Research on Chinese government's image management: the 2008 Tibetan unrest and Wenchuan earthquake as case studies.

This thesis attempts to deal with how the Chinese government manipulates its official media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency and People''s Daily overseas edition to secure or set the tone for its national image. Citing the 2008 Tibetan unrest and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake as case studies, it is widely believed that the Western media has played an essential role in influencing the western perception regarding the Chinese government’s policies in handling these two incidents.

The analysis framework of this paper is based on the theory of the renowned scholar in the political science, Horold Lasswell: Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect? We seek to employ his approach to discuss how Chinese government copes with its domestic events which draw attention in the international stage by examining its dissemination medium and methods. Having observed from analyzing the reports made by the New York Times and the People’s Daily overseas edition, a conclusion can be drawn that Beijing’s stance on handling this issue varies mainly depending on how it perceives the situation. More specifically, the Chinese government tends to play dual roles, namely, active and passive, when it comes to showcasing its national image. From this perspective, it can be observed that the image gap between the Chinese government and the Western media seems to narrow.