Impact of mass media on public awareness: The “Under the Dome” effect in China

• Published in: Technological forecasting & social change 2021-12, Vol.173, p.121145, Article 121145
• Main Authors: Wang, Jianxiong, Zhou, Yonghong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; AQI; Citizen hotline; Citizens; Consciousness; Domes; Environmental protection; General public; Holidays & special occasions; Mass media; Mass media effects; Perceptions; Pollution; Public awareness; Regression discontinuity design; Under the dome
• ISSN: 0040-1625; 1873-5509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121145

•On 28 February 2015, the Chinese state newspaper People’s Daily posted the documentary titled “Under the Dome” on its website, along with a detailed interview with the producer, Jing Chai who is a well-known journalist in China. Within 48 hours, it had attracted over two billion hits and triggered heated debates on social media sites in China.•After the release of “Under the Dome”, 2 to 3 more daily calls about air pollution concerns were made to the citizen hotline per county.•The mass media trigger the public awareness of environmental protection through citizens’ active expression of their sentiments. This research examines the impact of mass media on citizens’ awareness of environmental protection based on a natural experiment on the release of the environmental documentary titled “Under the Dome” on February 28, 2015 in China. Through a regression discontinuity design with a typical city sample, we find that the release of “Under the Dome” resulted in 2 to 3 more daily calls about air pollution concerns to the citizen hotline per county, more than twice the number of those before the shock. Considering the impact of major political events and public holidays, our results remain robust. Evidence of the “Under the Dome” effects is also found in calls about other pollution and non-pollution concerns in a longer period. We argue that the mass media generally plays a role in triggering the public awareness.