The Rise of Intelligent Communication Brings Unprecedented Challenges and Opportunities to Society. How to Build a Diversified and Co-Governed Communication System to Address Challenges Such as Information Overload and Content Distortion Urgently Requires Discussion by the Journalism and Communication Academia.
On November 16, the 9th Forum on Communication and National Governance, themed “Intelligent Communication and National Governance,” was held at Fudan University. Eight mid-career and young academic leaders with innovative ideas, forward-thinking, and fruitful achievements discussed the practical paths and theoretical frameworks for diversified co-governance in the era of intelligent communication.
“Only through the integrated development of multiple disciplines can we thoroughly analyze the impact of intelligent communication on national governance,” said Huang Hao, Vice Dean of the Fudan Development Institute, at the opening ceremony. He noted that each presentation topic at the forum was an interdisciplinary frontier issue, contributing to a comprehensive understanding and addressing of practical problems in the era of intelligent communication. In a complex social environment, academic research and decision-making consultation carry more significance and value. In recent years, the Fudan Development Institute has focused on constructing an independent knowledge system based on research topics such as national development dynamics, conducting theoretical, empirical, and think tank research from the dimensions of development, governance, and security. He anticipated that the Research Center for Communication and National Governance could advance interdisciplinary research from the forefront of disciplines and bring more theoretical and think tank achievements.
Zhang Taofu, Dean and Professor of the School of Journalism at Fudan University, pointed out that this forum was not only an inheritance of the past traditions but also an important exploration in the face of new era demands. He said that under the current backdrop of rapid technological iteration, national governance faces new challenges brought by intelligent communication. From initial internet communication to today’s intelligent communication, the rapid iteration of emerging technologies has not only changed social structures and media ecology but also posed higher requirements for academic research. “Facing these challenges, we must keep running to better understand and address the changing world.”
Zhang Zhi’an, Director of the Research Center for Communication and National Governance at the Fudan Development Institute and Professor at the School of Journalism at Fudan University, presided over the opening ceremony. He introduced that the center had long conducted important research projects for central ministries and commissions, accumulating rich research achievements. For more than a decade, the center has continuously conducted surveys on Chinese online social attitudes, focusing on the social attitudes of young netizens, and collaborated with sociology and other disciplinary teams for interdisciplinary cooperation. It releases research achievements annually, exerting widespread social influence. It has also cooperated with Renmin University of China, Sun Yat-sen University, and other universities to publish the “Internet and National Governance Development Report” blue book. In the future, the center will continue to closely integrate theory and practice, committed to transforming research achievements into think tank achievements to serve the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity.
Shi Anbin, Party Secretary and Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, reviewed the evolution of China’s international communication model. He believed that the shift from the institution-centered “Chinese media going global” to the new round of expansion of “platforms going overseas” reflected a transition from national governance to national strategy. In the intelligent era, there is potential for a new possibility of “digital and intelligent Chinese cultural influence.” He pointed out that current artificial intelligence has not effectively promoted international communication but has partially exacerbated the injustice of the world power system. Therefore, it is particularly important to build China’s narrative autonomy system, establish an independent transnational digital infrastructure, focus on constructing a discourse system, and form a holistic framework of shared meaning to truly break the discourse dilemma of “Western centrism.”
Wu Ying, Dean and Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University, focused on the evolution of the international public opinion landscape and the construction of a strategic communication system with Chinese characteristics from the perspective of generative artificial intelligence technology application. She elaborated on how to enhance the effectiveness of international communication of Chinese-style modernization and strengthen the communication effect towards the Z-generation youth group, deeply exploring the practical context and development path of China’s international communication. “Different countries and regions have different understandings of modernization, so in international communication, we need to learn to listen to others’ stories and achieve more equal mutual trust and exchange through civilized dialogue.”
“Information modernization not only includes efficient processing and mobilization capabilities but is also a key pathway to promoting the modernization of media governance and national governance.” Zhu Hongjun, Executive Editor of “Journalism & Communication Research” and Researcher at the Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, discussed the important role of information modernization in contemporary society based on his research experience with hundreds of converged media centers nationwide. He believed that as the main channel for information dissemination, media is closely linked to the process of national modernization. Converged media centers at all levels should transcend the mindset of “media running media” and undergo deep systematic reforms.
In the era of artificial intelligence, how to reflect on and reshape journalistic truth? Li Xiaojing, Professor at the School of Media and Communication at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, analyzed the impact of technical issues such as deepfakes and algorithmic bias on journalistic truth from the perspectives of news content forms, production subjects, and diversified communication channels. “In the governance process of journalistic truth, different subjects need to be coordinated.” By sorting out the concepts and research frontier progress related to journalistic truth in the era of artificial intelligence, she emphasized the dual concepts of “reported truth” and “trusted truth” and explored possible paths for preventing false information and enhancing journalistic truth in the future from the five dimensions of media, government, platforms, the public, and large models.
Mediated governance is an important part of national governance. Based on the perspective of risk diffusion, Zhong Zhijin, Dean and Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Sun Yat-sen University, analyzed the operational mechanisms and communication laws between public opinion event risks, risk information diffusion, and the social amplification of risks from multiple online events. “In multiple emergencies, media is a platform for disseminating emergency information, a tool for influencing and shaping group psychology, and a means for governance and emergency response.” Based on empirical research and analysis, she and her team proposed “the social diffusion of risk” on the basis of the traditional “social amplification of risk,” highlighting the impact of appropriate or inappropriate risk response on society.
“Media archaeology advocates that history is not a linear development process but presents a multilayered and intertwined spatial state.” Tang Haijiang, Professor at the School of Journalism and Information Communication at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, analyzed the evolution of the medium form of the zoetrope in China using media archaeology as a method. “As a medium for perception and experience, the zoetrope has its own characteristics and evolution context. It promotes the modern transformation of China’s viewing methods through the creation of illusions.” In his view, this not only helps enrich the understanding of Chinese media history but also provides a dialogue space with current media operations in a virtual reality environment, reflecting the important methodological value of media archaeology.
“Aging is closely related to everyone, and active aging means the overall participation of society.” Zhou Yuqiong, Professor at the School of Communication at Shenzhen University, shared the significance of intelligent communication ecology and conducting active aging communication in the Chinese context. Previously, related research mainly revolved around concepts such as “aging communication” and “silver hair communication,” limited to narrow topics concerning the elderly population. In fact, aging communication should be viewed as a macroscopic infrastructure and a continuous dynamic process. Intelligent media plays multiple roles in the communication process of active aging and can also promote intergenerational mutual learning and cultural exchange.
As the last speaker, Professor Zhang Zhi’an analyzed the core issues of platform research from multiple levels, proposing empirical investigations and academic reflections on platform society, platformization, and the infrastructuring of platforms. He focused on practical problems in the Chinese context and explained the complexity and polysemy of platforms as metaphors, as well as the differences in Chinese and foreign contexts in internet platform research, by combining internet celebrity culture, platform journalism, and platform governance. “Platform research must be rooted in complex and multidimensional Chinese experiences while upholding empathy and humility.” He suggested that everyone should delve deeply into this field, face up to the Chinese logic of platform research, and pursue academic innovation in local interpretation.
Lu Ye, Professor at the School of Journalism at Fudan University and the general commentator of the forum, pointed out that the high diversification and significant differences between current governance subjects and objects make us reflect that research based on Chinese reality should pay more attention to specific issues. In her view, traditional Western concepts have certain limitations in the Chinese context, and we should explore a theoretical framework that more closely aligns with local reality based on China’s rich social life experience. “Maintaining the possibility of not being easily disciplined, maintaining the possibility of running freely, and maintaining close relevance with the times should be the unremitting pursuit of journalism and communication scholars.”
The forum was hosted by the Research Center for Communication and National Governance at the Fudan Development Institute and the School of Journalism at Fudan University, and co-organized by the Information and Communication Research Center at Fudan University. The Research Center for Communication and National Governance at the Fudan Development Institute, established in 2012, is the first research institution in China focusing on “communication and national governance.” The center integrates multiple disciplines such as journalism and communication, economics, politics, computer science, sociology, law, and philosophy, with the mission of building a first-class new-type university think tank. It conducts a series of research on major topics related to communication and national governance, providing comprehensive, strategic,