Reimaging civility from public and media: agendas in Chinese haze governance

Civility is the concept that individuals would realize their responsibilities, rights, engagements and rules when participating in their social life. This paper deals with the concept of civility as split between media civility and public civility. When civility is represented in the media press by media agendas (discourse and reports on media), this creates negotiations between political power and social power. Meanwhile, with the rise of social media such as Weibo, civility can also be indicated in public agendas as public civility, which expands and reshapes the structure of civility, as well as influencing political governance in China. Haze governance emerged since 2011 in response to the increasingly severe haze pollutions in main cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in China. Haze governance has become one of the hottest issues that has sparked heated discussion on public policy in both contemporary Chinese media and the public sphere. Based on agenda-setting, public deliberation, and media civility theories, this study analyzes different features of civility indicated from both public agendas and media agendas mentioning haze governance. This research concludes that Chinese media agendas indicate more civility by exposing facts, calling for protection for civil rights, and discussing solutions, while public agenda from Chinese citizens indicates more civility from the standpoint of citizens' perspectives and their awareness of civil rights. In addition, Chinese party newspapers indicate more civility than city posts in solutions and protection for civil rights. After the haze-concentrated documentary "Under the Dome" by notable Chinese reporter Chai Jing in 2015, more citizens in China have realized their responsibility and involvement in haze governance.Civility is the concept that individuals would realize their responsibilities, rights, engagements and rules when participating in their social life. This paper deals with the concept of civility as split between media civility and public civility. When civility is represented in the media press by media agendas (discourse and reports on media), this creates negotiations between political power and social power. Meanwhile, with the rise of social media such as Weibo, civility can also be indicated in public agendas as public civility, which expands and reshapes the structure of civility, as well as influencing political governance in China. Haze governance emerged since 2011 in response to the increasingly severe haze pollutions in main cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in China. Haze governance has become one of the hottest issues that has sparked heated discussion on public policy in both contemporary Chinese media and the public sphere. Based on agenda-setting, public deliberation, and media civility theories, this study analyzes different features of civility indicated from both public agendas and media agendas mentioning haze governance. This research concludes that Chinese media agendas indicate more civility by exposing facts, calling for protection for civil rights, and discussing solutions, while public agenda from Chinese citizens indicates more civility from the standpoint of citizens' perspectives and their awareness of civil rights. In addition, Chinese party newspapers indicate more civility than city posts in solutions and protection for civil rights. After the haze-concentrated documentary "Under the Dome" by notable Chinese reporter Chai Jing in 2015, more citizens in China have realized their responsibility and involvement in haze governance.