A Comparative Study of the Use of Media by Chinese and American Governments in Risk Communication — The Use of Social Media

Abstract

[Purpose/Meaning] In the past 10 years, the modern media marked by the rise of new media has developed rapidly. The comprehensive application of digital media technology has almost been subversive in the field of risk communication. Social media has become an important channel for citizens to participate in risk communication. Although domestic and foreign studies have shown that social media is increasingly used in risk communication, few studies have compared the use of social media in risk communication between Chinese and American governments from the perspective of communication effects. [Methods/Processes] The content analysis method is used to explore the differences between different management organizations and different crisis stages in the risk communication between the two countries in terms of issue construction, public use behavior, and public and government social media interaction. [Results/Conclusions] The study found that China focused on building factual frameworks and the US focused on building action frameworks; the two countries have high public participation, but the two government social media lacks responses to public questions; the amount of information published by China far exceeds that of the United States, but China The public's positive comment rate is lower than the US and other issues. Finally, based on the comparative conclusions, the Chinese government provides effective advice on the effective use of government social media for risk communication.