Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy
100 episodes
6 days ago
Former Ambassador David Satterfield explores important foreign and domestic policy issues of the day through conversations with experts at the Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and beyond. New episodes are released Monday mornings.
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Former Ambassador David Satterfield explores important foreign and domestic policy issues of the day through conversations with experts at the Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and beyond. New episodes are released Monday mornings.
4: Politics and Propaganda in the Digital Media Age
Baker Briefing
24 minutes
1 month ago
4: Politics and Propaganda in the Digital Media Age
China Studies Program experts Steven Lewis and Brandon Zheng join guest host Michael Emerson to explore how governments and organizations around the world are leveraging digital platforms in increasingly savvy ways — from TikTok videos to anime mascots — to spread political messaging and shape public opinion. They draw on their recent research examining urban propaganda in China and the use of “cuteness” as a communication tool to illustrate how the global political landscape has transformed in the age of digital media.
This conversation was recorded on Sept. 26, 2025.
Featured:
Steven Lewis, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/steven-w-lewis
Brandon Zheng, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/steven-w-lewis
Michael Emerson, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson
Mentioned in this episode:
Brandon Zheng, “The Conquest of Cute: Political Communication, Public Diplomacy, and Anime,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, September 4, 2025.
Brandon Zheng and Steven W. Lewis, “Central Versus Local Propaganda Under Xi Jinping: An Introduction to Images in the China Urban Outdoor Propaganda Image Archive, 1998 to 2019,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, June 3, 2025.
Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (The University of Chicago Press, 1997).
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Baker Briefing
Former Ambassador David Satterfield explores important foreign and domestic policy issues of the day through conversations with experts at the Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and beyond. New episodes are released Monday mornings.
