Record Details

Political Protests and the Diversionary Use of Media: Evidence from China

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Political Protests and the Diversionary Use of Media: Evidence from China
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CMPWDV
 
Creator Tianjing Liao
Wonjae Hwang
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description This research examines whether and to what extent political protests affect media coverage on external conflict in China for the purpose of diversion. Though there has been little evidence suggesting a diversionary use of force in contemporary China, we argue that, as the number of political protests increases, state-owned media are likely to expose the populace to media reports of external conflict as a way to divert public attention from domestic troubles/issues and instigate their nationalist sentiments. Our time-series analyses of China's weekly data from Global Times, one of the most influential Chinese tabloids, from February 2011 through December 2018 confirm this expectation. By weighting news reports based on the number of reposts of each report, which is significantly influenced by the 50c's activities, this study also accounts for the extent to which political protests affect the government's diversionary efforts.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Diversionary use of force
China
Protests
Mass media
 
Contributor Interactions, International