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Amplification of regional discrimination on Chinese news portals: An affective critical discourse analysis

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Altman PengORCiD

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Abstract

Today, regional discrimination is a significant social issue which leads to divided societies. In China, people from Henan Province, who are verbally abused by non-Henan users on the Internet, are often victims of regional discrimination. This article presents a case study of Chinese Internet users’ discriminatory practice against Henan people in the commentary sections of two major Chinese news portals – Tencent and NetEase. By advancing an affective critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach with the assistance of content analysis (CA), I analysed user comments on news reports which covered a news event relating to regional discrimination against Henan people. The analysis showed that Internet users’ discriminatory practice was notably amplified by the locative IP-address function in NetEase’s commentary section. The research findings shed light on the interplay between Internet users’ discursive practice, and the technological architecture of interactive digital platforms in the context of regional discrimination.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Peng AY

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Convergence

Year: 2021

Volume: 27

Issue: 5

Pages: 1343-1359

Print publication date: 01/10/2021

Online publication date: 09/12/2020

Acceptance date: 06/11/2019

Date deposited: 06/11/2020

ISSN (print): 1354-8565

ISSN (electronic): 1748-7382

Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520977851

DOI: 10.1177/1354856520977851

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