Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas

China’s growing assertiveness in dealing with maritime territorial disputes has significant ramifications for regional peace and stability. Chinese government has been increasingly responsive to public opinion when making foreign policy. Media in China may play an important role in guiding public op...

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Main Authors: Hongyu Wang, Tianji Cai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
Series:Cogent Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2018.1482995
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spelling doaj-2447d9b7b143487e99b5530030e8b48a2021-03-18T16:21:41ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862018-01-014110.1080/23311886.2018.14829951482995Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China SeasHongyu Wang0Tianji Cai1University of Macau (UM)University of Macau (UM)China’s growing assertiveness in dealing with maritime territorial disputes has significant ramifications for regional peace and stability. Chinese government has been increasingly responsive to public opinion when making foreign policy. Media in China may play an important role in guiding public opinion and influencing the direction of China’ foreign policy. This study uses the survey method to compare the effect of differential media exposure on Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas. We find that intentional news exposure on China’s state media, commercial media, and online news outlets exerts no effect on Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s foreign policy. By contrast, incidental news exposure on WeChat (a relationship-oriented social media network) plays a larger role in increasing Chinese college students’ support for the forceful resolution of maritime disputes than Weibo (a news media site), when students communicate in a homogeneous environment. Moreover, cross-cutting exposure on Weibo is conducive to the development of moderate, reasoned, and open-minded opinions on China’s foreign relations, but students cannot reap the same benefits of cross-cutting exposure on WeChat. These findings support both the selective exposure hypothesis (intentional exposure) and the large media effect model (incidental exposure). We contribute to the literature by emphasizing the importance of differentiating media exposure mode, media content, and the relationship structure of social media when studying media effects on public opinion formation.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2018.1482995media exposurewechat & weibointentional media exposureincidental media exposurecross-cutting media exposurechina’s maritime claims and disputes
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Hongyu Wang
Tianji Cai
spellingShingle Hongyu Wang
Tianji Cai
Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
Cogent Social Sciences
media exposure
wechat & weibo
intentional media exposure
incidental media exposure
cross-cutting media exposure
china’s maritime claims and disputes
author_facet Hongyu Wang
Tianji Cai
author_sort Hongyu Wang
title Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
title_short Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
title_full Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
title_fullStr Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
title_full_unstemmed Media exposure and Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas
title_sort media exposure and chinese college students’ attitudes toward china’s maritime claims and disputes in the south and east china seas
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
series Cogent Social Sciences
issn 2331-1886
publishDate 2018-01-01
description China’s growing assertiveness in dealing with maritime territorial disputes has significant ramifications for regional peace and stability. Chinese government has been increasingly responsive to public opinion when making foreign policy. Media in China may play an important role in guiding public opinion and influencing the direction of China’ foreign policy. This study uses the survey method to compare the effect of differential media exposure on Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s maritime claims and disputes in the South and East China Seas. We find that intentional news exposure on China’s state media, commercial media, and online news outlets exerts no effect on Chinese college students’ attitudes toward China’s foreign policy. By contrast, incidental news exposure on WeChat (a relationship-oriented social media network) plays a larger role in increasing Chinese college students’ support for the forceful resolution of maritime disputes than Weibo (a news media site), when students communicate in a homogeneous environment. Moreover, cross-cutting exposure on Weibo is conducive to the development of moderate, reasoned, and open-minded opinions on China’s foreign relations, but students cannot reap the same benefits of cross-cutting exposure on WeChat. These findings support both the selective exposure hypothesis (intentional exposure) and the large media effect model (incidental exposure). We contribute to the literature by emphasizing the importance of differentiating media exposure mode, media content, and the relationship structure of social media when studying media effects on public opinion formation.
topic media exposure
wechat & weibo
intentional media exposure
incidental media exposure
cross-cutting media exposure
china’s maritime claims and disputes
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2018.1482995
work_keys_str_mv AT hongyuwang mediaexposureandchinesecollegestudentsattitudestowardchinasmaritimeclaimsanddisputesinthesouthandeastchinaseas
AT tianjicai mediaexposureandchinesecollegestudentsattitudestowardchinasmaritimeclaimsanddisputesinthesouthandeastchinaseas
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