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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Wrapped up grading & my Media Politics under Authoritarianism module! Although we focused on autocracies, we discussed threats in democracies, like news avoidance & platform capture. Part of the solution lies in questioning our biases & resisting essentialism - traits I felt many students embodied 🙏

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

And elsewhere, instead of confessing their love, they confess to being ‘lifelong confidants’. Plus! Under the pretext of paying respects to ancestors, they (sort of) went through traditional wedding rites

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Elsewhere in the show, they raise rabbits together (Rabbits are a gay symbol in China), and they also (sort of) raise an orphaned child together

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

4. Signs of devotion / loyalty to one another during the vandalism scene (there is plausible deniability because platonic friends can also be loyal to each other)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

3. Gifting of chickens is a courtship / wedding tradition in some parts of China (and there is plausible deniability because the giver is drunk)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

2. Instead of direct intimacy, there is a lot of wordless gazing

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Among the ways it's queer-coded whilst maintaining plausible deniability - 1. Physical contact – Holding, wrist grabbing

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

In my Media Politics under Authoritarianism class this week, we explored how to adapt a gay romance for Chinese TV whilst maintaining plausible deniability. We also discussed queer representation, feminism, & creative freedom. Showed students a clip of The Untamed. Their engagement made my week!

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

The findings carry implications for the integrity of global media in authoritarian contexts. Journalists broadly respond by concealing their activities or by conforming to localized restrictions, contributing to our understanding of how state power is quietly contested or reproduced. (3/3)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Particularly notable are indirect channeling tactics, such as legal ambiguity that deter reporting by creating an atmosphere of uncertainty for both journalists and their sources. Also significant is the role of mobilized citizens in obstructing journalistic activity. (2/3)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

My first solo-authored publication is out in The International Journal of Press/Politics! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Based on 50+ interviews with foreign correspondents in China, it explores how authoritarian media control operates and the responses it provokes. (1/3)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Had a great first APSA conference! Vancouver was a superb host city with amazing natural beauty & food. I learnt lots from all the panels I went to, made new connections, & caught up with old ones. Am particularly inspired by novel approaches to researching hard-to-study contexts

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

In #Vancouver for #APSA today? David & I will present our paper which uses Taiwan as a case & examines the efficacy of misinformation frames there without exposing human subjects to harmful content. Ours is the Political Information & Communication in Taiwan panel, 4pm at West Level 2, West 217

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Teaching my own module this term: Media Politics under Authoritarianism. In our first class, we examined media’s role in society. Applying Hanitzsch's journalistic roles, students assessed that there aren't watchdogs and change agents in Irish media! Perhaps this is symptomatic of democracies?

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Happy birthday. At 60, you defy how a high HDI nation looks like, by being tropical, multi-ethnic, non-liberal, post-colonial, & lacking in resources. To paraphrase Rajaratnam, we've willed ourselves into being. & that's long before manifesting became a thing. Majulah, Singapura!

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

We find that a theme of rising importance is political rivalry with the US, & that challenges to sovereignty draw consistent usage of the terms. Of course, this rhetorical strategy isn’t unique to China; history is full of parallels. I learnt a lot from the linguistic insights of Yurchak & Klemperer

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Happy polling day. Posted mine early this week. Majulah.

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Honoured to start 2025 with an invited talk at Kobe University, after presenting at the Japanese Society for Quantitative Political Science winter meeting. Got great feedback, got to personally thank 2 researchers for the R packages they created, & had many nice chats & meals with fellow travellers

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Randomly found out that there's a Dublin Road in Singapore, and there's a German Biergarten right on it! This photo symbolically captures the homes I inhabit and move in between. To more travel, learning and growing, and homecomings in 2025. Happy new year!

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Home for a bit. I have missed the tropical heat and rain, my mom's cooking, and the public infrastructure and social services of this non-liberal nation (e.g. a network of public gyms costing 1.8 USD/EUR per entry)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I was raised by Teochew grandaunts who endured incredibly hard lives, from being transplanted from China to Singapore as babies, to having marriage prospects & education disrupted by WW2, & losing family wealth & starting from scratch. Today, they are finally all reunited (in Pure Land hopefully)

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Linette Lim @linettelim.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I have finally made the jump here. Looking forward to sharing my research here, as well as building up for myself a new resource for ideas and information

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