Metzgar, Su paper on Confucius Institutes published
Associate professor Emily Metzgar and doctoral student Jing Su’s article, “Friends from Afar? American media coverage of China’s Confucius Institutes,” has been published in Journalism Practice.
Metzgar’s and Su’s research focuses on American media coverage of China’s Confucius Institutes in the United States. The institutes seek to promote Chinese language and culture in foreign areas. There are currently over 100 of these institutes in the U.S., but the duo’s research about them is the first of its kind.
In the article, Metzgar and Su analyze 426 articles about the institutes in American media from 2003 to the present, particularly focusing on the 183 examples that focus on the Confucius Institutes, rather than just mentioning the program.
Metzgar and Su conclude that the majority of the coverage references the Confucius Institutes in a noncritical way, but the coverage lacks further details or context about China’s reasons for establishing this kind of diplomatic program in the U.S.
Metzgar’s most recent research is in preparation for an upcoming book about the evolution of international broadcasting in the U.S. She is also in the process of completing a manuscript about the Japan Exchange & Teaching Program, a diplomatic project sponsored by the Japanese government. She also is director of the school’s Ernie Pyle Scholars honors program.