Frames and framing effects in Chinese online and offline crisis communication: the case study of a celebrity scandal

This study develops a model for analyzing the flow of frames and the multiple levels of framing effects in Chinese crisis communication both online and offline. To investigate the convergence and/or divergence of traditional media and social media in framing a crisis event in China, the study uses the sample of a celebrity scandal case that received extensive attention both online and offline. The empirical findings showed that crisis communicative strategies (CCSs), that is, the frames used in crisis communication, were correlated with those used in newspaper coverage (i.e. frames in representation) but were not correlated with the CCSs used by the online public (i.e. frames in thoughts). Specific and defensive CCSs, such as attacking the accusers and denial, led to fewer favorable responsibility-oriented frames than ambiguous strategies, such as excuses and justification. This finding supports the assumptions of classic situational crisis communication theory. However, none of the above-mentioned CCSs significantly predicted the relationship-oriented frames in thoughts. Relationship-oriented frames were found to be a predictor of the valence of online public opinion whereas no CCS was observed to be influential in the online public opinions expressed by social media users.     

Dirty looks: Politicians’ appearance and unethical behaviour

Over half of British Members of Parliament (MPs) were found to have overclaimed on their expenses in the 2009 expenses scandal. We conducted an exploratory analysis of whether the facial appearance of the MPs (N = 636) is associated with overclaiming, as research has found that facial appearance is correlated with behavioural outcomes. Participants (N = 4,727) previously unfamiliar with the MPs made trait ratings (physically attractive, charismatic, criminal, competent, financially greedy, honest, likeable, organised, physically dominant, and sincere) of each politician’s face. The latent factor structure indicated the traits could be grouped into the three broad factors identified in previous work: criminality (the traits criminal, financially greedy, and physically dominant), attractiveness (the traits physically attractive, charismatic, honest, likeable, and sincere), and competence (competent and organised). We found more attractive MPs tended to overclaim less, as did more criminal-looking MPs. But more competent-appearing politicians tended to overclaim more. We relate these findings to theories of moral licensing and moral consistency and discuss the limitations and context-specific nature of our findings.     

The use of celebrity scandals and sensational news for identity negotiations: analyzing gossip among the queers within Taiwanese families

Since the late 1990s, Taiwanese celebrity scandals and sensational news stories have addressed how the families of gay children understand the latters' idiosyncratic sexual identity. Conducting studies on audience reception and searching for divergent readings were once useful means of understanding resistance and resilience among marginalized groups. This study of the interactive interpretive practices among viewers in a family further contextualizes the dialectical formation of queer1^1. In this study, I use the term queer to refer to the larger lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) community in Taiwan. However, since the usage of gay and lesbian is more common than that of queer in Taiwanese everyday conversations, I use gay and lesbian when referring to the context of family conversations. Since the early 1990s, Tóng-zhì (vernacular for queer) has become the most common name for the younger generation in the LGBT community in the Greater Chinese area. According to Chou Wah-Shan (2000 Chou, W. (2000). Tongzhi: Politics of same-sex eroticism in Chinese societies. New York: Haworth Press. [Google Scholar], p. 2), Tóng-zhì was coined as a means of signifying “politics beyond the homo-hetero duality” and “integrating the sexual into the social”. Specifically, the social networks I am referring to here are the Taiwan Tong-Zhi Hotline Foundation and the Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association. In the former Tong-Zhi Hotline, I worked as a volunteer and an advisor; in the latter, I am a member of the steering committee, and I serve on the advisory board. subjectivities in Taiwan, a society that emphasizes the performance of an appropriate self in social relations and maintaining family harmony. Over a three-year period of fieldwork in Taipei, this study employed ethnographic methods to interview 16 gay men and lesbians and their mothers in order to clarify how celebrity scandals and sensational news function as a site for identity negotiation within families with gay children. This study argues that vernacular interpretive practices within families produce resources of resistance, accommodation and even pleasure, which can be used to understand the nascent Taiwanese gay identity in relation to significant others.     

北京奥运会开幕式“假唱门”事件的回顾与反思

以北京奥运会开幕式“假唱门”事件为案例,从法哲学的视角切入论述,着力于该事件法哲学阐释的一般性和特殊性,即在整个运行体系中体现了整体运行理念,在外部形象方面获得整体与局部的精神统一,当拥有这种外在的,且为体现开幕式演出真实性的权利要求时,事件的内在属性本身存在演出权利的分属性,由此形成了外在整体形象与内在属性本身的价值冲突。透过该事件的法哲学意义层面的思考,一方面认为中国离法治社会和现代公民社会的建立还有很长的路要走,也亟待相关政策法规和行业秩序的完善与发展。另一方面认为事件本身引起全社会广泛积极的参与互动反思,为推进中国法治社会与公民社会的未来发展打下了基础。最后,对“假唱门”事件与民众认知衔接过程中媒体的作用进行了论述,分析了该事件的国际媒体政治表现。     

Contamination,deception and ‘othering’: the media framing of the horsemeat scandal

Food and consumption practices are cultural symbols of communities, nations, identity and a collective imaginary which bind people in complex ways. The media framed the 2013 horsemeat scandal by fusing discourses beyond the politics of food. Three recurrent media frames and dominant discourses converged with wider political debates and cultural stereotypes in circulation in the media around immigration and intertextual discourse on historical food scandals. What this reveals is how food consumption and food-related scandals give rise to affective media debates and frames which invoke fear of the other and the transgression of a sacred British identity, often juxtaposing ‘Britishness’ with a constructed ‘Otherness’.     

浅析民初奉天省第一届国会议员选举中出现的问题

民国初年,国会作为资产阶级民主制的标志,被推上了中国的政治舞台。它是对统治中国两千多年的封建君主专制制度的否定。本文考察、分析并论述了奉天省第一届国会议员选举过程中出现的问题及其原因。透过这些史实,我们可以深入了解民国初年中国政治和政治制度的重大变化,并感受到这一变化给当时社会所带来的巨大影响。     

中国民航业态特征及其服务利润链分析——“返航门”事件周年纪思

中国民航业态特征决定了旅客忠诚度对中国民航公司收益率影响有限，内部服务质量才是民航服务利润链有效作用的关键链环。中国民航服务利润链失效的根本原因是关键链环战略性倒置和内部服务质量存在严重缺陷。     

关于美国会计丑闻和我国注册会计师责任保险的思考

从2001年开始在美国发生的一系列巨型企业会计丑闻被揭露以后,由于这些企业股票暴跌而遭受数十亿美元损失的愤怒的投资者,包括银行、保险公司和基金组织,将矛头直指这些企业的CEO及其负责其审计的会计师事务所。人们开始关注注册会计师职业责任保险(CPALiabilityInsurance)这一与注册会计师的职业风险密切相关的保险险种。这一点,对我国相关行业颇有启发。