ALSA 2025 meeting

Abstract: This article explores the intricate relationship between mass media, crime, and authoritarian politics. Through analyzing coverage of crimes in the People’s Daily since the 1940s and examining social media content, the author shows a dramatic emergence of a new “everyday crime frame” in the portrait of Western countries in Chinese media within the past 10 years. This new frame, which no longer emphasizes extreme violence in world politics such as terrorist attacks and wars, makes common crime issues such as gun violence, burglary, and theft one of the main characterizations of Western societies. By constructing an image of foreign lands as unsafe, this new frame paves the way for developing a specific vision of the Chinese security state, where certain citizens’ rights may be relinquished in the name of the “right to exist or survive.” The author posits that the sociopolitical conditions contributing to the emergence of this new frame can be attributed to the increasingly hostile Sino-American relationship, China’s assertive role in the international human rights arena, and the domestic challenges posed by the decline of the Chinese economy.