The Study On The Role Of The Mass Media In The Public Crisis Incidents In Present China

In the development of society, the media, as a part of it, has been playing an important role. In recent years, as the crisis incidents happen more frequently, our government has made continuous progress in information disclosure and public emergency response, which play a positive role in promoting the participation of the media in the public emergency response. In addition, the public crisis incidents not only make an impact on social development but also put forward a new subject about the media functionality and its role.The present essay considers function-role as the methodology and the theory of the media role in a public crisis incident is constructed, which means the media plays three essential roles-information reporter, event interpreter and public opinion supervisor. Built on this theoretical model, the essay conducts a tentative analysis of one public crisis incident, Shishou Incident. Through the analysis of the media role in information reporter, event interpreter and public opinion supervisor, the essay comes to a conclusion that in the incident, the media did not play an ideal role. The incident demonstrates that there are still many difficulties and obstacles in playing the media role in public crisis incidents.Faced with a crisis-prone situation, the essay maintains that in response to public crisis incidents, we can construct a mature mechanism of the media response to a public crisis based on the risk management thought and achieve its normalization and institutionalization. The theoretical model constructed in this essay at the same time provides an operational method for the mechanism. The essay maintains that it requires the continuous improvement of the social environment and the media's own efforts to play the media role in the public crisis incidents.