Studia Generalia: Kuang Xianwen about media and censorship in China

Authoritarian states control the media. This statement may seem obvious, but is it still true? Marketization and the spread of social media have transformed the media landscape of authoritarian regimes and pose a great challenge to state control. As the largest authoritarian state in the world, China's news media can enjoy more freedom than before. Yet no research has ever indicated that China's news media is being ultimately liberalized. Why? How can China's news outlets obey market principles yet stay true to the party? Why has the spread of social media not led to all-out media freedom? Kuang Xianwen, a young Chinese scholar, will further our understanding of the effectiveness of political news control by presenting the findings from his newly completed PhD project, which focuses on political censorship and its impact on news production in China. 

Kuang Xianwen received a Master Degree in Asian Studies from Lund University and defends his PhD dissertation at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) this April. Xianwen Kuang’s main research interests include political communication, political journalism, and grass-root social movements/collective action in China. He has published scientific articles on collective action and written papers on the political control and news production in China.