{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T18:08:40Z","timestamp":1781114920709,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781049600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010031","name":"Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2025M773460"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025M773460"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010031","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>How is \u201ctruth\u201d sustained amid algorithmic and political constraints? This study explores the process by which \u201ctruth\u201d is negotiated and stabilized in China\u2019s online journalism. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and controversy mapping, we translate three cases to illustrate how online controversies evolve from public affect to institutional closure. The findings reveal that in Chinese digital journalism, diverse human and nonhuman actors jointly participate in the construction of truth. Digital platforms such as Weibo function as obligatory passage points that mediate between public participation and state regulation. While user content amplifies emotion and scrutiny, algorithmic visibility and bureaucratic inscription serve to stabilize discourse. These interactions demonstrate that truth is not discovered but co-produced across technological, institutional, and affective domains. Consequently, Chinese online journalism can be conceptualized as a techno-cultural assemblage in which human agency, platform logic, and governmental governance are continuously negotiated in the production of news and facts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0348284","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T17:39:30Z","timestamp":1781113170000},"page":"e0348284","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From platform carnival to official discourse: How \u201ctruth\u201d is produced in Chinese online news"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Jiayu","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2421-3898","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Shiming","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0348284.ref001","volume-title":"Gatewatching: collaborative online news production","author":"A Bruns","year":"2005"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0348284.ref002","first-page":"297","article-title":"Twittering the news: the emergence of ambient journalism","volume":"4","author":"A Hermida","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journalism Pract"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446280010.n11","article-title":"A new news order? Online news content examined","volume-title":"New media, old news: Journalism & democracy in the digital age","author":"J Redden","year":"2010"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2931","DOI":"10.18653\/v1\/D17-1317","article-title":"Truth of varying shades: analyzing language in fake news and political fact-checking.","author":"H Rashkin","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 2017 conference on empirical methods in natural language processing"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.so.18.080192.002105","article-title":"Media images and the social construction of reality","volume":"18","author":"WA Gamson","year":"1992","journal-title":"Annual Review of Sociology"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref006","first-page":"322","article-title":"A systematic review for netizens\u2019 response to truth manipulation on social media","volume":"15","author":"M Akram","year":"2023","journal-title":"Knowl Manag E-Learn"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jarmac.2017.07.008","article-title":"Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the post-truth era","volume":"6","author":"S Lewandowsky","year":"2017","journal-title":"J Appl Res Mem Cogn"},{"issue":"6380","key":"pone.0348284.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1094","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aao2998","article-title":"The science of fake news","volume":"359","author":"DMJ Lazer","year":"2018","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref009","volume-title":"Truth decay: An initial exploration of the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life","author":"MD Rich","year":"2018"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref010","first-page":"21","article-title":"Knowledge work in platform fact-checking partnerships","volume":"17","author":"V B\u00e9lair-Gagnon","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int J Commun"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/9781108164474","volume-title":"Media politics in China: improvising power under authoritarianism","author":"M Repnikova","year":"2017"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"326","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003055413000014","article-title":"How censorship in China allows government criticism but silences collective expression","volume":"107","author":"G King","year":"2013","journal-title":"Am Polit Sci Rev"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7312\/yang14420","volume-title":"The power of the internet in China: Citizen activism online","author":"G Yang","year":"2009"},{"issue":"13","key":"pone.0348284.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1866","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2018.1492881","article-title":"Truth is what happens to news: On journalism, fake news, and post-truth","volume":"19","author":"S Waisbord","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journalism Stud"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1080\/02691720500145407","article-title":"Actor-networking the news","volume":"19","author":"F Turner","year":"2005","journal-title":"Soc Epistemol"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0348284.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1156","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444809360400","article-title":"Innovation processes in online newsrooms as actor-networks and communities of practice","volume":"12","author":"A Schmitz Weiss","year":"2010","journal-title":"New Media & Society"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0348284.ref017","first-page":"38","article-title":"Who and what do journalism? An actor-network perspective","volume":"3","author":"A Primo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Digit Journal"},{"issue":"13","key":"pone.0348284.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1629","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2023.2241082","article-title":"Black-boxing Journalistic Chains, an Actor-network Theory Inquiry into Journalistic Truth","volume":"24","author":"D Nawararthne","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journalism Studies"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref019","first-page":"267","article-title":"Actor-network theory and digital journalism","volume":"10","author":"D Ryfe","year":"2022","journal-title":"Digit J"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0348284.ref020","first-page":"415","article-title":"Chinese newspapers and investigative reporting in the new media age","volume":"19","author":"K Li","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Studies"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"183","DOI":"10.1177\/14614449922225555","article-title":"On competition, access and diversity in media, old and new: Some remarks for communications policy in the information age","volume":"1","author":"J Van Cuilenburg","year":"1999","journal-title":"New Media & Society"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0348284.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"925","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444806069649","article-title":"Online news meets established journalism: how China\u2019s journalists evaluate the credibility of news websites","volume":"8","author":"JM Chan","year":"2006","journal-title":"New Media & Society"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1007\/s10796-012-9358-9","article-title":"Patterns of news dissemination through online news media: a case study in China","volume":"16","author":"Y Wang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Inf Syst Front"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0348284.ref024","first-page":"1220","article-title":"Practicing engagement: participatory journalism in the Web 2.0 era","volume":"12","author":"RG Lawrence","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journalism Pract"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.17645\/mac.v7i4.2250","article-title":"Online participatory journalism: a systematic literature review","volume":"7","author":"KM Engelke","year":"2019","journal-title":"MaC"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref026","volume-title":"Media commercialization and authoritarian rule in China","author":"D Stockmann","year":"2013"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0348284.ref027","first-page":"13","article-title":"Is citizen journalism better than professional journalism for fact-checking rumours in China?","volume":"4","author":"J Zeng","year":"2019","journal-title":"Glob Media China"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0348284.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0021-9916.2007.00330.x","article-title":"Parsing framing processes: the interplay between online public opinion and media coverage","volume":"57","author":"Y Zhou","year":"2007","journal-title":"J Commun"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0348284.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1177\/2059436419835771","article-title":"How citizen journalists impact the agendas of traditional media and the government policymaking process in China","volume":"4","author":"Y Luo","year":"2019","journal-title":"Global Media and China"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0348284.ref030","first-page":"680","article-title":"Meso news-space in China: peripheral news production of platform journalism","volume":"12","author":"Q Yin","year":"2024","journal-title":"Digit Journal"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0348284.ref031","first-page":"604","article-title":"Trustable news from China? How Chinese journalists negotiate epistemic authority in transnational digital news production","volume":"13","author":"T Wang-Hai","year":"2025","journal-title":"Digit Journal"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref032","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780199256044.001.0001","volume-title":"Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor-network-theory","author":"B Latour","year":"2005"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref033","first-page":"93","article-title":"Actor network theory and media: do they connect and on what terms?","volume":"19","author":"N Couldry","year":"2008","journal-title":"Soc Epistemol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref034","first-page":"101","article-title":"Unblackboxing production: What media studies can learn from actor-network theory","volume":"19","author":"J Teurlings","year":"2013","journal-title":"Soc Epistemol"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0348284.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1440","DOI":"10.1080\/1461670X.2018.1521299","article-title":"Journalism reconfigured: assessing human\u2013machine relations in news production","volume":"20","author":"S Wu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journalism Studies"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0348284.ref036","article-title":"The facts of fake news: a research review","volume":"13","author":"EC Tandoc Jr","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sociology Compass"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref037","first-page":"409","article-title":"Automation, journalism, and human\u2013machine communication","volume":"7","author":"SC Lewis","year":"2019","journal-title":"Digit Journal"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref038","article-title":"Qualitative case study methodology: study design and implementation for novice researchers","author":"P Baxter","year":"2015","journal-title":"TQR"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0348284.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"532","DOI":"10.2307\/258557","article-title":"Building theories from case study research","volume":"14","author":"KM Eisenhardt","year":"1989","journal-title":"Academy of Management Review"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref040","volume-title":"Composing qualitative research","author":"K Golden-Biddle","year":"2006"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref041","first-page":"275","article-title":"Conducting and evaluating critical interpretive research: examining criteria as a key component in building a research tradition","author":"M Pozzebon","year":"2004","journal-title":"IFIP International Federation for Information Processing. Springer US"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref042","first-page":"369","article-title":"On actor-network theory: a few clarifications","author":"B Latour","year":"1996","journal-title":"Soziale Welt"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0348284.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1177\/0963662509102694","article-title":"Diving in magma: how to explore controversies with actor-network theory","volume":"19","author":"T Venturini","year":"2009","journal-title":"Public Underst Sci"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1177\/2056305115604176","article-title":"Mapping controversies with social media: the case for symmetry","volume":"1","author":"N Marres","year":"2015","journal-title":"Social Media + Society"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-07408-2_2","article-title":"The sociology of an actor-network: the case of the electric vehicle","author":"M Callon","year":"1986","journal-title":"Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan UK"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0348284.ref046","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2201","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tele.2018.08.007","article-title":"Social media and the trajectory of the \u201c20 Cents Movement\u201d in Brazil: an actor-network theory-based investigation","volume":"35","author":"LA Joia","year":"2018","journal-title":"Telemat Inform"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0348284.ref047","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"796","DOI":"10.1177\/0963662510387558","article-title":"Building on faults: how to represent controversies with digital methods","volume":"21","author":"T Venturini","year":"2012","journal-title":"Public Underst Sci"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0348284.ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3404","DOI":"10.1007\/s13132-024-02059-9","article-title":"Analyzing the complexity of public opinion evolution on Weibo: a super network model","volume":"16","author":"N Li","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Knowl Econ"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref049","first-page":"71","article-title":"Digital truth-making among the new Chinese online fandom nationalists: between online popular culture and political participation","volume":"53","author":"C Song","year":"2023","journal-title":"Ethnol Eur"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref050","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.1002\/poi3.307","article-title":"\u201cDual\u2010Track\u201d platform governance on content: a comparative study between China and United States","volume":"14","author":"J Liu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Policy & Internet"},{"key":"pone.0348284.ref051","volume-title":"Censored: distraction and diversion inside China\u2019s Great Firewall","author":"M Roberts","year":"2018"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0348284.ref052","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1108\/QROM-04-2017-1520","article-title":"The actor-network theory as a method in the analysis of Samarco disaster in Brazil","volume":"15","author":"CZ Bussular","year":"2020","journal-title":"Qual Res Organ Manag"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0348284","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]],"date-time":"2026-06-10T17:39:38Z","timestamp":1781113178000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0348284"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Jiankun","family":"Gong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]]},"references-count":52,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0348284","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,10]]}}}