BIO

My name is Luca Pazos, and I am a second-year student at Florida State University majoring in Political Science and Business Management.

I have spent this year conducting research under Ph.D. Candidate Qing Wang about the strategic use of censorship in China to control news of collective action events coming into the country. We have sought to build a framework that accurately predicts what Chinese State media sources will most accurately report a collective action event, and determine variables that trigger censorship in any given Chinese state media source.

In order to prepare myself for my future livelihood of law,I have sought on campus involvement in the form of clubs like Phi Alpha Delta in order to further my professional development. The Honors program has also been instrumental in affording me opportunities to reach outside of my comfort zone and help me develop myself with the help of fantastic teachers that I have kept in contact with long after I have finished their classes.

Selective Reporting in State Media of Authoritarian Regimes

Abstract

Historical waves of political upheaval, particularly in the last 40 years have demonstrated the power and pervasiveness of the media’s role in contributing to political mobilization. In response, autocratic governments have employed measures to deter citizens from emulating successful collective action abroad. China offers a pertinent case study for understanding restricted access to independent media because of the state apparatuses that exist to wield strategic control over the media by the government. Past research has indicated possible evidence of bias towards more positive reporting of nations with a strong economic relationship with China. However, there is still a significant gap in research regarding patterns of reporting in this massive media infrastructure. This project investigates patterns of reporting and censorship in Chinese state media with an emphasis on coverage of political unrest abroad. Herein we present research that compiles articles from several Chinese state media outlets on international events such as coups, protests, unrest, and civil conflict to cross-reference them with western outlets reporting on the same events in the same time frame in order to observe trends, differences, and discrepancies between them. The methods used consist of linguistic statistical analysis and qualitative analysis. The current results indicate that among many other interesting developments, Chinese state outlets are much less likely to report on political upheaval, and when they do, they are far more likely to attribute them to outside intervention (especially if they suspect US involvement), and they often report on these events in a negative light.

Keywords: censorship, China, foreign news, authoritarian,