| Propaganda is a key component of social governance in autocratic regimes. This study aims to understand the divergent propaganda strategies employed by central and local media outlets in China during the 2022 Shanghai COVID-19 Lockdown. Through a comprehensive analysis that combines both topic modeling and content analysis, this research investigates the thematic priorities, source utilization, language tone and framing strategies of 386 articles from two central media outlets and 775 articles from two local media outlets. The findings reveal a coordinated yet distinct propaganda strategy between central and local media in crisis communication, where central media emphasizes more on national cohesion and governmental efficacy, and local media heavily relies on depicting community resilience and human-centric narratives. This study also finds that local media adaptively shifts their strategies over time to address the evolving needs and concerns of the public. Implications for future studies are discussed in the end of the study. |
