Mediacracy vs Democracy in People's Republic of China

Abstract

Today`s world is undergoing drastic changes. China and its information policy play an increasingly important role in its own society and contemporary international relations. Increasing soft power is the foundation for the realization of the Chinese Dream. A new strategy of building the Chinese “powerful cultural state” successfully combines internal and external, ideological long-term goals. The key objectives of the strategy are mobilization and consolidation of the Chinese nation on the basis of innovative cultural values, by means of cultural “soft power” that will improve social cohesion, social interaction in the outside world. Scientific novelty of the study is provided by the original mixed-methodology that allowed to trace the modernizing essence of China`s social media and its practices and reveal innovative managerial specificity in implementing Chinese values in global media space. The originality of the research is ensured by the use of authentic sources in Chinese language and empirical knowledge of the researchers in the study of China`s new media as instrument of foreign policy.

Do media really govern in China and outside China? Can media be considered as a political weapon? The author analyzes some aspects of China’s geo-strategic communication in the transformation of the international system, as well as the prospects and challenges of increasing role and influence of China in the world and its possible consequences. The author examines and studies the roles media play at a time of crisis, as an information resource and unifying force. The author also tries to identify information and communication technologies` impact on the reader. The analytical part deals with Chinese political language and the possibilities of applying the author`s mixed-methodology to the solution of some interdisciplinary research. Applying the methodology makes it possible to identify the trajectory of ideological variations and governance encoded in Chinese media texts.

The aim of the article is the analysis of the discursive strategies and some characteristics of the media influence while shaping images in the spheres of China`s internal and foreign policy. Critical discourse analysis is used as a main research method.