The Israeli Media Coverage Of Chinese Acquisitions In Israel

The study explores the increasing attention China and the Chinese mergers and acquisitions in Israel have received over the last few years in Israeli media.Data for this study consists of newspaper articles on the topic of "China" and "Chinese acquisitions" collected for the period of 2012 through 2014 mainly from the three major Israeli economic newspapers(The Marker,Calcalist and Globes)and from interviews conducted with local economic reporters.Qualitative communication research methods were used for analysis and interpretation.The Framing method was adopted to discuss Israeli media coverage of China as it is the most commonly known theory when discussing media analysis in communication.Using this method,the study tried to discover the guiding framings of coverage using inductive reasoning.The elements of an article,the meaning of its headline,the words and semantics used and the framing method,all revealed underling general principals.Findings identified four main frames in the coverage of Chinese acquisitions in Israel,identified after an extensive reading of 30 economic articles dealing with Chinese purchases in Israel.Presentation and discussion of the frames helped to understand how China and the Chinese acquisitions are represented in Israeli media coverage.The four framings that were identified were:the threat,the"Other",Suspicion,and Expert voices.Three out of the four framings found in this study indicated a negative and biased tone in Israeli coverage of Chinese purchases in Israel.The fourth frame indicated a more positive,emphatic tone.The findings of this study also correspond with previous studies on the image of China in Western media.As part of the Western world,Israeli media practices are similar to Western practices and tend to focus more on specific themes related to China's economy and human rights and neglect areas like Chinese culture and society.Furthermore,this study has found that coverage of China concentrates on negative images of the Chinese and highlights inequality and the differences between China and the West,often entrenching existing stereotypes and myths.The study reveals that the coverage is not unambiguously positive or negative.But instead,presents a complex picture expressing different voices of the Israeli audience.The image of increasing Chinese economic news coverage in Israeli newspapers did not develop independently.It does not reflect the dissatisfaction of the Israelis or the result of the behavior of the Chinese people,but a representation derived from the unique contribution of business,culture and history.