Global questioners: examining journalists’ aggressiveness at Chinese premiers’ press conferences (1993–2015)^*

* This paper had been presented at ICA’s 2016 conference in Fukuoka (Japan) in two joint sessions between CCA (Chinese Communication Association) and KACA (Korean American Communication Association).

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the different levels of aggressiveness in five dimensions exhibited by journalists with diverse global backgrounds at the press conferences of four Chinese premiers. Four attributes of the journalists’ home countries are examined: (1) power distance, (2) press freedom, (3) stage of development, and (4) frequency of questioning opportunities. The results show that journalists from countries with lower power distances tend to be more direct in their question designs than those with higher power distances; journalists with higher levels of press freedom tend to show more initiative, directness, assertiveness, and adversarialness than those with lower levels; journalists from developed countries are more direct, assertive, adversarial, and accountable than their counterparts; frequent questioners are more assertive, adversarial, and accountable than those infrequent. The theoretical and practical implications of journalists’ aggressive behaviors are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Global journalism
• journalism professionalism
• journalists’ aggressiveness
• politician–journalist relations
• Chinese premiers’ press conferences

Acknowledgements

We thank two reviewers and editors for their thorough reviews and highly appreciate the comments and recommendations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Feng Wu, full professor of School of Journalism and New Media at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His research interests include: Chinese premier’s press conferences, political communication, quantitative research, and new media.

Yang Cheng is at School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Duo Chao is at School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Nanjing Normal University.

ORCID

Feng Wu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0378-9516

Yang Cheng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0321-7956

Notes

* This paper had been presented at ICA’s 2016 conference in Fukuoka (Japan) in two joint sessions between CCA (Chinese Communication Association) and KACA (Korean American Communication Association).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from China National Social Science Fund [No.2014BMZ101].