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Large-scale quantitative evidence of media impact on public opinion toward China

Author

Listed:
  • Junming Huang

    (Princeton University)

  • Gavin G. Cook

    (Princeton University)

  • Yu Xie

    (Princeton University
    Peking University)

Abstract

Do mass media influence people’s opinions of other countries? Using BERT, a deep neural network-based natural language processing model, this study analyzes a large corpus of 267,907 China-related articles published by The New York Times since 1970. The output from The New York Times is then compared to a longitudinal data set constructed from 101 cross-sectional surveys of the American public’s views on China, revealing that the reporting of The New York Times on China in one year explains 54% of the variance in American public opinion on China in the next. This result confirms hypothesized links between media and public opinion and helps shed light on how mass media can influence the public opinion of foreign countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Junming Huang & Gavin G. Cook & Yu Xie, 2021. "Large-scale quantitative evidence of media impact on public opinion toward China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-021-00846-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-021-00846-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joshua D. Kertzer & Thomas Zeitzoff, 2017. "A Bottom‐Up Theory of Public Opinion about Foreign Policy," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(3), pages 543-558, July.
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    4. Danny Hayes & Matt Guardino, 2011. "The Influence of Foreign Voices on U.S. Public Opinion," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 831-851, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Annah Lake Zhu & Ruishan Chen & Jessica Rizzolo & Xiaodan Li, 2023. "The Politicization of COVID-19 Origin Stories: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Survey in China," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Eric G. Scheuch & Mark Ortiz & Ganga Shreedhar & Laura Thomas-Walters, 2024. "The power of protest in the media: examining portrayals of climate activism in UK news," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.

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