From Propaganda to Channeling: The Changing Digital Strategies of the Chinese Government
MPIfG Lecture
- Date: Oct 27, 2021
- Time: 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Jennifer Pan
- Stanford University, Department of Political Science, School of Humanities and Sciences
- Sign up: info@mpifg.de

With the advent of radio, television, and other broadcast media, authoritarian governments acquired the ability to reach large, captive audiences. Online lecture
The rise of digital media has fragmented audiences and disrupted the ability of governments to reach large audiences through broadcast channels. This talk shows how the Chinese government is moving beyond propaganda and other forms of persuasive communications to a new, digital strategy of "information channeling."
Jennifer Pan is an associate professor of Communication, and an associate professor, by courtesy, of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford University. Her research resides at the intersection of political communication and authoritarian politics, showing how authoritarian governments try to control society, how the public responds, and when and why each is successful.
Preparatory reading
- King, Gary, Jennifer Pan, and Margaret E. Roberts. 2017. "How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts forStrategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument." American Political Science Review, published online 27 July 2017.