International (Mis)Information and Domestic Agenda Setting in Autocracy

• In Event: Information and Misinformation in Autocracy: Evidence from China

Abstract

Without an electoral mandate, an autocratic government often feels the need to legitimize its domestic policy agenda to its population and generate public support for it. How does it do so? Existing literature has explored strategies such as mass campaign and media propaganda. In this paper, by studying the case of China, we examine another subtle method used by the CCP government to quietly persuade citizens of the significance and urgency of its policy agenda: manipulation of their international information. Applying machine-learning text analysis to over 28,000 pieces of international news aired on the state-run TV network between 2003 and 2015, and combining the results with annual work reports issued by the central government, we conduct a panel analysis and find that state media’s news coverage on foreign countries serves an agenda setting function for the government’s domestic policy goals. Specifically, issues that are defined as policy priorities by the government in a given year receive more extensive coverage in international news; conversely, issues that are no longer policy priorities receive less media attention in the reporting on foreign countries. The findings show that the state media, by extensively reporting on similar issues abroad, highlights the salience and necessity of related domestic policies to its viewers, thus swaying public opinion in favor of these policies.

Authors

• Chengyuan Ji, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

• Hanzhang Liu, University of Pennsylvania