Framing Analysis And Research On Flux Of Agenda-setting,Concerning News Report About The Phenomenon Of The Bereaved Parents

Being a neologism in public discourse, phenomenon of the bereaved parents who lost theirsingle child, only comes to be prominent as late as the early21stcentury, which is attributable tothe consequential life cycle after the enforcement of one child policy in China, and a lack ofpertinent reports from media as well. The Wenchuan earthquake that broke out in Sichuan in2008miserably brought about a multitude of bereaved parents, who together with the disasteritself constituted the scene constructed by mass media, and who was also represented as a tragicsocial scene before the public eye. The definition and construction of them, therefore, make up akind of common knowledge, which would impinge on the way they identify themselves andothers them. And they in the meantime set up guidelines for scholarship and government policy.This research, predicated on agenda-setting theory and framing analysis paradigm,employing qualitative and quantitative method complementarily, performs a content analysis on5years’(from2008to2013) report of bereaved parents on Guangzhou Daily. As a consequence,it sorts out such categories as theme, keynotes, news source, genre and layout in order to analyzethe panorama and flux of bereaved parents report by decoding index.The thesis uncovers that Guangzhou Daily has developed a relatively independentexpression system, which means text traits, discourse style, meaning pattern and socialdimension proper to itself, and which involves diachronically a flux from the frame ofresponsibility to of human interest in representation. And this media phenomenon is in effect anoutcome engendered in conjunction by government, media and scholars. Insofar as thedominance of government in journalism in China, the professional skills and representationalmanners within news reporting are in actuality permeated by Chinese intelligentsia’s tradition ofassuming social responsibilities and addressing enlightenment of the mass. It simultaneouslyproffers us some inspiration in reporting emerging social phenomenon that media should beengaged in news planning, construct issues actively, improve reporting in strength and depth.