Media and conflict in the era of social media in China

Details

• Time: 18:00-19:00
• Date: Monday, 18 April 2022
• Venue: Zhumu (Booking online attendance at COM@xjtlu.edu.cn, a link to “Zhumu” will be sent via email. Booking requests will be accepted until 16:00 of the seminar’s day)

Abstract

This talk explores the media and conflict relationship in the age of social media through the lens of China. Inspired by the concepts of medialization of conflict and actor-network theory, the book centers on four main actors in wars and conflicts: social media platform, mainstream news organizations, online users and social media content. These four human and non-human actors associate, interact and negotiate with each other in the social media network. The central argument is that social media is playing an enabling role in contemporary wars and conflicts. Both professional media outlets and web users employ the functionalities of social media platforms to set, counter-set or expand the online public agenda. Social media platform embodies a web of technological and human complexities with different actors, factors, interests, and power relations. These four actors and the macro social-political context are influential in the medialization of conflict in the social media era.

Speaker

Shixin Ivy Zhang (PhD, University of Leeds, UK) is associate professor of Journalism Studies in the School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She specialises in journalism studies, media and conflict, media globalization, and media management. She is the author of three monographs: Impact of Globalization on the Local Press in China (2014), Chinese War Correspondents: Covering Wars and Conflicts in the 21st Century (2016), and Media and Conflict in the Social Media Era in China (2020).