Research On The Construction Of Government Image In News Reports After The Earthquake In Wenchuan

In modern society,the“image”has been given a higher status.Individuals and enterprises regard image as a precious intangible property and invest in it.The government is committed to shaping the image of the government from all sides.General secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the national conference on propaganda and ideological work that it is necessary to promote international communication capacity building,clarify Chinese stories,spread Chinese voices,present a real,three-dimensional and comprehensive China to the world,and enhance the soft power of national culture and the influence of Chinese culture.A good government image is essential to the formation of the credibility and cohesion of the Party and the government.Among all kinds of modern communication modes,mass communication undoubtedly becomes one of the most influential ways to shape the image of the government.At present,China has entered a high-risk society with frequent crisis,and emergency crisis events are frequently reported as an important issue.Behind the text of media reports,the government's profile in crisis response is displayed,which constructs the image of the government.The study of government image is of great significance for the government to win public support,establish a good governance foundation and achieve sustainable social development.Through the content analysis of wenchuan earthquake news reports from People's Daily,a mainstream media in China,this paper is going to study how it constructs the government image in general and at different stages,and what kind of government image is constructed.The paper adopts the method of quantitative empirical research,with the People's Daily as the research object,and statistically screens out a total of 1991 news reports after the wenchuan earthquake from may 12,2008 to may 31,2018.Through the analysis of the samples,it summarizes the general characteristics of wenchuan earthquake news reports and the reporting tactics at different stages.Then combined with the specific news,finally it is concluded that the government image has been constructed by People's Daily after wenchuan earthquake.From the perspective of the overall report characteristics,the wenchuan earthquake news reports is mainly news genre,focusing on the government and leaders as the main role of the report,attaching importance to the political issues and social issues.The coverage of the report is mainly in the medium and long length.For the perspective of reporting strategies in different stages,the first stage is dominated by political propaganda with humanistic care under a stable tone;the second stage is dominated by Wenchuan reconstruction information,supplemented by problem disclosure;and the third stage is based on life information after reconstruction,supplemented by reflective reporting.It is found that these reports have constructed the image of the government as a responsible,people-oriented,law-abiding,open and transparent government in general and at different stages.The purpose of this paper is to enrich the connotation of disaster reports and government image construction,and provide some references for the media in disaster reporting strategy.In the end,the author summarizes the experience of the wenchuan earthquake reports of People's Daily on the construction of the government image and offers suggestions for further improvement.In terms of successful experience,first,the People's Daily takes information disclosure as its reporting criterion to prevent the spread of rumors;second,it takes the truth and accuracy as the first principle,and prohibits from information disseminating;third,it utilizes comments to guide public opinion and disseminate mainstream ideas;fourth,it sets a balanced agenda and report on all fronts;fifth,it is timely and appropriate to conduct typical reports and disseminate positive energy.From the analysis of the reports,it is found that the news reports of People's Daily after earthquake happened in Wenchuan can be further improved from the following aspects:first,it should strive to achieve the unification of the law of news reporting and propaganda;Second,the balance between“official protagonist”and“folk protagonist”should be struck;third,it should try to achieve the unity of positive propaganda and public opinion supervision;finally,enough attention should be paid to relevant reports of national beliefs.