Revisiting Media Effects in Authoritarian Societies

Jie Lu, John Aldrich and Tianjian Shi
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John Aldrich: Department of Political Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Tianjian Shi: Department of Political Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

Politics & Society, 2014, vol. 42, issue 2, 253-283

Abstract: We argue that, to effectively understand media effects in authoritarian societies, researchers must assess different types of media strategies adopted by authoritarian leaders. Using survey data from two Chinese cities, we examine the effects of two types of media strategies adopted by the Chinese government, targeting political attitudes and nonpolitical values and norms, respectively. Following a new line of research, we contrast China’s domestic-controlled media to foreign free media. After accounting for the selection bias in Chinese urbanites’ media access, we do not find sufficient evidence for the effect of the media strategies directly targeting their democratic conceptions. However, sufficient and robust evidence shows that more intensive consumption of diverse media sources, including foreign media, does significantly but indirectly counteract the Chinese government’s political campaigns targeting its citizens’ democratic conceptions, via thwarting the government’s media strategies to cultivate a collectivistic norm in the society.

Keywords: media effects; media control; authoritarian societies; urban China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:42:y:2014:i:2:p:253-283

DOI: 10.1177/0032329213519423

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