Media and Government

BSCOM/268 Version 3

University of Phoenix Material

Media and Government
Read the following two short articles about air quality at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Links to the articles
may be found on the Electronic Reserve Readings for this week. Answer the questions in the chart with
complete sentences.
China can't fully fix air quality problem for Olympics. (2008, July 16). Space Daily.
Beijing able to honor Olympic commitments: City party chief. (2008, July 21). Xinhua News Agency.

According to Each Article

American Source

Chinese Source

What is the cause of the poor

air quality?

Factory output and

transportation emissions,
coal burning Co-Gen plants.

Lack of vegetation and

planting of tress and other
vegetation

What steps is the Chinese

government taking to improve
the air quality?

Access to public
transportation to be
increased to lessen burden
on environment

Shougang Steel was

relocated outside the city
limits, chemical refineries
were closed

How effective have these steps

been?

Limited effectiveness have

left the region with a still
oppressive air quality

Noted a grade 2 or better air

quality on 2/3 of recorded
days

What is the stanceattitude

and toneof the article?
Provide examples to support
your interpretation.

Ineffective government
leadership is doing too little
too late into the crisis.
Normal output will show
variance in quality from day
to day

Favorable to the Chinese

government, in that it
highlights that steps were
taken to improve the air
quality for the benefit of the
global stage of the Olympics

In what way may the

differences between these
articles be attributed to
governmental influence on the
media?

The U.S. based information

is highlighting the wide gap
between China and the U.S.
in their efforts being
undertaken to improve air
quality

Socialist Government run

media clearly acts to favor the
public opinion of the
Government with its control
over tone and content

In describing libertarian
perspectives, Vivian states that
human beings (can) come to
know great truths by applying

Factories were compensated for their losses. Information is

presented from an Atmospheric Chemist, to allow for the
readers to draw their own conclusions.

Copyright 2015, 2014 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Media and Government

BSCOM/268 Version 3
reason (2011, p. 399). How is
this attitude reflected in the
American article?
Vivian states that the premise of
authoritarian media systems is
that the government is
infallible, which places its
policies beyond questioning
(2011, p. 397). How is this
attitude reflected in the Chinese
article?

No criticism of the Chinese Government was included in the

article. The government was lauded for efforts and showed no
comparable numbers to compare the improvement window
claimed by the Chinese in regard to air quality.

Vivian, J. (2011). The media of

mass communication (10th ed.).
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright 2015, 2014 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.