The new think tank of china's special characteristics, as a new subject of communication, has the important task of leading public opinion positively. Recently, wang shizuan, director of the centre for research on leadership and communication at the pudong institute, china, stated in an interview with the press that the influence of the public opinion of think tanks could be properly used in the current situationDisseminationResearch。
Think tanks must actively lead public opinion
“public opinion” is one of the five functions of the new think tank of china's specialty (advisory advice, theoretical innovation, opinion guidance, social services, public diplomacy). The think tank should make a difference in shaping public opinion。
Choi jiu yi, director and researcher, institute of demography, shandong academy of social sciences, stated that there were two ways in which think tanks could guide public opinion. The first is to speak out around hot spots, focus and focus. Through various mass media, think tanks should interpret party theories from different perspectives, actively engage in policy dissemination, theoretical dissemination or case analysis, help all sectors of society to gain a deeper understanding of public issues, lead to an understanding of and support for decision-making by central and local party committees, governments and build social consensus. The second is to actively cooperate with the deployment of the centre on the ideological front to expand the position of mainstream public opinion and lead social thinking with progressive gestures and authoritative voices。
Wang shizuan said that china's new think tank was a think tank and think tank that promoted the modernization of governance, economic and social development and the protection and promotion of the public interest. Because of their professional, authoritative, forward-looking and ideological characteristics, this new think tank can play a unique role in shaping public opinion. First of all, think tanks are capable of conducting a comprehensive, multi-perspective analysis of the major policies and policies of the party and the state, providing a comprehensive, objective and scientific interpretation of them, and directing the attention of the general public to areas that are consistent with policy objectives, with social stability and development and with the interests of the general public. Secondly, the think tank, with its perceptive sense of smell, insight, professional advantage and identity flexibility, can study strategic issues in construction and development and provide important intellectual and intellectual support for the country's deepening reform, livelihood security and social health development。
A think tank's products reach out to the people and guide public opinion is an intrinsic requirement for its development. If the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine red flag digest, sun guangya, believes that a think tank with greater influence will reach out to its “sky” and “groundline”. Antenna is an outlet for its own intellectual products in order to influence decision-making; an outlet is an outlet for its own intellectual products in order to influence public opinion. At the end of the day, intellectual products that influence decision-making have to go down, so both the antenna and the horizon are meant to give voice to social concerns and reactions and to achieve effective guidance and shaping of public opinion. In this regard, senior editor and special professor chen fong of xinhua believes that china's new think tank should master the principles of “time, degree, effectiveness” and try to intervene in major public opinion phenomena at the earliest possible opportunity to publish more valuable think tank products so that think tank products can lead public opinion。
It's important to raise public opinion
The influence of the public opinion of think tanks is ensured by the effectiveness of communication. Wang shizuan stated that the opinion influence of think tanks was based on high-quality ideas and advisory services, but that good communication was also needed through proactive communication awareness, high-end communication platforms and advanced means of communication. In this age of loud and fragmented information, a think tank that does not value the effects of communication can be unheard of or far less influential。
At present, some think tanks have recognized the importance of communication and are increasingly focusing on the dissemination of their findings to society through various channels and means. Choi believes that this task requires scientific research on the effects of dissemination in order to determine the influence of opinion on think tanks and their results, as well as the best means and timing for maximizing the influence of public opinion。
Sun told journalists that the breadth, depth and intensity of the influence of think tanks ' opinion are highly relevant to the breadth, depth and intensity of their dissemination effects. Broadly speaking, the greater the channels, means, ways and means through which think tank ideas are disseminated, the wider the audience, the greater the impact and visibility of think tank products. In depth, the more the think tank's intellectual products spread, the more its influence reaches deeper into people's minds. In terms of intensity, the greater the frequency, frequency and intensity of think tanks, the greater their influence。
In the age of networking, enhancing communication effectiveness requires special attention to be paid to accurate dissemination based on the division of audiences. Chen fang indicated that the position of think tanks in public opinion had changed with the accelerated penetration of the internet in all spheres of social life. “big” products (e. G. Long articles) that need to be deep in order to be reaped in the past are being marginalized from the general public, and the ease and richness of social networks such as microblogging, twitter and other social networks have to a certain extent weakened the dissemination of information by think tanks through traditional media, squeezing the traditional think tank's opinion-led function. She said that the growing trend towards differentiation in the public demand for think tank products in the internet era required think tanks to be professional, to disaggregate their audiences, to identify target groups and communication channels that would have the best communication impact, and to enable think tanks to reach their target groups in a timely and accurate manner, influencing their attitudes, emotions and behaviour。
Establishment of a rational communication impact analysis framework
Communication patterns are changing as new media develop. An evidence-based approach needs to be taken to look at the audience and analyse the impact of various factors in the communication process in order to ascertain how well it works. According to professor zhou yihua of the faculty of journalism of the university of jordan, there are six main categories of research on communication effects. One is micro and macro. The unit of analysis focused on impact studies can be either an individual or a social unit and social relations. The second is change and stability. The effect may be in the form of a change in an existing situation or the consolidation of an existing situation. Third is accumulation and non-accumulation. The dissemination effect may be short-lived, and it may also have a cumulative impact. Fourth is attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. Attitude refers to the person's assessment and opinion of the object; perception refers to the person's understanding, perception or perception of the outside world; and behaviour refers to the actual action or tendency of the person to act. Five are general and content-specific discrete. This distinction emphasizes that the media elements that produce effects may originate from the existence of the medium itself, or from the general characteristics of its reproduction, or from a specific media message. Sixth is the distinction between direct and conditional effects. This distinction emphasizes the form in which the medium produces effects, i. E. The medium may directly affect a specific variable or may affect that variable only under certain conditions。
“it is generally believed that the development of impact studies has gone through a process of deepening from focused behaviour and attitudes to attention to cognitive, from direct to indirect effects, from short-term to long-term effects, from simple and crude models to complex models.” zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhu zhou zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu has further described earlier the tendency to view media effects as powerful and pervasive and to change attitudes and behaviour more easily as research deepens, researchers find that the media function is not as powerful as they would have been, and that there is a set of pre-existing “pre-existing positions”, so that the media often merely reinforce people's perceptions and make it more difficult to change their minds; at the same time, there may be a greater belief in the “thinking leaders” and interpersonal persuasion around them, and not necessarily directly influenced by the media, which, on the basis of these two logics, is “limited”. Later, scholars noted that while the media are less powerful in changing people's attitudes and behaviour, it can considerably influence perceptions of the outside world, such as the agenda-setting theory, which emphasizes that the media may not necessarily influence what we “think”, but it has been more successful in leading us to “what we think”. In short, the essential function of the media is to give a particular person and thing a place in which they can be “visible” in the public eye, thereby shaping some normative force and adaptive elements into the logic of social functioning。
With the emergence of new media technologies, research on communication effects is being updated. According to zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu, the media has moved from being a mass media centre to “all zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu” zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu has become zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu zhu the mechanisms through which communication effects occur are also increasingly dependent on diverse platforms, moving increasingly from the effects of integration to the effects of differentiation, with a growing audience. In response, the communication impact study also focused more on the interaction between the communications constituency, communication behaviour and the audience。
Use of communication-impact research to guide think tanks to increase impact
The communication impact study is a large and rich system whose basic scope and latest trends serve to measure the impact of think tanks ' communication and thus to inform the assessment of their influence on public opinion. The use of communication impact studies in the evaluation of the impact of think tanks can guide think tanks experts to use the media, especially new media tools, in a rational way to disseminate think tanks ' products and enhance their opinion。
Wang laihua, director and researcher of the institute of influenza at the tianjin academy of social sciences, stated that the think tank, as a medium, has a commonality of communication and other media communications, each with its own quality specifications and actual quality, and that the subjects of dissemination choose, understand and remember these content consciously or not. Measuring the dissemination effect of think tanks also involves measuring and qualitative analysis of the value and quantitative characteristics of the content of the dissemination by capturing this objective link between the sender and its content and the audience to which it is disseminated。
Zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou zhou suggested that we could make some preliminary reflections on a number of aspects of the communication effect of think tanks, based on the basic concept of communication effectiveness research and the guidelines for forward dynamics。
The first is to have a clear definition of effects, including what is the object of the effects and what their specific content and dimensions are. For example, the extent to which the basic ideas of think tanks reach the public in society, how they are perceived and understood by the public, what are ideal think tanks in the public mind, how they influence people's minds, etc。
The second is to clarify how think tanks communicate and communicate — what media they use, what they disseminate, which groups they reach, etc. Only by clearly identifying the dissemination activities of the think tank itself can its impact be measured in a targeted manner。
Thirdly, the effects study of think tanks should be a disaggregated system. The different types of think tanks, including government think tanks, university think tanks, media think tanks, civic think tanks, etc., have different and different communication effects, and the relationship between the communication effects of different think tanks needs to be broken down and actually examined。
Fourthly, the study of the impact of think tank dissemination should be a dynamic process. The think tank is a relatively new concept for chinese society in general and the general public in particular, and therefore its social impact is constantly changing, requiring dynamic measurement of its communication effects, including tracking changes and reflections on its impact and promoting its dissemination performance。
New systems of indicators are needed to evaluate the impact of think tanks through the dissemination of impact assessments. Wang shizuan stated that, in the light of china's actual situation, the study of the effects of the dissemination of information by think tanks should be conducted in accordance with the characteristics of the various types of think tanks, and that a system of scientific, rational and well-developed indicators of the dissemination of results by think tanks should be widely consulted by resource persons, managers and journalists。
With regard to the system of indicators for measuring the impact of the dissemination of think tanks, choi believes that it should consist mainly of five elements. The first is information on the advocacy platforms that think tanks own, such as newspapers, journals, websites, the permanent forum, annual meetings, micro-clinics, etc.; the second is information on the articles and views they publish in influential newspapers; the third is information on the interviews they receive with mainstream media; the fourth is information on media coverage of think tanks ' activities; and the fifth is information on the accreditation of think tanks by the public at large. The first four indicators are available through general data collection, while the last one needs to be obtained through questionnaires。
Turning to the ability of new media to use their power to measure the impact of communication and to assess the influence of think tanks in public opinion, choi stated that the use of think tanks by resource persons to disseminate think tanks' ideas and ideas from the media could help to break down barriers to the dissemination of think tanks' products, accelerate the flow of knowledge and enable think tanks' products to influence and guide public opinion in a more timely manner. Therefore, the capacities of new media should be incorporated into the think tank impact appraisal system。
Media-wide communication levels are another important factor in observing the effectiveness of think tanks. Sun is of the view that the overall level of media transmission in the think tank is still low and that the media are generally fragmented. On the one hand, there is an urgent need for effective integration of think tanks with the media and for mechanisms for collaborative communication between think tanks and the media; on the other hand, there is an urgent need for multi-media integration with a strong centralized communication effect. These two integrations will open a vast space for raising the influence of the public opinion of think tanks. Many large think tanks are now autonomously building multiple media channels, a visionary strategic choice. Therefore, the communication effects of the integration of think tanks with other media should not be overlooked when using communication impact research theories and methods to determine the influence of think tanks in public opinion。
