SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2023

Although investigative journalism can benefit autocracy by improving transparency, autocrats often apply censorship, instigate anti-foreign sentiments and breed public distrust in foreign journalists to counter unwanted pressures for reform. This project explores Chinese public opinion toward government censorship and investigative journalism based on the “Chained Woman” incident in 2022. Considering the magnitude of the incident on social media and the ever-tightening government censorship, this project generates important knowledge on Chinese citizens’ responses to investigative journalism. We implemented a vignette-based survey experiment and randomized the nationality of journalists (China versus the U.S.) who were described as independently investigating this matter. We find that respondents made lower assessments of foreign journalists and showed higher approval of the government censorship when it clamped down on the foreign investigation. However, the domestic backlash against foreign journalists had its limit: respondents did not lower their demands for freedom of speech, transparency, or the right to question the government. This project provides implications on the effectiveness of government measures in maintaining state control in face of major social incident.