Maria Repnikova is an expert on Chinese political communication, and Associate Professor in Global Communication and William C. Pate Chair in Strategic Communication at Georgia State University. She has written widely on China’s media politics, including propaganda, journalism practices, and soft power. Repnikova is the author of the award-winning book, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (Cambridge, 2017), as well as the recent Chinese Soft Power (Cambridge Global China Element Series, 2022), and many academic articles. She also has bylines in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, amongst other international media outlets. In addition to her work on China, she has also carried out comparative work on media politics in China and Russia, and is currently completing a monograph on Chinese soft power in Africa. Previously, Repnikova was a Wilson Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center (2020-2021), a post-doctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication (2014-2016), and a visiting fellow at Beijing University (2019), amongst other positions. Repnikova holds a doctorate in Politics from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
Last Updated: May 24, 2024
Conversation
05.28.24
The Future According to Xi and Putin
On May 16 and 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a state visit to China, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Xi has stood closely by Putin’s side since their announcement of the “no limits” partnership, and this does not look likely...
Conversation
04.07.22
What Does Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine Mean for China-Russia Relations?
As Russia piles up casualties in Ukraine while its economy collapses at home, the democratic world appears—at least for now—more united than ever. Russian firms are scrambling to adjust to the country’s status as an international pariah, while big...
Sinica Podcast
03.01.18
Can Chinese Journalists Criticize the Party-State?
from Sinica Podcast
Outside observers typically view China’s media as utterly shackled by the bonds of censorship, unable to critique the government or speak truth to power in any meaningful sense. In part, this is true. Censorship and other pressures do create “no-go...
Conversation
08.18.15
The Tianjin Explosion
Late in the evening on August 12, a massive chemical explosion shook the city of Tianjin. Days later, the death toll stands at 114 people, though that number is expected to rise as more of the dead are pulled from the rubble. Many of those killed...