A Study On Risk Communication Of The Local Communist Party Newspaper

China has entered a high-risk society as various conflicts like the unbalanceddevelopment, the environmental deterioration and the medical dispute are getting intensified.How to resolve the risks has become an increasingly urgent task for the government, thepublic as well as the media. The concept of risk communication, since its first appearance in1970s, is becoming a mainstream method of risk control. As the main channel for thegovernment to do risk communication, as well as the bridge of the government and the public,the local communist party newspaper is a critical player in the risk communication.This paper takes the Nanfang Daily as an example. Based on the formula of“Risk=Hazard+Outrage”, this paper studies three types of risk:“Low Hazard&High Outrage”,“High Hazard&High Outrage” and “High Hazard&Low Outrage”. Through the analysis ofthe number of reports, news sources and themes, this paper studies the current situation andshortcomings of the risk communication of Nanfang Daily, and tries to give advice on e riskcommunication strategies for the local communist party newspaper.This study finds out that Nanfang Daily has the following shortcomings: subjective andone-sided opinions, the dominant official ideology, extremely portrayed images and thelacking of the public opinion perspective. Regarding to this, the paper suggests that the localparty newspaper should adopt the “outrage management” strategy based on the risk perceptiontheory for the “Low Hazard&High Outrage” risk. As for the “High Hazard&High Outrage”risk, the local party newspaper should do crisis communication, promoting the publicinvolvement into the risk decision making. Lastly, in the case of the “High Hazard&LowOutrage” risk, the newspaper should be devoted to find the balance between stimulating publicfear and keeping the public calm in the process of precaution advocacy.