Media guiding effects on public perceptions of the Chinese government anticorruption: evidence from a survey experiment

In this paper, we examine the guiding effect of media coverage on public perceptions of government anticorruption in China. We design a survey experiment frame in which the only experimental factor is the information of media coverage. Based on the SoJump online survey platform, we divide respondents into three treatment groups and a control group where respondents in each treatment group are stimulated by one kind of media coverage information. We collect a valid sample of about 5700 respondents. The results of General Linear Model (GLM) analysis indicate that three treatments of experimental factor have statistically significant positive effects on respondents’ perceptions of government anticorruption. Specifically, the group who are asked to read information about results or achievements of government anticorruption give the highest evaluation on government anticorruption, then followed by the group who read information about disclosed major corruption cases, and the group who read information about the government anticorruption policies and measures give the lower evaluation than the first two groups, and the control group without any information stimulus give the lowest evaluation. Passingly, we find two statistically significant disturbing variables relevant to media coverage in our design. The degree of concern about anticorruption coverage significantly affects respondents’ evaluation. Respondents with high degree of concern give high evaluation. The information channels or platforms from which respondents obtain anticorruption information, also has a significant effect on respondents’ evaluation. Respondents acquiring anticorruption information from official media give highest evaluation, and respondents getting information from unofficial media give ranked-second evaluation, and those who never get any anticorruption information from any platform give the worst evaluation. These conclusions will help management authority to properly manage media platforms, and give full play to the positive roles of media’s in guiding public perceptions of government anticorruption.