News Media's Portrayal Of "Vulnerable Groups" In China: A Framing Analysis

There is a huge population in China that falls in the sociological category of "vulnerable group." Economically disadvantaged and politically marginalized, they include laid-off workers, early retirees, farmers working in cities and victims of epidemics and natural disasters. Their daily struggles have caused widespread concerns in society in recent years. As the government took notice of and initiated policy measures to solve the problems facing these groups, the new media have increased their coverage of these people.This thesis starts with the premise that the coverage of the vulnerable groups by the news media has been biased, one-sided and over-simplified. It asks the following overarching research questions: How did the news media portray the vulnerable groups in China in the early 2000s? How do news media represent reality in general? Using the method of framing analysis, the thesis first analyzes how news framing operates in the case of vulnerable group coverage. It then conducts textual analysis of the coverage of one particular news event- the Wang Binyu murder case.The news framing analysis shows that the social vulnerable groups have also become "media vulnerable groups." They are less competitive than other social groups as news sources. They rarely speak for themselves in the media. Instead, they are often spoken for. In addition, the media coverage of these groups follows closely with political agenda. When it does not, it is dictated by market imperatives, focusing on the sensational and the unusual aspects of the news regarding these groups of people.The textual analysis shows that the media coverage of vulnerable groups follows three models - the crisis model, the governance model and the progress model. These reporting models employ different symbolic devices when presenting news events. For example, the crisis reporting tends to invoke the contrasting images of "lamb and wolf and focus on emotions, while the other two models of reporting focus on factual information of laws and governmental policies. Together, the thesis presents a case study of how framing, at both the organizational level and textual level, constraints "objective" representation of news events.