Mass communication was one of the central signs through which communication research constituted itself in the post-World War II era. An American term, it indexed and communicatively advanced the problematization of media that took shape from the 1920s onward. Recently, scholars have debated the term’s continued relevance, typically without awareness of its history or international contexts of use. To provide needed background and enrich efforts to globalize the field, we offer a transnational history of mass communication, illuminating the sociological, cultural, and geopolitical dynamics of its emergence, dissemination, and reception. Mapping locations of its adoption, adaption, and rejection across world regions, we offer a methodology and a historical narrative to shed light on the early globalization of the field and lines of power and resistance that shaped it. We show how the term carries a residue of postwar American hegemony, and argue for greater reflexive awareness of our vocabularies of inquiry.

No abstract

This research explores the (inter-) cultural dimension of communicating citizenship in China's new media environment. It adopts speech codes theory (Philipsen et al., 2005) as a theoretical and methodological framework to examine the historically situated and socially constructed meanings of Chinese citizenship and the normative communicative conduct for practicing "good citizenship" in China. Through a systematic analysis of online blog posts and comments surrounding two social events, this study captures one speech code pertaining to communicating citizenship in China that is premised on a paradox-citizenship is interpreted by the Chinese as a legal entitlement that they deserve, but at the same time it is also treated as an aspirational and unattainable ideal. Moreover, speaking sensibly and morally with a public and communal orientation is heavily emphasized in this speech code as it is considered a valuable communicative conduct for practicing "good citizenship" in China. Additionally, participating in online collective actions such as "topping posts" is rendered an acceptable and effective way to communicate and enact citizen rights.

The development of new media transforms human communication experiences in ways that are socially, culturally, and politically meaningful. This study investigates the Chinese government's use of new media in response to an international communication crisis, the Ai Weiwei case, in 2011. Through a discourse analysis of China's official online news website, China Daily, as well as Twitter posts, most salient media frames in China's online media discourse are identified. The results suggest that online contestation of media framing in China's official media discourse contributes to the formation of new cultural expectations and norms in Chinese society and challenges the government's ability to tell its own stories without dispute. The author argues that new media foster online discussion and stimulate public debate of China's accountability and transparency in interacting with domestic and global audiences during crisis communication.

No abstract