Chinese government's public health crisis response strategies on social media platforms : a comparison between 2016 expired vaccines crisis in Shandong and 2018 Changchun Changsheng fake rabies vaccine crisis

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] A quantitative content analysis was conducted to study the crisis response strategies and stances adopted by the Chinese govrnment and its Party media over 2016 Shandong expired vaccine case and 2018 Changchun Changsheng fake Rabies vaccine case on the Sina Weibo which is the most popular social media in China. This paper compared the two vaccine crises to further explore the Chinese government's difference and evolvement in its crisis communication practice. A total number of 390 posts on Sina Weibo was obtained from four Chinese government official Weibo accounts and five state-run media Weibo accounts due to their relevancy to the crises. The findings of the study show that the Chinese government has been adopting Sina Weibo as a crisis communication tool more in 2018 Changchun Changsheng crisis than in 2016 Shandong crisis. The government adopted mostly ingratiation and corrective actions strategies in the two crises and its stances in handling the crisis had become more accommodative from 2016 Shandong expired vaccine crisis to 2018 Changchun Changsheng fake vaccine crisis. This research examined the CRS and stances reflected in the crisis communication practice of the Chinese government in the context of social media and provide implications and suggestions for the future research.