scholarly journals Interrogations of the “Chinese Dream” campaign from a critical perspective: deconstruction, receptions and critiques

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
Alexandra Jingsi Ni ◽  
Qian Liu

AbstractThe high-profile “Chinese Dream” campaign, which appeared in the public discourse in as early as 2012, has captured worldwide attention. Various interpretations and dissections of this heavily promoted political catchphrase have been proposed by a large number of scholars, political commentators, China specialists and even policy-makers across the globe. Academic publication and popular media coverage regarding the “Chinese Dream” campaign are extensive and numerous.However, despite the sheer amount of literature in existence, a critical deconstruction of the “Chinese Dream” is almost neglected and the crucial strategic functionalities the “Chinese Dream” campaign performs are also downplayed. Therefore, in this article, we intend to provide a series of critical interrogations and in-depth critiques of the “Chinese Dream” campaign from a more critical perspective in order to argue the following points: A) what are the true meanings of the “Chinese Dream” and what are the crucial ingredients deliberately included and excluded in the campaign; B) what are the important strategic functionalities the “Chinese Dream” campaign is designed to perform and what is the supporting understructure upon which the “Chinese Dream” campaign operates and C) what are the uncertainties and challenges facing the eventual realization of the ambitious “Chinese Dream” in the foreseeable future.

Author(s):  
Stephen Lovell

This chapter tells the story of public speaking in Russia from the imposition of greater restrictions on the public sphere in 1867 through to the eve of Alexander II’s assassination in 1881. It shows that in this period the focus of the Russian public switched from the zemstvo to the courtroom, where a number of high-profile trials took place (and were reported, sometimes in stenographic detail, in the press). The chapter examines the careers and profiles of some of Russia’s leading courtroom orators. It also explores the activities of the Russian socialists (populists), in particular the ‘Going to the People’ movement of 1873–4 and later propaganda efforts in the city and the courtroom. It ends by considering the intensification of public discourse at the end of the 1870s: the Russo-Turkish War saw a surge of patriotic mobilization, but at the same time the populist adoption of terrorism seized public attention.


2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Axel Ockenfels ◽  
Christoph M. Schmidt

Abstract The discussion of climate policy received new impetus in the spring of 2019. Since then the topic has dominated the public discourse in Germany. The Fridays for Future movement continues to generate considerable pressure on policy makers. In addition, scientists emphasize in rare interdisciplinary unanimity both how urgent a radical renewal in climate policy would be, and that a uniform price for greenhouse gas emissions is the indispensable core element of the necessary reforms in Germany and Europe. One central aspect of climate policy is, however, often overlooked in all this: climate protection is essentially an international problem of cooperation. For climate change, it does not matter where greenhouse gases are emitted. The success of national climate policy must therefore be judged by whether it contributes to establishing international cooperation to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.


1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste M. Condit

Critics have worried that recent mass media coverage of genetics encourages genetic determinism and discriminatory attitudes in the public. They have identified the “blueprint” metaphor as one major component of public discourse that encourages such undesirable public opinions. To assess public interpretations of popular discourse about genetics, this audience study exposed 137 college students to sample genetics news articles and asked for their interpretations of the “blueprint” metaphor and of genetics in general. A larger group, the plurality, offered non-deterministic interpretations and perspectives on genetics. A small minority offered discriminatory interpretations, whereas a plurality offered explicit antidiscriminatory interpretations and opinions. Non-deterministic views were based on interpretations of the blueprint metaphor that understood genes as operating in a partial and probabilistic fashion, and that interpreted genes as malleable through individual will or technological intervention.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Todhunter

Abstract The notion that national leaders use foreign policy actions for domestic political benefit is widely accepted in the foreign policy literature, but has only been studied with regard to foreign policy involving the use of force. Literature on third-party mediation has emerged separately and has not taken mediators’ domestic political motivations and constraints into account when explaining mediation occurrence and outcomes. Diplomatic efforts such as mediation should be appealing to leaders seeking to impress their domestic audience because it provides them with a low risk opportunity to appear competent to their domestic audience. While mediation is a regular occurrence in US foreign policy, its public visibility varies greatly. However, models of presidential media coverage suggest that media outlets are likely to pay a disproportionate amount of attention to presidents and their high level surrogates while engaging in diplomacy overseas. The article proposes that the higher the profile of the official an administration sends to mediate a crisis overseas, the greater the increase in the president’s approval rating. Additionally, the public’s attentiveness to foreign policy should condition the effect of a high profile mediator on presidential approval. As foreign policy becomes more salient to the public, the effect of a higher profile mediator on presidential approval should be greater. Empirical results support the argument.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang

Abstract A positive discourse analysis is conducted on the collective discursive representation of the Chinese Dream by the discourse of the sovereign state and the national media, with the aim to show how discourses at different levels could collaborate to promote the power of the Chinese Dream discourse in the domestic communication. Borrowing the dialectical-relational framework of critical discourse analysis, the present research carries out structural analysis and interactional analysis of President Xi Jinping’s speech at the closing meeting of the 12th National People’s Congress and the subsequent media discourse produced by official news outlets. The structural analysis reveals Xi’s speech on the Chinese Dream forms a genre chain with related news reports, editorials, and features within a couple of days, in which the appeal to the public is repeatedly made. The interactional analysis indicates the news discourses facilitate concreteness and enrichment of the Chinese Dream by recontextualizing various components of the original speech and adopting specific represented processes and modality to echo and promote the constructed Chinese Dream by the speech. The findings reveal the inspiring Chinese Dream discourse is produced and consumed among different official discourses, collaboratively representing a bright future for the public.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (06) ◽  
pp. A05 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Ndlovu ◽  
Marina Joubert ◽  
Nelius Boshoff

This study of the science communication views and practices of African researchers ― academics at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe ― reveals a bleak picture of the low status of public science engagement in the developing world. Researchers prioritise peer communication and pay little attention to the public, policy makers and popular media. Most scientists believe the public is largely not scientifically literate or interested in research. An unstable funding environment, a lack of communication incentives and censoring of politically sensitive findings further constrain researchers' interest in public engagement. Most NUST academics, however, are interested in science communication training. We suggest interventions that could revive and support public science engagement at African universities.


Author(s):  
Jie Zhuang ◽  
Jeffrey G. Cox ◽  
Minwoong Chung ◽  
Joseph A. Hamm ◽  
Adam Zwickle ◽  
...  

In the United States, more than 200 communities are designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as areas of concern for dioxins. Informing the public about potential risks associated with dioxins and delivering information about how to avoid such risks are essential activities. News coverage of environmental and health problems affects how members of the public assess those problems in terms of both severity and how they are understood, as well as the extent of attention given to the problem by policy-makers. To contextualize public and institutional responses to dioxin contamination and remediation in a dioxin-affected community, we assessed 176 newspaper articles published over 30 years concerning dioxin contamination in Midland, Michigan, in terms of risk, trust in institutions, environmental stigma, and citizen participation. Articles about dioxin contamination and remediation in Midland appeared in both domestic and international newspapers. Domestically, both national and local newspapers covered this issue. The risks for human health and the environment caused by exposure to dioxins were widely covered, with much less media attention given to the trustworthiness of the organizations responsible for managing the risk, environmental stigma, and citizen participation. News coverage of these four themes also changed significantly overtime. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of local news media in communicating risk information, guiding safe behaviors, and facilitating community-level decision-making.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e038087
Author(s):  
Brooke Nickel ◽  
Ray Moynihan ◽  
Alexandra Barratt ◽  
Juan P Brito ◽  
Kirsten McCaffery

ObjectivesThe use of more medicalised labels can increase both concern about illness and the desire for more invasive treatment. This study analyses the media’s coverage of an Analysis article in The BMJ which generated a large amount of high-profile international media coverage. It aims to understand how to better communicate messages about low-risk cancers and overdiagnosis to the public.DesignContent analysis of media coverage.SettingMedia was identified by Isentia Media Portal, searched in Google News and cross-checked in Factiva and Proquest databases from August 2018.MethodsMedia headlines, full text and open access public comments responding to the coverage on the article proposing to ‘rename low-risk conditions currently labelled as cancer’ were analysed to determine the main themes.Results45 original media articles and their associated public comments (n=167) were identified and included in the analysis. Overall, headlines focused on cancer generally and there was little mention of ‘low-risk’, ‘overdiagnosis’ or ‘overtreatment’. The full text generally presented a more balanced view of the evidence and were supportive of the proposal, however, public responses tended to be more negative towards the idea of renaming low-risk cancers and indicated confusion. Comments seemed to focus on the headlines rather than the full article.ConclusionsThis study offers a novel insight into media coverage of the complex and counterintuitive problem of overdiagnosis. Continued deliberation on how to communicate similar topics to the public through the mainstream media is needed. Future work in the area of low-risk cancer communication should consider the powerful impact of people’s previous experience with a cancer diagnosis and the criticism about being paternalistic and concealing the truth from patients.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Walter

The article analyses the scale of, and reactions to, print media coverage of the dying from cancer in 2009 of young British media celebrity Jade Goody. Some sociologists have argued that death is sequestrated, with the dying body particularly hidden and problematic; hence the sociological significance of the intense and high profile coverage of Jade's final weeks. In particular, the baroque emotionality of press photos, especially those which glamorised her baldness (the result of failed chemotherapy), challenges the sequestration thesis. Reactions were complex, with criticism of her public dying mixed with criticism of reality television in general, together with class prejudice. New media's blurring of public and private creates new arenas for publicising the bodily, personal and emotional experience of dying, while at the same time affirming the public/private boundary so that the ordinary dying of ordinary people remains substantially hidden.


Author(s):  
Gwendolin Gurr ◽  
Julia Metag

Analyzing which actors or sources are cited in the news media coverage allows for carving out different perspectives that are represented in the media coverage. Studies thus analyze which types of actors are cited by journalists to what extent. In technology coverage, actors from the domain of science, politics, NGOs, industry and citizens are often mentioned.   Field of application/theoretical foundation: The analysis of the representation of actors is based on the assumption that journalists choose actors as sources purposefully and thereby attribute relevance to them. Those actors cited in the journalistic coverage have more opportunities to present their arguments and are thus more visible in the public discourse. Actors are also analyzed within framing analysis (Entman, 1993) and analyses of discourses in various domains.   Example studies: Metag & Marcinkowski (2014); Nisbet & Lewenstein (2002)   Information on Metag & Marcinkowski, 2014 Authors: Julia Metag, Frank Marcinkowski Research question/research interest: “Does the concept of a journalistic negativity bias apply to the media coverage of nanotechnology?” Object of analysis: German speaking daily newspapers: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Tagesanzeiger, Standard, Presse Time frame of analysis: 2000-2009   Information on Nisbet & Lewenstein, 2002 Authors: Matthew C. Nisbet, Bruce V. Lewenstein Research question/research interest: trends in media coverage of biotechnology Object of analysis: New York Times and Newsweek Time frame of analysis: 1970-1999    Information about variable   Authors Variable name/definition Level of analysis Values Scale level Reliability Metag & Marcinkowski (2014) the three most prominent actors cited   article   scientists economic actors journalists nominal N/A Nisbet & Lewenstein (2002) featured actors (up to 2 actors per article) article government affiliated general (the public, the media) science or medicine industry other interests (in addition: further subcategories) nominal intercoder reliability for two groups (Team A: r = .43; Team B: r = 48)   References Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43, 51­58. Metag, Julia; Marcinkowski, Frank (2014): Technophobia towards emerging technologies? A comparative analysis of the media coverage of nanotechnology in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In: Journalism 15(4), 463-481. Nisbet, Matthew C.; Lewenstein, Bruce V. (2002): Biotechnology and the American Media. The Policy Process and the Elite Press, 1970 to 1999. In: Science Communication 23 (4), 359–391.


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