Is There Ecological Reflexivity in Global Public Spheres? A Case Study of the Chinese Songhua

• In Event: 035 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Paper Session. Negotiating Universal Standards and Norms in Local Contexts

Abstract

Although there is significant scholarly interest in Chinese environmental problems, little is systematically studied about how global media discursively construct Chinese environmental crises, especially when they initially come under the global spotlight. This article, using narrative analysis, examines media coverage of the Chinese Songhua River Spill, the earliest and most influential Chinese major trans-boundary pollution crisis that attracted unprecedentedly high attention in global public spheres. I examine the mediated narratives that are used to report this major environmental crisis in Chinese official media, Western media, and Chinese liberal media. I find distinct narrative patterns in each media and the interplay of media narratives. The Western media consistently limit themselves to the symbolic pollution of Chinese political system. The Chinese official media shifts its reporting dramatically, seeking to preserve legitimacy. The Chinese liberal media attempts to walk a fine line between critique and support. These findings suggest that symbolic interpretation and communication of risks, instead of ontological risks as Beck argued, are the key to possible changes in global risk societies.

Author

• Haoyue Li, SUNY, Albany