From a Silent Epidemic to a Loud Problem: The Social Construction of Hepatitis B News in China, 1980-2010

• In Event: Health News: Autism, Hep B, HIV

Abstract

Powerful institutions are often regarded as the primary news definers. However, in contemporary China, this is not always true. Using the Hepatitis B epidemic as a case study, I find that the news construction on this issue does not totally grant privilege to the political establishment. Rather, in the news battle of making HBV into a social problem, especially surrounding the topic of discrimination, grassroots NGO activists, as important policy entrepreneurs, not only affect the construction of media agenda but also successfully change the state’s policy.

Author

• Dong Dong, Hong Kong Baptist U