EA presents: Fanxu Zeng

Voicing the Grassroots: Media and Popular Protests in China Instead of asking questions like whether or not protests in China are effective or if the media can express the voice of the grassroots, this research tries to explore the sophisticated interaction between the media, rising popular contention and political control in a post-totalitarian state. We will look at questions such as the following: What is the role of the media in popular contention? What are the media strategies and discourses of the protesters? How can the media increase their ability to organize themselves and mobilize public engagement under strict surveillance? Why do some media agendas ultimately find their way into government policy deliberation? Zeng Fanxu is an associate professor in the Journalism Department of Sun Yat-Sen University (Zhongshan University) and current visiting scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute. His research concentrates on media and grassroots politics in China, especially NGO media strategy and civil society development, media and popular contentions, as well as media and public policy change. Prior to being a scholar, Dr. Zeng was a journalist in Nanfang Media Group for several years.