Integrate in US or Bridge with China? Four-in-one Media’s Role during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Diasporic WeChat subscription accounts have emerged as a special media sphere in over 65 countries across five continents. This study explores their role and influencing factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research sample comprised the “Big Two” of the US Chinese media: Sing Tao (US edition) and The US China Press. A computer-assisted content analysis on 2022 suggests that they primarily fulfil information and integration roles rather than a bridging role with China. However, in-depth interviews with 12 editors and scholars in the US provide opposite insights: diasporic WeChat subscription accounts find it difficult to achieve dynamic integration and bridging roles, because of the pandemic’s impacts, insufficient income, shortage of professionals, and especially political impacts in China and the US. The results highlight (1) these special digital media’s role overlaps content and social environment, local and global, and present and future, (2) the methodological differences between content analysis validity and in-depth interview.