TY - CONF T1 - Strikes, Social Media and the Press: Why Chinese Authorities Allow or Suppress New and Old Media Coverage of Labor Disputes Y1 - 2014 A1 - Cairns, Christopher A1 - Elfstrom, Manfred KW - China KW - journalism KW - media coverage KW - media suppression KW - strikes AB -

China has a long history of working class activism, and amidst the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and the expansion of coastal sweatshop production, strikes, protests, and riots by Chinese workers have risen dramatically over the past two decades. Simultaneously, the marketization of the country’s traditional, state-controlled newspapers and the expansion of Internet usage have led to a livelier media environment, albeit one still subject to heavy censorship and influenced by top-down propaganda campaigns. How exactly these two trends increased labor unrest and a qualitative change in what Chinese are reading and writing in different forums - come together could have important implications for the ability of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to build a “harmonious society.”

PB - APSA 2014 Annual Meeting Paper CY - Washington, DC L2 - eng UR - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2452732 ER -