| This thesis is the first in-depth examination of the reporting of the SARS epidemic on one of China's most important news programs--- Xinwen Lianbo. The core question is whether the SARS crisis influenced the nature of China's television news reporting. With reference to the "media framing", this study argues that the impact of the SARS epidemic was clear and could signal a basic change in Chinese journalism. The transition would be reporting from a closed culture of cover-up or selective under-reporting of politically sensitive crises to a more open reporting of such crises. This change takes place amid a growing appetite for media transparency. However, the SARS crisis, in and of itself, did not alter the prevailing pattern of political control over the media. The conventional moratorium on the criticism of any central leadership failure persisted despite the exigencies of SARS and China's entry into a new information order. |
