ABSTRACT
Mass media, as an important channel of international communications, play a decisive role in shaping the national image of China. In recent years, with China paying more attention to cultural soft power and its national image abroad, policy makers have attached greater importance to the international communication capability of China's media. This chapter examines the role China's media play in cultural communication and information exchange with Japan, the views Japanese people hold toward Chinese media reporting, and the influence Chinese media has in shaping the image of China in Japan. In addition, based on the in-depth interviews with Japanese journalists, this chapter also analyzes the criteria Japanese media use to select topics for coverage and the reasons journalists employ those criteria.
