Strategic Interaction And Risk Mitigation:Government New Media's Report On An Internet Mass Event Influenced By Subcultures

The development of new media technologies,or Internet communication technology,has not only facilitated netizens' political participation but provided new forms and new channels for the democratic management of governments.Relying on Internet media,social events are being discussed and reposted at a speed more rapidly than ever,giving rise to Internet mass events.Due to the uncontrollability of Internet mass events and their possible tendencies to go to extremes,governments and mainstream media are urgently required to get hold of discourse power so as to guide public opinion and influence the agenda-setting of the Internet mass events.Egovernments such as government websites and political social media accounts are receiving widespread attention from governments across the world.President Xi Jinping thinks highly of public opinion guidance,especially the development of new media,“We must take online public opinion work as the top priority of propaganda and ideological work”;“Mainstream media,urban media as well as new media ought to be oriented to the dominant ideology”.However,in the face of complicated network cultures,some government new media accounts seem to have the aphasia phenomenon--their abilities to communicate with Internet users require much improvement.Taking the WeChat account Central Committee of Communist Youth League,which is ranked No.1 of its kind,as an example,the present study conducts a positive discourse analysis on its report on the sensational Internet mass event the Expedition of Diba.Through Appraisal System and Identification System--two of the six facets of discourse analysis proposed by Martin and Rose,along with Goffman's Dramaturgical Theory and subculture theories of the Birmingham School,the present study finds that in the face of online youth subculture groups and the new media environment,the Youth League no longer puts itself in a superior hierarchy but calls itself as Tuan Tuan and adopts the language style of subcultural groups.By Appraisal and Identification resources,the report legitimizes the once stigmatized fan groups online,manages to build alignments with the participants of the event,and highlights the positive aspects of the online event.In this way,the report written by the Youth League has not only satisfied the emotional needs of the participants,but has effectively steered the political orientation of the event and promoted rational patriotism.Meanwhile,at the theoretical level,the present study finds that in addition to Appraisal System,the Identification System also has certain interpersonal functions.Practically speaking,the present study makes the suggestion that,to get discourse power in the new media environment,operators of the of government media should understand the demands and mindset of the subscribers and adopt linguistic resources that are more interactive and effective.