Under unprecedented conditions of increasing precarity in this century of disasters, changes in social media-based networked crisis communications are driving innovation in risk governance, public understanding of risk, and public online participation. We develop the concept of Networked Crisis Communications Pattern (NCCP) formed by online participation of and connections between different types of users in Weibo-based networked crisis communication. By analyzing 133,440 Weibo posts of six significant earthquakes between 2010 and 2019 through calculation of proportion and social network analysis, we present a new phenomenon: the Chinese government has “crowded out the crowd” by increasing users, posts, and positioning as distributors of crisis information. Although “crowding out” may constitute a missed opportunity for public online participation, this study draws a cooperative and collective relationship between the government and the public in Weibo-based networked crisis communication.

Objective The use of social media during the COVID-19 pandemic has been researched extensively since the outbreak. Sina Weibo, as one of most commonly used social media platforms in China, played an important role in public expression for the duration of COVID-19. We investigated the themes that emerged from the posts and examined the sentiments associated with each theme. Methods For this study, we collected 72,084 Weibo posts related to the 2022 Shanghai public health event to present a thematic and sentiment analysis of posts by the public. Results The findings showed that the public was more inclined to express concerns about the impact of the outbreak and of outbreak containment measures on their personal lives on social media and exhibited negative attitudes and opinions rather than discussing the impact of COVID-19 on human life and health, suggesting that the impact of the outbreak on people's daily lives was greater than was the impact on their livelihoods and health risks. Conclusions This research highlights the importance of understanding the role of social media in times of crisis and the potential insights that can be gained from analyzing online public discourse. Our empirical findings provide insights for future public health communication strategies and crisis management plans in China in the information age.

“News laundering” (xi gao) is an issue concerned by Chinese professional journalists in recent years. It refers to a series of unauthorized practices in appropriating or plagiarizing the published contents or the ideas presented by professional journalists, which is conducted by social media users including opinion leaders, and portal media, who are not authorized with news reporting licenses. From a legal perspective, it is hard to assert that “news laundering” violates Chinese copyright law, as news is not under the protection of the law and no one could monopolize the “facts”. From journalists’ perspective, this is an act of stealing content from the inside of the digital paywall. This conceptual article, by borrowing the scholarship from media and journalism, and law studies, contemplates the complex mechanism of “news laundering” and its implication for the paywall of legacy media and Chinese media systems, providing new insights into the new research field of news laundering under the Chinese context.

How can the government and the public connect during a crisis? While tough in the age of traditional media, this has become more practical in the age of social media. Weibo has been integrated into crisis communication as the main social media platform in China since 2010. After a decade, the Chinese government and the public have changed their ways of engaging in Weibo-based crisis communication. Employing mixed methods to analyse 5358 Weibo posts and 41 interviews, we found the government to have become an approachable participant in crisis communication rather than projecting a rigid, aloof image; members of the public have also become more skilled, experienced participants. Our findings indicate an innovative mechanism of 'informative cooperation' constructed by the government and the public, underlying a collaborative relationship between them. We suggest that such a relationship should be maintained to promote better cooperation between the government and the public in future social-media-based crisis communication.

Sina Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, plays a crucial role in crisis communication. During the 2018 Shouguang flood, the public criticized the government's delayed, insufficient, and inaccurate information on Weibo, leading to tension between the public and the government. We interviewed 33 Weibo users to understand their experiences in challenging the government's flood-related information. Key areas of contention included the timing of information release, the portrayal of the crisis, and the government's role as the primary crisis manager. When the government's information fails to meet public expectations, it can lead to online discussions that undermine trust. This article delves into theterritory of crisis communication by examining how public online debates evolve in a state-controlled online setting, specifically in China. We propose that diverse interpretations of crisis information serve as a tool to enhance collective crisis response, thereby reducing conflicts among stakeholders.

The public demands of information will increase during the crisis and the social media accounts run by governmental sectors is one of the major sources where the public obtains information. This study focuses on the practices of Beijing health commission, an authoritative official outlet, in posting COVID-19 related information from a governmental stance. We explore the content of these social media posts and manner of posting during the COVID-19 crisis. Based on a data set of 1,422 Weibo posts related to the early 2022 COVID-19 wave in Beijing, we identified the theme of reports of confirmed cases and travel paths, and propagandistic objective as the most prominent. From analysed posts and the identified themes, the preliminary findings suggested that the government gave its priority to maintain its legitimacy during the crisis. Thus, by borrowing the concept of paternalism, we argued that arising the public’s attention of crisis is what government applied to achieve its propaganda goal, which aims to practicing its paternalistic governance in China.

Sina Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, plays a crucial role in crisis communication. During the 2018 Shouguang flood, the public criticized the government’s delayed, insufficient, and inaccurate information on Weibo, leading to tension between the public and the government. We interviewed 33 Weibo users to understand their experiences in challenging the government’s flood-related information. Key areas of contention included the timing of information release, the portrayal of the crisis, and the government’s role as the primary crisis manager. When the government’s information fails to meet public expectations, it can lead to online discussions that undermine trust. This article delves into theterritory of crisis communication by examining how public online debates evolve in a state-controlled online setting, specifically in China. We propose that diverse interpretations of crisis information serve as a tool to enhance collective crisis response, thereby reducing conflicts among stakeholders.

人工智能技术引发了新一轮产业革命,对传统主流媒体的身份认同发起挑战.本文使用身份认同理论,分析媒体身份的特征与认同逻辑,认为智能媒体不仅向主流媒体的身份认同发起了挑战,也为新型主流媒体的身份转型提供了契机.本文建议,新型主流媒体应与时俱进,凸显"新型""主流"的身份特征,勇于做技术的创新者、改革的先行者与价值的引导者,力争在智媒时代获得更为广泛的身份认同.

研究重点关注在2022年1月15日至2月15日期间发生的B市公共卫生事件,探讨隶属于B市卫健委的各政务微博是如何从公共部门立场发布公共卫生事件相关信息以提高公众对公共卫生事件的理解和认知.通过收集和分析与"B市公共卫生事件"相关的1422条微博,展示公共卫生事件期间各个政务微博账号所发微博涉及的五个大主题以及不同主题中包含的22个话题及不同主题的发布频率.研究发现,"确诊病例报告及行程轨迹"和"宣传目的"是最突出的主题.研究结果表明,公共部门在公共卫生事件期间优先发布公共卫生事件相关信息,随后倾向于注重宣传力度.因此,建议在公共危机事件中以公众需求为导向,促进公共部门与公众在公共卫生事件中的沟通与交流.

Governments hiding facts and truth from the public seems to have become a common phenomenon, especially during the social crisis in China. The practice of the public using various media to express dissent and opinions, to overcome government censorship, appears to contribute to freedom of speech. Inspired by widespread online articles during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, this paper argues that the flaws in this logic are the dualism, which digital media created (pro-democracy vs authoritarian; freedom vs control), in understanding media in China. By borrowing the discussion of the de-westernization of media and communication studies, the paper argues that the introduction of digital media makes de-westernized studies in China harder because it prompts us to think “digitally.”

自新冠肺炎疫情席卷全球后,数字出版和线上图书销售额增长是全球出版业的共同特点,各国出版商和电商平台应用社交媒体拓展图书线上销售渠道.文章通过对比国内外图书产品在六大社交媒体平台上的营销策略,发现疫情后社交媒体在出版业的广泛应用不仅拓宽了我国传统图书的营销渠道,还提升了图书营销效率.但与此同时,互联网平台的图书销售秩序和推广行为仍有待规范.与我国相比,国外虽然数字出版增长明显,但各大出版商的收益并不显著,社交媒体在图书营销中多以口碑营销的方式助力推广,在具体销售环节的参与度较低.

Short-video-based social media platforms (short-video-based [SVB] platforms) are becoming a common tool for an increasing number of consumers to safeguard their legitimate interests in China. This article examines how Chinese consumers practice video activism by using short videos on Weibo to construct a consumer sphere for themselves to protect their legal demands. By interviewing 56 interviewees including consumers, media practitioners, public relations department (PR) officials, and relevant government officials in China, we find that short videos are more than a visible vehicle on SVB platforms which makes the voices of consumers being heard, but significantly, these platforms create a “consumer sphere” for the consumers who experienced right infringement to defend their rights. The discussion and sharing of these videos unite the consumers to bring the individual issue to the spotlight of the public. We conclude that as more consumers join the queue to share their encounters, a sphere is constructed by the use of mediated tactics.

This study looks at how investigative journalists practice gatekeeping in the context of China. By combining with the hierarchical model of influence (Shoemaker, 1991; Shoemaker & Reese, 2014), this study revisits the relationship between influential factors from the aspects of politics, markets, and organizations, which are across all the levels. Based on the interviews with 25 investigative journalists in Beijing, this research suggests that influential factors do not always have a strong hierarchical relation between each other regarding what sort of information could turn out to be news. This situation is because journalists share varied perceptions about what influential factor can convert into a particular constraint.

2020年以来,新冠肺炎疫情给全球出版行业带来了前所未有的冲击.基于国际出版人协会报告、欧洲出版人协会的年度报告、美国大学出版社年度报告等公开的数据报告提供的信息,聚焦疫情期间国外大学出版社的发展状况和策略.总体而言,疫情期间国外大学出版社通过加强与母体大学相关机构的联系,进一步扩大学术出版和专业性图书出版优势,但是不同地区与国家的大学出版社由于经济和教育发展水平的不同,采取的策略也大相径庭.

近年来,新兴媒体的兴起对传统的图书市场带来了巨大的冲击.除了销售模式的转变,数字产品以及网上书店的出现也对现有的图书定价机制提出了新的挑战.打折销售、价格战、低价秒杀已成为各大电商巨头及社交媒体使用图书作为引流产品的重要手段.通过梳理当前图书价格市场面临的定价乱象,文章认为面对图书电商和互联网经济带来的压力,出版业应当联合起来共同推进相关图书价格管理的法律出台.从图书属性、媒体环境以及定价机制三方面完善线上图书的销售生态,更好地服务文化强国的大局.

Since 2014, “plot twist news” as a controversial news phenomenon has appeared extensively in Chinese digital communication. In the context of journalism, this refers to news facts provided in follow-up reporting that contradict the facts provided in the initial reporting. Based on interviews with 25 journalists who specialize in in-depth reporting in Beijing in 2017, this study suggests that the phenomenon of plot twist news in the Chinese context urges us to think about how “truth” is being interpreted by different social actors and how the different versions of narrated truth drive journalistic investigation. Built upon field theory, this article argues that the doxa and habitus of the journalism field are challenged by the audience in such a way that journalists try to respond to audience demands through reporting the truth.

Based on interviews with 25 investigative journalists in Beijing, China, this study suggests digital journalists may be increasingly challenged by a sense of "information overload" as they navigate social media and online environments crowded with dis- and mis-information, fake profiles and sources, and massive amounts of opinion journalism that is presented as professional journalism. This overload has reinforced Chinese investigative journalists' dedication to a conventional form of verification: meeting face-to-face with sources. This study contributes to scholarship on Chinese journalism by expanding knowledge about investigative journalists in the country and by complicating understandings of how journalists there work in an age of social media, disinformation, and increased interests in verification.