Ashley Esarey: Chinese Mass Media, Contemporary Chinese Politics, Chinese Foreign Policy

Ashley Esarey is Luce Fellow of Asian Studies and Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at Middlebury College. He joined the faculty in 2005 and teaches courses in contemporary Chinese politics, Chinese foreign policy, East Asian democracy, mass media and democratization, and media and politics.

Formerly a broadcast journalist in Taiwan and a freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor Radio, Radio Australia and CBS Television, Esarey conducted field research in China for two years, including in-depth interviews with more than 20 different Chinese media organizations. He has led studies examining the content of more than 20,000 newspaper articles and blog postings in China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the United States.

His current research focuses on China’s mass media and regime legitimacy, federalism and federacies, and democratization in East Asia. Recent publications include his articles “Speak No Evil: Mass Media Control in Contemporary China” and “Cornering the Market: State Strategies for Controlling China's Commercial Media.”