Chinese State Media and Its Global Audience, In Conversation with Yale's Dr. Daniel Mattingly (Assistant Professor, Political Science)

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Daniel Mattingly (Yale, Assistant Professor of Political Science) link.

Dr. Mattingly will join via Zoom, and we will have a hybrid format on campus, with all welcome to join this free and public event, either on Zoom or in SB-210.

Zoom Link: https://csusb.zoom.us/j/388207496

Topic: Chinese State Media Persuades a Global Audience That the “China Model” is Superior: Evidence From A 19-Country Experiment (Full article text here, link)

Many are skeptical of the appeal of authoritarian political systems. By contrast, we argue that global audiences will embrace authoritarian models when they believe that autocracies can meet governance challenges better than democracies. We conduct a randomized experiment in 19 countries across 6 continents exposing a global audience to real messages from the Chinese and American governments’ external media arms. We also collect comprehensive data on the external messaging of the Chinese and American governments. We find that exposure to a representative set of Chinese messages strengthens perceptions that the CCP delivers growth, stability, and competent leadership. It also triples the proportion of respondents who think the Chinese system is superior to the American system, from 16 to 54 percent. In head-to-head match- ups, messages from the U.S. government are less persuasive. Our findings show how autocracies build global support by selling growth and competence, with important implications for democratic resilience.

For more information about the CSUSB Modern China Lecture Series, please visit the series website (link), or contact Jeremy Murray (jmurray@csusb.edu).