Strategic Framing Matters But Varies: A Structural Topic Modeling Approach to Analyzing China’s Foreign Propaganda About the 2019 Hong Kong Protests on Twitter

Abstract

Drawing upon the approach of strategic framing, this study investigated how China’s state-run media mobilize foreign propaganda machine and use specific patterns to describe the 2019 Hong Kong protests on Twitter. It also shed light on the heterogeneity of both production and reception of the strategic frames used by state media. Structural topic modeling was employed to analyze a large amount of Twitter content (i.e., 14,412 tweets) posted by 13 verified organizational accounts, and six strategic frames were identified as conflicts and violence, calling for stability and order, marginalizing protests, criticizing the West as accomplices, delegitimizing protests, and social and economic disruption. These frames highlighted insider–outsider and causes and consequences as two overarching communication strategies. The results also revealed that the bureaucratic rank of state media and the engagement rate of each tweet were closely associated with the content prevalence of various strategic frames. In addition to enhancing our understanding of the construction of “protest paradigm” against the social media context, these empirical findings uncover the often overlooked mobility and flexibility of China’s state media discourse as well as the communication ecology shaped and consolidated by the increasing importance state media communicators attach to online engagement metrics.

Topic Modeling: Perspectives From a Literature Review

“…They analyzed 33 million tweets and identified 20 topics. Zhang et al [77] analyzed 14,412 tweets posted by 13 organizations and identified six strategies: conflict, violence, and calling for a stable order. Xu and Xiong [78] investigated 100,000 tweets from Gillette's campaign on toxic masculinity, and suggested that influencers play an important role in influencing users' perceptions.…”

To What Extent Has China Pursued its Cultural Diplomacy Strategy through the BRI since 2013?

“…In the late 2000s, the National People's Congress and the top leadership of the CCP began emphasising the importance of cultural diplomacy in promoting Chinese culture abroad and enhancing the country's soft power (Hunter, 2009). In 2009, the CCP established an effective outreach program to build a positive international image and enhance China's soft power (Zhang et al, 2023). Cultural diplomacy is a powerful instrument for China to pursue its foreign policy and improve its national image.…”

Gauging Gun-Based Social Movements Frames: Identifying Frames through Topic Modeling and Assessing Public Engagement of Frames through Facebook Media Posts

“…Dehler-Holland, Schumacher, and Fichtner 2021;Stelmach and Boudet 2021;Walter and Ophir 2021;Zhang, Wang, and Hu 2021) Therefore, through our qualitative inspection process detailed above, the frames popular in gun control or gun rights discourse can be distinguished. For instance, previous research has identified important frames within the gun control/rights discourse such as health activism(DeFoster and Swalve 2018, Zoller and Casteel 2021, McKeever et al 2022, mental health(Goss 2015), gun violence prevention(Jacobs 2002, McMillan andBernstein 2022), or many other frames(Fleming et al 2016;Cook and Goss 2020, Merry 2020) and apply these frames to our topics.…”