Study On Aesthetic Communication Of The New York Times Chinese Online Edition

The upsurge of new media and we media use has fundamentally changed the way information was disseminated and received. The traditional information dissemination has changed from professional news organization oriented to individual oriented dissemination. The gate-keeping role of the media has been downplayed, and their agenda-setting prerogative has been challenged. Among such fierce competition, problems also arise. For one thing, traditional media find it hard to compete with the new media simply by putting on the Internet what the paper has to offer; for another, the online media are relentlessly pursing for speed and competing for a wider audience, that they often end up providing audiences sensational news low in quality and full of mistakes. This has degenerated media’s honor that’s been built throughout the years. How to communicate aesthetically-effectively set the agenda and communicate the messages to make an impact on the audience-have become a common challenge facing the Chinese media.This thesis studied into one of the most authoritative and reputable media organizations in the world, the New York Times. By analyzing into the communication process of the New York Times Chinese online edition, the thesis discussed how communication aesthetics were realized through its professional practice and implementation of humane value orientation. This thesis intends to provide the Chinese media some advice in how to survive in the we-media age. The research was conducted by employing three research methods:interviewing, participant observation and case study by textual analysis. Through semi-structure interviews and participant observation, aesthetic attainment of the staff members were elaborated, and aesthetic concern in the news and the website were described in full length. Altogether, they demonstrate how successful aesthetic communication is achieved.The first chapter of the thesis addressed the problems facing the Chinese online media, and mentioned the importance of aesthetic communication. The second chapter is literature review, where findings and shortcomings of existing studies were briefly described. Based on this, the research questions were put forward. The third chapter introduced the three research methods employed in the research, and how they were used is explained. The fourth chapter is the findings. In this chapter, the communication aesthetics of the New York Times Chinese online edition were elaborated from three aspects:the communicator, namely, the editors, journalists and translators; the value orientation and reporting angle of the news; the website design and other channels for news dissemination. The fifth chapter discusses the keys to aesthetic communication of the New York Times Chinese Online edition, and how has the orientation and position of the New York Times influenced the aesthetic communication of its Chinese online edition. The last chapter provides a conclusion on the major findings of the research, and makes suggestion on how should Chinese media maintain their gate-keeping role and agenda setting function. It also clarified the shortcoming of the study and how could they be improved in future studies.It is found that the production crew at the New York Times Chinese online edition is very deft in knowing what their target audiences need. Staff members are very strict and vigorous with the quality of their output, which helped maintain the brand and style of the New York Times Company. What’s more, their highly professional technical support team has enabled them to manipulate the media to communicate their messages effectively. The research has also showed that improvements need to be made in order to achieve greater aesthetics in the communication. For example, the ideological dispute is found to have influenced the correspondents, that a hostile and negative perspective is framed on political issues. Also, the mediocre quality of the Chinese writings has made the proportions of Chinese reportage rather limited.The thesis distinguishes from existing studies as it has conducted empirical study to look into the real problems of aesthetic communication. Interviewing, participant observation and case study have enriched the study methods of communication studies. In addition, this thesis has made breakthrough in the objective of study, as it touched down on elements of the whole production process, rather than restraining to news itself. The findings of the study have supported existing studies in terms of the core value of aesthetic communication. Aside from that, this study also found that the orientations of the newspaper, news production crew that are of the same cultural or education background with the readers are vital to successful aesthetic communication.The biggest limitation is that analysis on validity has been omitted due to limited time and energy. Even though content and media analysis are enough to sketch out how aesthetic communication is achieved, a validity study would have further strengthened the findings.