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University

Research areas: political sociology, comparative politics, public opinion, survey analysis

Language: English

Presentation title: Attitude to Traditional Family Structure and Gender Roles in Mainland China: A Survey Analysis Based on Asian Barometer

Abstract:

I use the latest three waves of the Asian Barometer survey to investigate the relationships between a selected set of demographic indicators (1) age (2) income (3) education (4) urban/rural and attitudes toward traditional family structure and gender roles, i.e., represented by four question items in the traditionalism section which focus on (1) putting family interests first (2) obeying parents’ orders (3) endowing males with more decision-making power (4) preferring boys than girls. Through investigating patterns of traditional family and gender values with important demographic indicators, I aim to test Ronald Inglehart’s postmaterialist thesis, or the “scarcity” and “socialization” hypotheses in the context of Mainland China, and shed light on to what extent these hypotheses which are based on Western observations are generalizable to Mainland China. The regression results show inconsistent conformities to the two hypotheses across the demographic variables and the three waves. The “Asian uniqueness” argument can be observed, and this calls for relevant historical and “cultural” explanations to be made.