A Study Led by Dr. Yuan WANG was Covered by Ten Media Organizations

24 May 2022 (Tue)

A press conference was held in the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Center on May 20, 2022 to release the findings of COM faculty’s research on online media representation of ethnic minorities and online racial discrimination in Hong Kong. Its attendees included four officials of the Equal Opportunities Commission (e.g., Dr. Ferric CHU, Executive Director (Operations)), Prof. Jonathan Zhu (Acting Head of COM), Prof. Wing Hong CHUI (Head of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Dr. Yuan WANG (Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong), and numerous reporters and editors.

Dr. Yuan WANG, Prof. Wing Hong CHUI, and Dr. Xiang MENG (post-doctoral fellow in COM) conducted (1) a content analysis to examine how online news articles (not including commentaries and editorial pieces) and their readers’ comments portray ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether this portrayal involves racial bias, stereotypes, or discrimination, and (2) a survey to examine whether and how people from ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong experience online racial discrimination and to explore the antecedents (i.e., race-related social media use), moderators (i.e., ethnic identity, self-esteem, and length of time spent online), and outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior) of this discrimination. This study was funded by the Equal Opportunities Commission. The study was covered in news articles by ten local and international media organizations, such as Ming Pao, HK01, Hong Kong Commercial Radio, and Hong Kong Economic Times. Dr. Yuan WANG was also interviewed by reporters from South China Morning Post and Radio Television Hong Kong, etc.