Abstract:
International cooperation in giant panda protection and research is not only a scientific activity to save endangered species, but also an important content of China's public diplomacy and an important carrier of public education on wildlife protection. The domestic public's high concern about the giant panda conservation and research activities has frequently formed hot public opinions, which has brought many impacts on the implementation and promotion of the cooperation. This paper uses multi-dimensional text analysis technology to study the news report and public opinions in traditional media and self-media related to international cooperation activities and matters of giant panda conservation and research. Our study finds that: ① The traditional media comprehensively reported the social and economic benefits, ecological and environmental benefits, diplomatic and Chinese-foreign non-governmental exchanges brought by or concerning the international cooperation in giant panda conservation and research over the past three decades, while the self-media platform is more interested in updating the latest information of giant pandas in real time. ② The self-media platform plays a leading role in public opinion amplification and monitoring, and a few negative public opinions dilute the positive benefits brought by international cooperation in giant panda conservation and research to certain extent. We suggest that the traditional media should return to and focus more on the report of the giant panda itself and create a new cultural image of giant panda ecological conservation. The official departments should carry out overall and sub-project effectiveness evaluation of the international cooperation project on giant panda conservation and research, use multimedia platforms to respond to the focus of public opinions in time, further improve the awareness and importance of the active response and guidance of the public opinions on the Internet, and at the same time weaken the commercial color of giant panda, avoid public misunderstanding, and establish a good and correct atmosphere for giant panda conservation, in order to better play to the comprehensive benefits of international cooperation on giant pandas in China.