research

2026

1. wip

   

   Exploring the Political Function of Humanitarian News Using BERTopic and Large Language Models

   Zhe Xu, Martin Scott, Shuai Wang, Dani Madrid-Morales, and Kate Wright

   Working paper, 2026
2. wip

   

   A Longitudinal Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of Refugee Framing in International Humanitarian News

   Zhe Xu, Yotam Ophir, Ke Du, Gaia Guatri, Shuai Wang, Dani Madrid-Morales, and Kate Wright

   Working paper, 2026
3. journal

   

   Trust in News Media Across Asia: A Multilevel Analysis of Individual and Societal Factors

   Ke Du and Zhe Xu

   Journalism and Media, 2026

   Bib HTML

   @article{du2026trust,
     title = {Trust in News Media Across Asia: A Multilevel Analysis of Individual and Societal Factors},
     author = {Du, Ke and Xu, Zhe},
     journal = {Journalism and Media},
     volume = {7},
     number = {1},
     pages = {8},
     year = {2026},
     publisher = {MDPI},
   }

2024

1. journal

   

   How News Media Visually Dehumanize Victims of Humanitarian Crises through Framing Disparities: A Quantitative Comparative Analysis

   Zhe Xu and Mengrong Zhang

   International Communication Gazette, 2024

   Bib HTML

   @article{xu2024news,
     title = {How News Media Visually Dehumanize Victims of Humanitarian Crises through Framing Disparities: A Quantitative Comparative Analysis},
     author = {Xu, Zhe and Zhang, Mengrong},
     journal = {International Communication Gazette},
     volume = {86},
     number = {8},
     pages = {633--654},
     year = {2024},
     publisher = {SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England}
   }

2023

1. journal

   

   Audiences of Distant Suffering in Authoritarian Regimes: Denial Mechanisms and Acts of Moral Justification

   Zhe Xu

   Media, Culture & Society, 2023

   Bib HTML

   @article{xu2023audiences,
     title = {Audiences of Distant Suffering in Authoritarian Regimes: Denial Mechanisms and Acts of Moral Justification},
     author = {Xu, Zhe},
     journal = {Media, Culture \& Society},
     volume = {45},
     number = {5},
     pages = {985--1002},
     year = {2023},
     publisher = {SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England}
   }

2. journal

   

   The Politics of Pity under Authoritarianism: How Government-Controlled Media Regulates Audiences’ Mediated Experiences of Distant Suffering

   Zhe Xu and Mengrong Zhang

   International Journal of Communication, 2023

   Bib HTML PDF

   @article{xu2023politics,
     title = {The Politics of Pity under Authoritarianism: How Government-Controlled Media Regulates Audiences' Mediated Experiences of Distant Suffering},
     author = {Xu, Zhe and Zhang, Mengrong},
     journal = {International Journal of Communication},
     volume = {17},
     pages = {19},
     year = {2023},
   }

2022

1. journal

   

   The “Ultimate Empathy Machine” as Technocratic Solutionism? Audience Reception of the Distant Refugee Crisis through Virtual Reality

   Zhe Xu and Mengrong Zhang

   The Communication Review. As part of the special issue (De)constructing Societal Threats During Times of Deep Mediatization, edited by Paul Reilly and Virpi Salojärvi, Routledge , 2022

   Bib HTML

   @article{xu2022ultimate,
     title = {The “Ultimate Empathy Machine” as Technocratic Solutionism? Audience Reception of the Distant Refugee Crisis through Virtual Reality},
     author = {Xu, Zhe and Zhang, Mengrong},
     journal = {The Communication Review},
     volume = {25},
     number = {3-4},
     pages = {181--203},
     year = {2022},
     publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}
   }