China Media Centre

RCUK Academic Fellow

Dr Xin began her RCUK academic fellowship in Chinese media and culture, and their relationship to the wider world in 2006. She also teaches graduates and undergraduates in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of the University of Westminster.

Xin obtained her PhD in Media and Communication in 2006 and her MA in Journalism (international) in 2003, both from Westminster. She received her BA in Russian Language and Literature in Beijing in 1994. Before starting her academic career in London, Xin worked as a journalist in Beijing for seven years and spent a year (1999-2000) as a visiting scholar in State Pushkin Russian Language Institute, Moscow.

Xin was UK/China Fellow for Excellence 2008-2009. She held several visiting fellowships at leading research centers based in China and the US, including the National Center for Radio & TV Studies (NCRTS) of the Communication University of China (2009), the Center for Global Communication Studies of the Annenberg School for Communication and the Center of East Asian Studies of the University of Pennsylvania (2008), and the International Center for Communication Studies of Tsinghua University, Beijing (2004).

Xin was a member of the editorial board of the online academic journal Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC) (2004-2008), where she edited the issue Media in China (2006), and a member of the editorial board of the peer-viewed journal Interactions: Studies in Communications & Culture (2008 – present).

Research interests

Media, culture and society in transitional societies, particularly in China and Russia; news and democracy; international communication; impact of marketization and globalization on media institutions; impact of new communication technologies on journalistic practices; Citizen Journalism; soft power and public diplomacy.

Publications

Monographs

(Forthcoming) How the Market is Changing China’s News? (Lexington)

(Work in progress) Enter the Dragon: China Presents itself to the World (based on Xin’s RCUK fellowship research on China’s soft power, and its media and cultural internationalization)

In peer-reviewed journals

(Forthcoming/2010) Chindia’s Challenge to Global Communication: A Perspective from China, Global Media and Communication, 6(3): 1–6.

(2010) The Impact of “Citizen Journalism” on Chinese Media and Society, Journalism Practice, 4(3): 333-344.

(2010) (co-authored with Christopher J. Finlay) Public Diplomacy Games: A Comparative Study of American and Japanese Responses to the Interplay of Nationalism, Ideology and Chinese Soft Power Strategies around the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sport in Society, 13 (5): 876-900.

(2009) Xinhua News Agency in Africa, Journal of African Media Studies, 1 (3): 363-377.

(2008) Structural Change and its Impact upon Journalistic Practices: Xinhua News Agency in the Early 2000s, Journalism Practice, 2(1): 46-63.

(2008) Research into Chinese Media Organizations: The Case of Xinhua Shanghai Bureau, Javnost – The Public, 15(5): 39-56.

(2006) A Developing Market in News: Xinhua News Agency and Chinese Newspapers, Media, Culture & Society, 28(1): 45-66.

(2006) Editorial (in the issue Media and China), Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 3(1): 1-10.

(2006) (co-authored with Hugo de Burgh) News Probe: What Does It Tell US about Chinese Journalism Today? Medien Journal (a special double issue on Media, Culture and Modernization in China), 2/3: 52-66

In academic books

(2010) ‘Web 2.0, Grassroots Journalism and Social Justice in China’ In Graham Meikle and Guy Redden (eds) News Online: Transformation and Continuity, pp. 178-194, New York: Palgrave.

(2010) ‘Xinhua News Agency in the context of the ‘Crisis’ of News Agencies’ In Oliver Boyd-Barrett (ed.) News Agencies in the Turbulent Era of the Internet, pp. 283-303, Generalitat de Catalunya: Col-leccio Lexikon.

(2007) ‘How to Do Fieldwork?’ In Nico Carpentier, et al (eds) Media Technologies and Democracy in an Enlarged Europe. The intellectual work of the 2007 European media and communication doctoral summer school. Tartu: University of Tartu Press.

(2006) ‘Xinhua News Agency and Globalization: Negotiating between the Global, the Local and the National’, in Boyd-Barrett, O. (ed.) Communications Media, Globalization and Empire, pp.111-128, Eastleigh, UK: John Libbey.

Selected Conference Papers/Presentations/invited speeches/panel discussions

(2010) China’s Soft Power – round table discussion on Chindia, International Communication Association (ICA) Preconference on `Chindia’ and global communication, 22 June, Singapore.

(2010) The Role of “Citizen Journalism” in China’s Changing Media and Social Environment, ICA Conference, 22-26 June, Singapore.

(2010) Xinhua’s Presence in Africa, Conference on Towards New Frameworks For Media Development: Where Africa, China and the West Meet, Oxford, 10-11 June.

(2010) Racism, Ethnicity and New Media in China, Panel discussion on Racism, Ethnicity and the Media around the World, CAMRI Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa Conference, 25-26 March, London.

(2009) ‘China’s ‘Soft power’ and its ‘Going abroad’ strategy in the media and cultural sectors’. Academic Salon, 23 December, Renmin University of China, Beijing (invited speech).

(2009) ‘Confucius Institutes’, Wilton Park’s Panel Discussion for Dialogue with Russia: Moving from a Resource-based to a Knowledge-based Economy’: Cultural Perspectives, 19-22 November, Winston House, Wilton Park, UK (invited speech).

(2009) ‘Citizen Journalism, Mainstream Journalism and Social Change in China’, Conference on Modernity’s Cultural Politics: China in Context, 23-24 October, the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (invited speech).

(2009) ‘China’s Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy’, British Council’s Panel Discussion for

Celebrating 75 Years of Cultural Relations: The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in European Foreign Policy, 22 October, London (invited speech).

(2009) ‘Web 2.0, grassroots journalism and social justice in China’, Conference on Future of Journalism, 9-10 September, Cardiff University, Cardiff.

(2009) ‘Building a Chinese CNN’: An Assessment of Constraining Factors’, China Media Centre conference on Creativity and Innovation in Chinese Media, 22-23 June, University of Westminster, London (co-authored with Hu Zhengrong).

(2009) ‘Web 2.0, Citizen Journalism and Social Justice in China’, Conference on China’s Internet development, 27-29 May, Philadelphia, Annenberg School for Communication, Pennsylvania, USA.

(2009) ‘Searching for a solution to theorize Confucius Institute’, Preconference of ICA, 21-25 May, Chicago, USA.

(2008) ‘Confucius Institute, Intercultural Communication and Soft Power in China’, Conference of Communication Association of China, 13-14 December, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

(2008) (Co-authored with Christopher J. Finlay) ‘Soft Power and the Management of Nationalism at the Beijing Games’, Conference on International Conference on Political Communication and China’s Global Communication, 10-11 December, Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China (invited speech).

(2008) ‘Xinhua News Agency’s Presence in Africa’, CAMRI-CMC round-table conference on China in Africa: What does it mean for the media? 17 September, London.

(2008) (Co-authored with Christopher J. Finlay) ‘Soft Power and the Management of Nationalism at the Beijing Games’, SOAS workshop on Documenting the Beijing Olympics, 12 September, London.

(2008) ‘“Exporting” Chinese Media and Culture in the Age of Globalisation’, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) conference, 20-25 July, Stockholm, Sweden.

(2008) ‘Confucius Institutes: Their Role, Activities and Implications’, China Media Centre conference, 12 June, University of Westminster, London.

(2008) ‘Chinese Media and Beijing Olympics’, presented at the workshop for high school students organized by the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, 1 May, Philadelphia, USA (invited speech).

(2008) ‘How is the Market Changing China’s News in the Age of Globalization? The Case of Xinhua News Agency’, presented at the university-wide forum, 11 February, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, USA (invited speech).

(2008) ‘Investigative Journalism, Citizen Journalism and Social Justice’, presented at the symposium ‘Towards a Harmonious Information Society in China? Technology, Tensions and Observations’, 25 January, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

(2007) ‘Positioning Chinese Media Studies’, presented at the conference ‘Media Studies and Cultural Studies in Arab Higher Education: Mapping the Field’, 4-5 September, University of Westminster, London.

(2007) ‘Internationalization of Chinese Media under the “Going Out” Strategy’, presented at the QUT-CMC Conference, 4-5 July, Brisbane, Australia.

(2007) ‘From Communist Propaganda Machine to Global News Agency? Xinhua 1980-2005’, presented at the ICA 2007 Preconference ‘Methodologies of Comparative Research in a Global Sphere’, 23-24 May, San Francisco, USA.

(2007) ‘Structural Change at Local Level and its Impact upon Journalistic Practices: Xinhua News Agency 1980-2005’, presented at the ICA 2007 conference (Journalism studies division), 24-28 May, San Francisco, USA.

(2007) ‘Understanding the Complexity of Journalistic Practices: the Case of China’, presented at the symposium ‘Minding the Gap”: Reflections on Media Practice and Theory. Postgraduate & Early Career Researchers Training Day’, 12 May, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, UK.

(2007) ‘Chinese Media after the Country’s Accession to the WTO’, presented at the conference ‘Defining the Field: Themes in Contemporary China Studies’, 12–15 April, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK.

PhD supervision

As First Supervisor:

Oct. 2010 – present       Liu Guiping is working on China’s popular TV dramas and their role in the Party’s political communication since 2001.

As Second Supervisor:

Oct. 2010 – present       Graham Bond is working on the effect of Web2.0 technologies/social media on the practice of Chinese journalism.

Oct. 2010 – present       Piao Jingwei is working on Financial Media in Greater China Region.

Oct. 2009 – present       Mi Miao is working on citizen journalism in China.

Jan.2007 – present        CAMRI PhD Candidate Yuan Yan is working on Chinese rural migrants’ media consumption and identity construction.

Language and communication skills

Native language: Chinese (Mandarin)

English: Fluent

Russian: Advanced

Italian: Lower intermediate/intermediate

Contact

Tel: +44 (0)20 7911 5000 (ext. 4882)
Email: x.xin1@wmin.ac.uk