Dressing-up the Dragon? Chinese media as ‘Soft Power’

Speaker: Daya Thussu (University of Westminster)

Topic: Dressing-up the Dragon? Chinese media as ‘Soft Power’

The growing globalization of the Chinese media is integral to China’s soft power discourse. As part of its ‘going out’ strategy, China’s media is working towards promoting its vision to the world and to counter negative images of China in the US-dominated global media. From mobile telephony to online communication, China has witnessed a revolution in the production and distribution of its cultural products now reaching all corners of an increasingly digitized globe. This talk will suggest that the state-funded ‘central media’ – Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, People’s Daily and the English-language China Daily – will need to pay more attention to the cultural and communicative aspects of the world beyond the West to make China’s soft power more effective.

Biography:Daya Thussu is Professor of International Communication, Co-Director of the India Media Centre and Research Advisor to the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London. He is the author/editor of eighteen books, and is the Founder and Managing Editor of the Sage journals Global Media and Communication and Editor-in-Chief of Global Media and China. His latest book China’s Media Go Global, co-edited with Professor Hugo de Burgh and Professor Anbin Shi, is published by Routledge in 2018.

Notes: This is also one of the Global China Media Seminar Series (GCMSS), co-organised with the Global China Institute.