The Image Of China In The American Newspapers- Framing China

This study employed comparative case-oriented methodology, to examine what images of China have been presented in American newspaper through news framing theory. The coverage during the U.S. president Nixon's visit to China in 1972 as well as that during Chinese president Jintao Hu's visit to the U.S. in 2011 are analyzed and compared. Two questions are answered: 1. How did American newspaper cover the two Head-of-state visits? 2. How did the image of China in American newspaper change from 1972 to 2011? Through a qualitative framing analysis, this study found that The Wall Street Journal framed China in a way greatly different from that of The New York Times during Nixon's visit to China, while these two newspapers used similar frames during Hu jintao's visit to the United States in 2011 and chose a more favorable tone towards China than in the 1970s. This study also found, the dominant ideology in American society played an important role in the coverage of Head-of-state visits. Both of these two newspapers reflected the ideology of anti-communism in the 1970s and China's threat in the 1990s. Furthermore, this study pointed out the importance of contingent ideology and journalistic ideology in the news framing.