Research On Media&Public Relations Of China's Government In Crisis Management

Currently, China is experiencing a crucial period of changing in economy, society, and culture. Social differentiation and integration, normlessness and order reconstruction, crisis and opportunity of systematic shock, are becoming the major social contradictions, while the conflict of interests for different social groups are getting more severe. At the same time, fast development of new media on the basis of micro-blogs, BBS, and communities by way of internet and cell phones, has terminated the domination of traditional media, and become the major source of hotspots of public opinions. However, China's crisis management does not catch up with the steps of new media. The news censorship is still prevalent in handling media&public relations. By organizing events in history and positive analysis, this paper attempts to present the current status of media&public relations of Chinese government in crisis management in a comprehensive, objective, and continuous way, seeking a breakthrough for current dilemma.By gathering a large amount of literature data, the author quantitatively analyzed the hotspots of public opinions in2010and2011with specific case studies to come up with the following conclusions.1) The four stages of China's crisis management in media&public relations include blank period, germination period, lag period, and developing period, since the establishment of PR China. Chinese government has been loosening its restrictions on media over the years.2) The government and media have been watching each other and playing games. The government exerts effects on media by news source control, regulations and policies, and political environment, while media influence the government with bilateral message delivery, social coordination, and ideology.3) The manipulation of media&public relations by Chinese government exhibited certain features including subject authority, compulsion, object complexity, passiveness, public welfare targeting, and convenience in broadcasting. Moreover, another two specific conditions that the government has to face are the inherent affinity and dependency of Chinese media, and panic, emotionalism, and diversity of public opinions.4) Though the capability of China's crisis management of media&public relations has improved, the problems of weak sense of crisis and media&public relations, missing of routine system design, lack of organizations, professionals, and techniques still exist. On the basis of these conclusions, the author suggests that in order to realize good media&public relations in crisis management, Chinese government must possess sharp perception, response instantly, face media and public sincerely with an open gesture, tell the truth, guarantee the public's right to know, and encourage media to play its role in Chinese society. News spokesmen should be granted with sufficient power to facilitate the government to communicate with public like a bridge. The government should exploit media's advantages according to their own features. Excellent communication skills are also required to avoid potential problems. Special agencies for media&public relations should be established. Professional organizations from outside could be also employed in case of necessity, while professional public relation practitioners should be valued to give full play to their roles.