| Shanghai has increasingly showcased on the intercultural dialogue as it is carried out day by day in this growing international metropolis. In this context, the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) has become a major contributor. On the first day of January, 2008, SMG launched the International Channel Shanghai (ICS), its own multilingual channel broadcasted to people living in Shanghai and neighboring regions. Culture Matters is an English discussion program aired on ICS with guests from various cultural backgrounds that discusses personal intercultural encounters and aims to bridge cultural differences.As a newly developed discussion program centered on cultural topics, Culture Matters has attracted guests with intercultural experiences and been well-received among its viewers. However, from the academic perspective, the approach by which it presents cultures and the quality of the final product are not as "intercultural" as it claims to be. Discussing cultural differences does not necessarily equate with being sensitive to varieties of cultural essence.During a six-month internship at Culture Matters, the author closely observed the production process and originated the idea to assess its intercultural sensitivity by circulating a follow-up questionnaire among the invited guests. The data was then coded and analyzed via SPSS, mainly using the quantitative and combining some qualitative methodology. The results obtained are contrasted with the research assumptions and some suggestions for future development are made. The results turned out that Culture Matters was well-received among its guests and bridges Chinese and Western culture. It explored the profundity of cultures while comparing and contrasting cultural phenomenon. And the program could be improved from many aspectsIntercultural communication study is a multi-disciplinary subject, and so is this thesis. Crossing between mass communication and intercultural communication differences, the thesis attempts to provide perspectives on which the English talk programs made in China can cultivate more intercultural dimensions. |
