China’s news media tweeting, competing with US sources

Abstract

This paper examines China's recent initiative on international social media and assesses its effectiveness in counteracting Western dominance in international communication. Analysing data collected from the Twitter platform of three public accounts run by China's state news media CGTN, People's Daily and Xinhua News, it finds that their news agenda about China focuses on the country's top leaders and achievements, while that about other countries is on breaking news. Their China-related tweets receive more positive replies than their non-China-related tweets, but tweets about China's top leader, Xi Jinping, receive fewer positive replies than soft news items. Analysis of Twitter data of the #southchinasea hashtag finds that China's media mainly compete with US sources for influence. China's state media influence the news agenda on the issue by active and persistent tweeting and drawing retweets. However, US sources are more influential as a whole in setting the news agenda and amplifying certain news events. The study finds evidence that forces seemingly unfriendly to both China and the US attempt to skew the news agenda of #southchinasea using manipulated accounts.

The New Silk Road on Facebook: How China’s official media cover and frame a national initiative for global audiences

“…Bolsover & Howard, 2019; Li & Rao, 2010). Scholars also find that China’s official media are increasingly using Twitter to distribute news stories for global audiences (Nip & Sun, 2018). Thus, analyzing the coverage of the New Silk Road offers the opportunity to expand our understanding of media “Going-out” policy in China.…”

“…Recent studies have revealed that China’s official media build different agendas and tones for China and other countries (Roberts et al, 2016). On global networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, the media bias implies China’s official goals in a global context (Nip & Sun, 2018).…”

A review of the current state of research on China’s international image management

“…In this regard, “Chinese state media have no compunction about joining battle for global discourse power on a social media platform that is banned in China itself” (Marsh, 2018, p. 144). 2 Based on an analysis of Twitter accounts run by Xinhua News, People’s Daily , and CCTV News/CGTN, Nip and Sun (2018) find that “just over 60 per cent of tweets published by China’s state media focus on China, and their Twitter news agenda resembles those they publish on other platforms” (p. 117). Xi Jinping, the Chinese president—particularly when he makes official visits—is the most prominent theme in their tweets.…”

“…Xi Jinping, the Chinese president—particularly when he makes official visits—is the most prominent theme in their tweets. While this selection of topics is most likely not helpful to win over foreign audiences, the same is true for the usage of social media which is mainly used as “a one-way propagation medium” (Nip and Sun, 2018). This is echoed by Feng (2018), who notes that to be successful, China’s official social media channels should transform official stances “into a more conversational form” (p. 289).…”

Chinese Disinformation Efforts on Social Media

“…Nip and Chao Sun, 2018. 6 "Authorities Deny Rumor of Ban on Incense, Ghost Money Burning," FocusTaiwan, July 21, 2017; J. Michael Cole, "Fake News at Work: President Tsai 'Persecutes Religion in Taiwan,'" Taiwan Sentinel, July 20, 2017.7 Jonathan Kaiman, "Free Tibet Exposes Fake Twitter Accounts by China Propagandists," The Guardian, July 22, 2014.8 Nicholas Confessore, Gabriel J. X. Dance, Richard Harris, and Mark Hansen, "The Follower Factory," New York Times, January 27, 2018; Tom Grundy, "Did China's State-Run News Agency Purchase Twitter Followers?"…”