[Commlist] CFP - Confronting Covid-19: Constructing and Contesting Legitimacy through the Media in Chinese Contexts

    Chinese Journal of Communication


    Confronting Covid-19: Constructing and Contesting Legitimacy through
    the Media in Chinese Contexts

**


      Special Issue Editor(s)

*Jingrong Tong*, /Department of Journalism Studies, the University of 
Sheffield, UK/
(j.tong /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) <mailto:(j.tong /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)>	

**

*The general aims and focus of the Special Issue:*

Legitimacy justifies the acts and authority of social groups and 
organisations and makes them acceptable to other social members. As a 
global health crisis that sweeps the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has 
provoked a crisis of legitimacy that social actors and institutions face 
over their responses to or roles in the pandemic. Meanwhile, however, 
the pandemic may also open up opportunities for them to gain legitimacy. 
Naturally, social actors and institutions would endeavour to retain or 
gain legitimacy through many means, of which the media – including the 
news media and the Internet – is one of the most important instruments. 
This unprecedented scenario caused by the Covid-19 crisis thus raises 
many new (and old) questions for media and communication studies to address.

These questions concern, /inter alia/, the measures taken and the use of 
the media by governments, states, international organisations, science, 
and journalists to address the impact of the pandemic on their 
legitimacy; the changes of legitimacy-related social norms in the media, 
media discourses, and public perceptions and trust; and whether and to 
what extent the Covid-19 crisis enhances or endangers the legitimacy of 
presence and actions of diasporas in host countries and how these groups 
use the media to respond to this situation. Given China’s role in this 
pandemic, evidence from Chinese contexts – including Chinese societies 
and Chinese overseas communities - can provide valuable answers to these 
questions and a profound insight into the role of media and 
communication in constructing and contesting legitimacy in crisis 
situations, of which the Covid-19 pandemic is the latest example.

China is embroiled in disputes with other countries, in particular, the 
United States (USA) and Australia, over the virus origin and handling. 
The legitimacy of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is accused 
of defending China, is at risk. China’s success and the struggles of the 
West, in particular, the US, the UK and Europe, in containing the virus 
seem to suggest the supremacy of Socialism with Chinese characteristics 
over Western Capitalism. The suspicion of the role of Chinese scientists 
in the pandemic origin potentially triggers the public’s fear of Dr. 
Frankenstein, casting doubts over the legitimacy of science. The plague 
of “fake news”, along with China’s propaganda framework, hits a blow to 
the legitimacy of the news media in China. The pandemic has also 
(re)raised long-lasting political issues surrounding Taiwan and Hong 
Kong. In the context of coronavirus, an increase in racial and ethnic 
tensions in countries like the US and the growing tensions between China 
and the West influence the legitimacy of presence and actions of Chinese 
overseas communities and their capacity to engage with local people in 
host countries where they settle. In the face of these challenges, how 
would related social actors and institutions use the media to gain or 
defend their legitimacy?

In light of the above, the Special Issue of the /Chinese Journal of 
Communication /is inviting the submission of papers. Possible areas of 
interest include, but are not limited to:

  * How do social actors and institutions, such as governments, states,
    science, and journalists in Chinese societies like mainland China,
    Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and international organisations
    like the WHO, use the media to handle the impact of the Covid-19
    pandemic on their legitimacy?
  * Are there any changes in social norms in the media, media
    discourses, and public perceptions about the legitimacy of Chinese
    social actors and institution, such as the state, the news media and
    science, since the Covid-19 crisis? If so, how and to what extent?
  * Is the legitimacy of social systems, such as Capitalism and
    Socialism with Chinese characteristics, constructed and contested
    through the media in the Covid-19 crisis? If so, how and to what 
extent?
  * What relationship is there between states and science? Do states in
    Chinese societies engage in a contest with science for legitimacy in
    the Covid-19 crisis? Or do states and science collaborate to boost
    each other’s legitimacy? In either case, how and to what extent, and
    what role does the media play in the process?
  * How do Chinese overseas communities use the media to defend their
    legitimacy of presence – for example, as national groups, individual
    residents, political actors, professionals - and actions in host
    countries in the Covid-19 crisis?

The submission can also be transnational, comparative studies with part 
of the focus on Chinese contexts.

The submission deadline for all manuscripts is *31 January 2021*. All 
submitted manuscripts are subject to a rigorous, blind peer-review 
process. All accepted manuscripts will be published online first. The 
planned printed publication date is an issue of CJC in 2022. No payment 
is required for submission to or publication at the journal.

Submissions should conform to the editorial guidelines of the Chinese 
Journal of Communication found at http://www.informaworld.com/cjoc 
<http://www.informaworld.com/cjoc> under “Instructions for Authors.” 
Papers for consideration in this special issue should be submitted 
online http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rcjc 
<http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rcjc> and should indicate they are 
intended for inclusion in the special issue. For inquires, contact Dr. 
Jingrong Tong at (j.tong /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) <mailto:(j.tong /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)> 
or Prof. Francis Lee at (francis_lee /at/ cuhk.edu.hk) 
<mailto:(francis_lee /at/ cuhk.edu.hk)>.



Chinese Journal of Communication: Confronting Covid-19 
<https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/confronting-covid-19/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743>


	


	


    Chinese Journal of Communication: Confronting Covid-19

This special issue aims to explore the role of the media in legitimacy 
issues that social actors and institution...

<https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/confronting-covid-19/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743>


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