Shuttling between politics and entertainment.

Using China’s Red Cross scandal as a central case, this study examines the interaction between Chinese mainstream media and media users on China’s Internet in the course of the event. This study reflects on how the participation of Chinese netizens impacted Chinese mainstream media in the digital age, how Chinese mainstream media responded, and how the interplay between the media and media users affected the trajectory of the event. The Red Cross case indicates that in today’s China, the boundary between the political domain and the entertainment domain is fluid. The two domains have different functions and implications. The specific case discussed in this paper traveled back and forth between the two domains depending on the power dynamic between the media, media users, and the larger social, political context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]