Shao, G., Zhang, G., & Bowman, N. D. (2011). What is most important for my country is not most important for me: agenda setting effects in China. Communication Research, 38(5).

Gouliang ZhangGouliang ZhangGousong ”Oliver” ShaoGousong ”Oliver” Shao

Nicholas David BowmanNicholas David Bowman

Setting the Public vs. Private Agenda in Chinese Media

Background

• State-run media– Earliest agenda-setting function was to mobilize

youth to the Communist Party (40s)– A shift to “malevolent manipulation” approach,

which led to a loss of trust in the media (60s)– Movement to openness in governance brought

media system away from “blunt propaganda” (70s)

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 2

Quotes from Zhang, Shao & Bowman (2011)

Background

• Truly open?– 80s to today we see a shift to

“picture close to reality” but with an opinion environment “favorable to political stability and economic development”

– This perceptual shift might make the influence more successful in China

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 3

Quotes from Zhang, Shao & Bowman (2011)

Background

• Cultural influences on agenda-setting– US

• focus on individualism, privacy and advancing personal causes over social ones (cf. Triandis, 1995)

• Individuals have a right (and responsibility?) to question their government (cf. Becker, 1958)

– China• Emphasis on the collective, sacrifice for the greater good

(Shih, 1999)

• Lack of sharing “deviant” information (i.e., differing from the collective) (Noelle-Neumann, 1974)

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 4

Background

• Cultural influences on agenda-setting– Chinese media culture

creates: a) high need for orientation about

national welfareb) invariant, uniform messages

from one media source to the next (state-run)

c) lack of sharing of (perceived) alternative interpretations of the media agenda (such as the public agenda

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 5

Research Questions

• Assuming that individuals can differentiate between their social and personal agenda– H1: The agenda-setting effect in China should be

such that the correlation between the media agenda and an individual’s social agenda will be stronger than the same correlation with an individual’s personal agenda

– RQ1: Is there a meaningful correlation between an individual’s personal and social agenda?

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 6

Method

• N=835 phone interviews, Nov 2000, RR2=42%• All respondents were Shanghai residents• 55% male, mix of students, laborers,

executives, retirees and unemployed• Over-representative of:

– Males (sex ratio 122.22 > population ratio 105.74)– College degree (38% +/- 5.08 > 22% +/- 2.57)– Other metrics on par with population

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 7

Method

• Public Survey– Two open-ended questions (Gallup):

• “What do you think the most important problem facing the country/yourself nowadays?”

– Reliance on mediated vs. non-mediated news– Readership of People’s Daily, Jiefang Daily, or

Xinmin Evening News– Media literacy/critical ability questions– Demographics (coded into 3 groups for age and

education) 04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 8

Method

• Content Analysis– People’s Daily: main State newspaper– Jiefang Daily: Shanghai Communist party news– Xinmin Evening News: market-oriented

newspaper

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 9

Method

• Content Analysis– Coded 1 May to 1 December 2000 (seven months)– Sampled every six days, total of 114 newspapers– 6046 total stories, even distribution across

sources– Aggregate-level issue salience from seven major

issues (κ = .92):• Political development, economic problems,

transportation and environment, public safety, Taiwan, health care reform, WTO

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 10

56 open-ended issues 13 7 for analysis56 open-ended issues 13 7 for analysis

Results

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 11

Results

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 12

R2 = .29R2 = .29

R2 = .62R2 = .62

Results

• Social & personal agendas only correlated with:– Elder respondents– Poorly educated– Non-mediated– Media not real

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 13

Discussion

• Chinese citizens:– Make distinctions between the social and

personal agenda– Media agendas correlate strongly with the

espoused social agenda, not the personal

• Consistent with a culture that (a) emphasizes the distinction between national and personal interest and (b) encourages the suppression of personal interest to national ones

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 14

Individual Differences

Elder respondents seemed to lack the ability to distinguish social and personal agenda, possibly due to a lifetime of

socialist orientation?

Low media users reported the strongest relationship between

media and social agendas!

Individual Differences

Elder respondents seemed to lack the ability to distinguish social and personal agenda, possibly due to a lifetime of

socialist orientation?

Low media users reported the strongest relationship between

media and social agendas!

Limitations

• Data is 10+ years old– More international coverage of China since then

(e.g., Beijing Olympics, US investments)

• Correlational, not causal– Cross-lagged correlations?

• Broad-issue focus• Attitudes, not behaviors

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 15

Conclusions

• In a culture that emphasizes a divide between public and private thought, public thoughts are both:– Influenced by (state-run)

media– More likely to be shared

publically and acted upon

• A faux, but influentialinfluential, agenda

04/10/23 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 16