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III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1: THESIS STATEMENT 1 1.2... more III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1: THESIS STATEMENT 1 1.2: DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS 5 1.3: DOMINATION AND ARTS OF RESISTANCE 10 1.4: CHAPTER OUTLINE 14 CHAPTER 2: MEDIA WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 15 2.1: PARTY-STATE STRATEGIES FOR CONTROL AND DOMINATION 16 2.2: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN CHINA 21 CHAPTER 3: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 24 3.1: METHOD OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 24 3.2: CORPUS AND NEWSPAPERS 27 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIA REPRESENATIONS OF THE WENG'AN INCIDENT......30 4.1: THE WENG'AN INCIDENT 30 4.2: OVERVIEW OF THE COVERAGE BY GUIZHOU DAILY AND SOUTHERN WEEKEND 31 4.3: ANALYSIS OF INITIAL PARTY-PRESS RESPONSE (GUIZHOU DAILY) 34 4.4: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL STABILITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (GUIZHOU DAILY) 50 4.5: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL STABILITY AND GOVERNMENT POWER (SOUTHERN WEEKEND) 65 4.6: ANALYSIS OF WENG'AN THE UNSTABLE TOWN (SOUTHERN WEEKEND) 74 4.7: SUMMARY 92 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY 103 APPENDIX 1: ...
© Lars Flottorp Ness 2013 The Discourse of Mass Incidents: Party-Press and Investigative Media Representations of the Weng’an Incident http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo, Dec 5, 2013
ABSTRACT This study will examine two different media representations of the Weng’an incident, ... more ABSTRACT
This study will examine two different media representations of the Weng’an incident, a social
riot that took place in Weng’an county in Guizhou Province during the summer of 2008. The
aim of my thesis is to scrutinize how the party-press and the critical press cover the sensitive
topic of mass incidents. For this purpose, I have carried out a discourse analysis of the media
coverage by the provincial party-paper Guizhou Daily and the investigative newspaper
Southern Weekend. This dual focus on both the party-press and investigative media texts is
undoubtedly one of the strong aspects of the thesis, because such a comparative view can help
highlight the media diversity one actually can find within state-dominated media systems,
such as the one in China. The analysis of the party-press coverage will contribute to not only
getting a better understanding of how the orthodox party-papers handle very sensitive topics
in the discursive domain, but also making it easier to grasp and assert the role of investigative
journalism and its significance in contemporary Chinese media. One of the most interesting
findings in this thesis is how investigative newspapers conduct critical journalism under
conditions of domination. My analysis shows the subtle discursive strategies of resistance
used by the critical press in order to camouflage critical comments and discussions of
sensitive aspects, therefore to make them politically acceptable and publishable. This thesis
shows that one major discursive strategy of resistance is polyphony – a multitude of official
and non-official voices, which is also a particular feature of critical investigative media
representations. In this polyphony, the strategic use of the official voice and discourse plays
an instrumental role in making non-official critical voices and views seem more legitimate
and therefore less transgressive. Other subtle strategies of resistance include conscious lexical
and syntactical choices that help to downplay the discursive representation of social conflicts
by implicitly pointing to the contradictions between an illegitimate corrupt local government
and the masses. My study shows how Southern Weekend’s role and function are connected
with the use of such strategies, which enable investigative newspapers to resist the traditional
party-press style of journalism. I argue that Southern Weekend’s media representation of the
Weng’an incident can be understood as an example of how investigative journalism in China
has created new spaces of media representations.
III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1: THESIS STATEMENT 1 1.2... more III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1: THESIS STATEMENT 1 1.2: DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS 5 1.3: DOMINATION AND ARTS OF RESISTANCE 10 1.4: CHAPTER OUTLINE 14 CHAPTER 2: MEDIA WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 15 2.1: PARTY-STATE STRATEGIES FOR CONTROL AND DOMINATION 16 2.2: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN CHINA 21 CHAPTER 3: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 24 3.1: METHOD OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 24 3.2: CORPUS AND NEWSPAPERS 27 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIA REPRESENATIONS OF THE WENG'AN INCIDENT......30 4.1: THE WENG'AN INCIDENT 30 4.2: OVERVIEW OF THE COVERAGE BY GUIZHOU DAILY AND SOUTHERN WEEKEND 31 4.3: ANALYSIS OF INITIAL PARTY-PRESS RESPONSE (GUIZHOU DAILY) 34 4.4: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL STABILITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (GUIZHOU DAILY) 50 4.5: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL STABILITY AND GOVERNMENT POWER (SOUTHERN WEEKEND) 65 4.6: ANALYSIS OF WENG'AN THE UNSTABLE TOWN (SOUTHERN WEEKEND) 74 4.7: SUMMARY 92 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY 103 APPENDIX 1: ...
© Lars Flottorp Ness 2013 The Discourse of Mass Incidents: Party-Press and Investigative Media Representations of the Weng’an Incident http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo, Dec 5, 2013
ABSTRACT This study will examine two different media representations of the Weng’an incident, ... more ABSTRACT
This study will examine two different media representations of the Weng’an incident, a social
riot that took place in Weng’an county in Guizhou Province during the summer of 2008. The
aim of my thesis is to scrutinize how the party-press and the critical press cover the sensitive
topic of mass incidents. For this purpose, I have carried out a discourse analysis of the media
coverage by the provincial party-paper Guizhou Daily and the investigative newspaper
Southern Weekend. This dual focus on both the party-press and investigative media texts is
undoubtedly one of the strong aspects of the thesis, because such a comparative view can help
highlight the media diversity one actually can find within state-dominated media systems,
such as the one in China. The analysis of the party-press coverage will contribute to not only
getting a better understanding of how the orthodox party-papers handle very sensitive topics
in the discursive domain, but also making it easier to grasp and assert the role of investigative
journalism and its significance in contemporary Chinese media. One of the most interesting
findings in this thesis is how investigative newspapers conduct critical journalism under
conditions of domination. My analysis shows the subtle discursive strategies of resistance
used by the critical press in order to camouflage critical comments and discussions of
sensitive aspects, therefore to make them politically acceptable and publishable. This thesis
shows that one major discursive strategy of resistance is polyphony – a multitude of official
and non-official voices, which is also a particular feature of critical investigative media
representations. In this polyphony, the strategic use of the official voice and discourse plays
an instrumental role in making non-official critical voices and views seem more legitimate
and therefore less transgressive. Other subtle strategies of resistance include conscious lexical
and syntactical choices that help to downplay the discursive representation of social conflicts
by implicitly pointing to the contradictions between an illegitimate corrupt local government
and the masses. My study shows how Southern Weekend’s role and function are connected
with the use of such strategies, which enable investigative newspapers to resist the traditional
party-press style of journalism. I argue that Southern Weekend’s media representation of the
Weng’an incident can be understood as an example of how investigative journalism in China
has created new spaces of media representations.