A Study On Media Image Change Of First-class University From The Perspective Of National Governance(1995-2020)

From "211 Project" and "985 Project" to "Double First-class Construction",China’s higher education reform can be observed in first-class universities.During this period,the mainstream media,as an important participant in national reform and social governance,carried out policy propaganda and social mobilization to the public by constructing the media images of first-class universities.This paper studies how the media image,as a means of national governance,is constructed in this process and develops interactively with social politics and the economy at its time.This article studies the coverage of first-class universities in China’s mainstream media as the research object,from the perspective of national governance.It applies methods including content analysis and discourse analysis,to discuss changes of top universities in terms of their media image,which are covered by mainstream newspapers(including People’s Daily and China’s Education)in the education sector from 1995 to 2020.It focuses on media text and its characteristics,analyzing how the mainstream media constructs first-class universities’ image.It views the media image as a functional symbol and reveals how it converts from "signifier" to "signified".There are 2 main findings in this paper.First,the rendering of first-class universities’ media image becomes multi-dimensional from simple and flat.The mainstream media used to prioritize universities’organizational image.It still values universities’organizational image,but over time,it treats university students’ image,professors’ image,and chancellors’ image more equally as organizational image.Second,the construction of first-class universities’ media image is deeply affected by the change of times and media.For example,the narrative appellation of universities has experienced three changes:from "the main force of national revitalization",to"the reformer of the market economy",and finally to "the innovator of the new era".The narrative theme shows the interweaving of university reform and national modernization,scientific research transformation and economic development,as well as political education and innovation.The narrative mode has transformed from the grand narrative mode which highlights the construction of meaning to the individual narrative mode which highlights the charm of individuals.In summary,the rendering of top universities’ media image is a means of national governance.The mainstream media plays an important role in the national governance system,constructing first-class universities’ media image with distinct characteristics in different eras.It shapes first-class universities’ typical media image,to build the process of governance in higher education development.