Investigating the Supply and Demand Bias between Media and Audience in the Information Technology Era: Evidence from Data Analysis of Chinese Outreach

Abstract

As an integral part of discourse system, external publicity frequently functions as a useful tool of information release and also an indispensable part effective communication. The existing studies on external publicity concentrate more on the information release of bilateral side, namely, on the side of information issuer, than on the side of information receiver, not to say, the perspective of the supply and demand deviation between media and audience. Based on the questionnaire and in-depth interviews, this paper has investigated the deviations between the information supply of Chinese Media and the information demand of the foreign residents in China, as well as the deviations of the information channels between Chinese Media and foreign residents in China. It is revealed that the factors of age, nationality, occupation, and the length of stay in China have exerted a significant influence on the preference of information needs and also the mode of their access to the information issued by Chinese media. Despite the fact that the current Chinese external publicity could meet the general needs of foreign residents, the awareness of targeted supply of information should be continuously improved. The influence of Chinese media on foreign residents is still limited, even though they undertake the responsibility of information dissemination in China and function as a bridge between China and western world. For this reason, there is still much room for the improvement in the scope of communication concept, communication methods, the media topics, as well as the effect of external publicity.