How Despecialization Influences The Nationalist Bias Of Non-official International News Production

Since the 1990s,online nationalism has been a prominent phenomenon in Chinese society.Current research on online nationalism often emphasizes its non-routine and event-driven characteristics,while overlooking its everyday and performative aspects.As an important force in constructing everyday life,news plays a crucial role in the formation and diffusion of nationalism.Among all the sources of news,international news produced by non-official organizations has played an important role in shaping and developing internet nationalism,which has received widespread attention both domestically and internationally as a despecialized news force different from official professional media.Against this backdrop,this study examines how the trend of despecialization has affected the production of international news by non-official organizations,resulting in nationalist tendencies in their reporting.As a new variation in the contemporary news industry,despecialization refers to the innovation of production processes by non-official organizations and the breaking of constraints set by journalistic professionalism among their practitioners.It represents a new mode of news production that has significant implications for the bias of news.Based on theories of news production,this study analyzes in-depth the relationship between despecialization and nationalist bias in international news,using G-Net as a case study.The study mainly adopts a deep interview approach to investigate this issue.The study shows that due to the phenomenon of time acceleration,the news industry has shifted from traditional professional production to a more scale-production model.In response,non-official organizations adopt despecialization strategies to weaken the specificity of news production,enhance the flexibility of personnel,and serve scale-production better by changing the division of labor,process allocation,and member recruitment.However,the trend of despecialization has also altered the role of international news practitioners,disrupted the corresponding professional community,and violated professional boundaries.As a result,external political,market,and opinion pressures have invaded news production,greatly changing the work routines of nonofficial international news production and leading to numerous non-standard reporting behaviors.Nationalist bias such as official nationalism,business nationalism,and popular nationalism have penetrated into newsrooms,making international news production appear more nationalist.Ultimately,despecialization has produced a "new" news culture that includes“catch me if you can”,myths affecting immediacy,and the pursuit of web traffic,which has reshaped the "professional norms" of journalism.However,the new "professional norms" cannot defend professional boundaries or resist external pressures.It simply rationalizes various non-standard reporting behaviors.As non-official international news production becomes increasingly distorted,the nationalism it engenders becomes increasingly irrational and divorced from rational nationalism.