Public Relations Management After COVID-19 Lockdown: A Case Study of Wuhan, China

Authors

  • Chen Wang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/es1rrm33

Keywords:

Public relations, lockdown, Covid-19, Image restoration, reputation management, crisis communication, government, post lockdown Wuhan image.

Abstract

The aim of the research study was to understand the effectiveness of the public relations strategies of crisis communication and how impactful they were for saving the image of Wuhan city after the pandemic. Wuhan was hailed as the epicentre of Corona virus infections as the initial infections have spread from this place. Thus, the image of this prominent city was maligned not only towards the local and national audience, but the international audience as well. Thus, the Wuhan government took up most of the necessary public relations strategies to restore the image of the city among the national and international audience. This paper has intrinsically dealt with the opinions from the different sample population on the effectiveness of the crisis communication done by the PR strategists of the Wuhan government. From most of the respondents it has been found out that Wuhan government and its public relations strategies were wholly operated through the digital medium and this has helped in restoring the image of the image to greater and effective extent. Through the disposition of information through different social media networking sites like Facebook and Sina Weibo, the PR strategists were able to provide information on the improvements in the city condition and the reduction of infection in Wuhan along with other positive news articles. However from the respondents it has been also found that, including lesser opinion from the public, decrease in the participation of the common mass in the information dissemination process by the Wuhan government has decreased the effectiveness of the image restoration PR strategy in the Wuhan city. The research study concludes that while the PR crisis communication and its strategies have been helpful towards restoring the image of the city, there are still some loop holes that needs to be fixed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

ANI News 2020, US Senator slams China over hiding COVID-19 facts, says Beijing destroyed evidence, ANI News, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.aninews.in/news/world/us/us-senator-slams-china-over-hiding-covid-19-facts-says-beijing-destroyed-evidence20210726182745/>.

BBC 2020, ‘China Covid-19: How state media and censorship took on coronavirus’, BBC News, 29 December, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55355401>.

BBC News 2020, China coronavirus: Misinformation spreads online, BBC News, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-51271037>.

FMPRC 2020, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China National Immigration Administration Announcement on the Temporary Suspension of Entry by Foreign Nationals Holding Valid Chinese Visas or Residence Permits, Fmprc.gov.cn, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/t1761867.shtml>.

Golden, M 2021, Council Post: Dealing With A PR Crisis In China, Forbes, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/11/dealing-with-a-pr-crisis-in-china/?sh=7aa6cf7f8ad5>.

Hariharan, H 2020, China’s preliminary response to COVID-19 — A crisis communication framework, ORF, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/chinas-preliminary-response-to-covid-19-63702/>.

Jia, W & Lu, F 2021, ‘US media’s coverage of China’s handling of COVID-19: Playing the role of the fourth branch of government or the fourth estate?’, Global Media and China, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 8–23, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2059436421994003>.

Karen Mclntyre, & Cathrine Gyldensted(2018). Positive Psychology as a Theoretical Foundation for Constructive Journalism. Journalism Practice, 12(6), 662-678.

Karen Mclntyre(2015). Constructive Journalism: The Effects of Positive Emotions and Solution Information in News Stories. Ph. D Dissertation, University of North Carolina, North Carolina.

Kavalski, E 2021, ‘The end of China’s romance with Central and Eastern Europe’, Global Media and China, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 77–99, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2059436421994442>.

Kurtzer, J 2020, China’s Humanitarian Aid: Cooperation amidst Competition, CSIS, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-humanitarian-aid-cooperation-amidst-competition>.

Liu, Q, Zheng, Z, Zheng, J, Chen, Q, Liu, G, Chen, S, Chu, B, Zhu, H, Akinwunmi, B, Huang, J, Zhang, CJP & Ming, W-K 2020, ‘Health Communication Through News Media During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Digital Topic Modeling Approach’, Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 22, no. 4, p. e19118, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.jmir.org/2020/4/e19118/>.

Moynihan, H & Patel, C 2021, Restrictions on online freedom of expression in China The domestic, regional and international implications of China’s policies and practices International Law Programme Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/2021-03-17-restrictions-online-freedom-expression-china-moynihan-patel.pdf>.

New York Times 2020, ‘Be sleek and silent’: How China’s powerful censors shaped news in early days of COVID-19 pandemic-World News , Firstpost, Firstpost, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.firstpost.com/world/be-sleek-and-silent-how-chinas-powerful-censors-shaped-news-in-early-days-of-covid-19-pandemic-9130091.html>.

Rapoza, K 2020, The Coronavirus Is Becoming A Public Relations Disaster For China, Forbes, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/03/30/the-coronavirus-is-becoming-a-public-relations-disaster-for-china/?sh=73ceee6b43f2>.

Rodrigues, UM & Xu, J 2020, ‘Regulation of COVID-19 fake news infodemic in China and India’, Media International Australia, p. , viewed 4 August 2021, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1329878X20948202>.

Su, Z, McDonnell, D, Wen, J, Kozak, M, Abbas, J, Šegalo, S, Li, X, Ahmad, J, Cheshmehzangi, A, Cai, Y, Yang, L & Xiang, Y-T 2021, ‘Mental health consequences of COVID-19 media coverage: the need for effective crisis communication practices’, Globalization and Health, vol. 17, no. 1, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-020-00654-4>.

Urdinez, F 2020, China’s Improvised Mask Diplomacy in Chile, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/04/06/china-s-improvised-mask-diplomacy-in-chile-pub-84251>.

Verma, R 2020, ‘China’s diplomacy and changing the COVID-19 narrative’, International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 248–258, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0020702020930054>.

Vontobel 2020, China’s PR strategy in times of the coronavirus, Vontobel, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://www.vontobel.com/en-int/impact/chinas-pr-fights-back-19355/>.

Xi, Y, Chen, A & Ng, A 2021, ‘Conditional transparency: Differentiated news framings of COVID-19 severity in the pre-crisis stage in China’, in MNI Sarker (ed.), PLOS ONE, vol. 16, no. 5, p. e0252062, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252062>.

Yeophantong, P & Shih, C 2021, ‘A Relational Reflection on Pandemic Nationalism’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8167390/>.

Yu, X, Li, N & Dong, Y 2021, ‘Observation on China’s Strategies to Prevent the Resurgence of the COVID-19 Epidemic’, Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, vol. Volume 14, pp. 2011–2019, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.dovepress.com/observation-on-chinas-strategies-to-prevent-the-resurgence-of-the-covi-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-RMHP>.

Zhang, S, Pian, W, Ma, F, Ni, Z & Liu, Y 2021, ‘Characterizing the COVID-19 Infodemic on Chinese Social Media: Exploratory Study’, JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, vol. 7, no. 2, p. e26090, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33460391/>.

Zhong, R, Mozur, P, Kao, J & Krolik, A 2020a, ‘No “Negative” News: How China Censored the Coronavirus’, The New York Times, 19 December, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/technology/china-coronavirus-censorship.html>.

Zhong, R, Mozur, P, Kao, J & Krolik, A 2020b, Regime of Repression: How China censored the coronavirus, dtNext.in, viewed 4 August 2021, <https://www.dtnext.in/News/World/2020/12/23003523/1267746/Regime-of-Repression-How-China-censored-the-coronavirus.vpf>.

Zhu, H, Wei, L & Niu, P 2020, ‘The novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China’, Global Health Research and Policy, vol. 5, no. 1, viewed 3 August 2021, <https://ghrp.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41256-020-00135-6>.

Downloads

Published

15 January 2024

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Wang, C. (2024). Public Relations Management After COVID-19 Lockdown: A Case Study of Wuhan, China. International Journal of Education and Humanities, 12(1), 87-113. https://doi.org/10.54097/es1rrm33