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Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident

Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident

Zhou Shan, Lu Tang
Copyright: © 2020 |Pages: 16
ISBN13: 9781522598695|ISBN10: 1522598693|EISBN13: 9781522598701
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-9869-5.ch029
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MLA

Shan, Zhou, and Lu Tang. "Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident." Media Controversy: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, edited by Information Resources Management Association, IGI Global, 2020, pp. 497-512. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9869-5.ch029

APA

Shan, Z. & Tang, L. (2020). Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident. In I. Management Association (Ed.), Media Controversy: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice (pp. 497-512). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9869-5.ch029

Chicago

Shan, Zhou, and Lu Tang. "Social Media and the Public Sphere in China: A Case Study of Political Discussion on Weibo after the Wenzhou High-Speed Rail Derailment Accident." In Media Controversy: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice, edited by Information Resources Management Association, 497-512. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2020. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-9869-5.ch029

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Abstract

This chapter seeks to answer the question of whether microblog can function as a promising form of public sphere. Utilizing a combined framework of public sphere based on the theories of Mouffe (1995) and Dahlgren (2005), it examines the political discussion and interrogation on Sina Weibo, China's leading microblog site, concerning the Wenzhou high-speed train derailment accident in July of 2011 through a critical discourse analysis. Its results suggest that Weibo enables the creation of new social imaginary and genre of discourse as well as the construction of new social identities.

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