The Public and the Platform Society: China’s Media Convergence at Ten
115 New Cavendish St
London W1W 6UW
UK
Please join the Westminster Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) for a research seminar with with Prof. Deqiang Ji (Communication University of China). The seminar will be held in The Pavilion (Room C1.18), in the New Cavendish Street building.
Details
Since 2014, a top-down national strategy has been implemented across the four-layered media system in China, which is crystallized as Media Convergence (Meiti Ronghe). This is widely considered as an active response to the enormous challenges caused by the rising dominance of digital platforms and the formation of a platformized society. In 2020, the government required the media system to deepen convergence with the internet to build the undetachable connection with the public. After ten years of “self-revolution”, media organizations in China have built cutting-edge digital infrastructure, mobile applications, and interfaces with diverse digital platforms. However, the competition for public attention and usage between media organizations and monopolistic commercial platforms is still going on, meanwhile redefining and rethinking the roles of (mainstream) media in a converged digital communication environment becomes critically important.
This talk will provide a preliminary framework to interpret the complex process of media convergence in China: politically consolidating authority of traditional media and supporting e-governance, economically integrating into a fast growing digital economy, as well as societally providing public services and building links with grassroots communities. Arguably, the overall goal of media convergence in China in the past ten years is to re-connect to the public in a platformized society.
Biographies
Prof. Deqiang Ji is Professor of International Communication, Vice Dean of the MOE Joint Institute of International Communication Research, Research Fellow of the State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence and Communication, Communication University of China. His research covers several interrelated fields including media and digitization, political economy of communication, and international communication. Recently, his research centers on the platformization of Chinese society driven by the complex power formation by internet giants, state agencies, and the public. He is the author of two monographs, namely Digitizing China: The Political Economy of China’s Digital Switchover (2019) and Imagining International Communication beyond Borders (2024). He also edited five books and published many academic papers in international journals such as International Communication Gazette, Chinese Journal of Communication, Media, Culture & Society, Javnost-the Public, Global Media and China, etc. He was the Vice Chair of the International Communication Section of International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) between 2016 and 2024. He is the Incoming Associate Editor of Communication Monographs, Managing Editor of Journal of Transcultural Communication, Commissioning Editor of Global Media and China.
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