| This thesis addresses China’s national image representation in Argentina through the content analysis of the news related to China presented in the online versions of the printed copies of two Argentinian newspapers-Clarín and Página 12-in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic,specifically throughout 2020 and 2021.The study of China’s National Image through the content analysis of the news is not new,however,the innovation is in the selection of the country studied.Although Sino-LatinAmerica relations have been growing these past decades,the research regarding this particular topic is still few.For this reason,the final purpose of the thesis is to add knowledge to the study of the national image of China in Latin American countries in general,and Argentina in particular.The general objective was to analyze the online versions of the printed copies of two Argentinian newspapers within the framework of the pandemic to inquire about the Chinese national image represented by them in 2020 and 2021.The specific objective was to contrast the treatment of news related to China in the Argentinian newspapers Clarin and Página 12 during 2020-2021,paying special attention to topic distribution over time,the background of their journalists,and sources quoted in the news.After the exploration of news regarding China from different sources,the hypothesis drafted to refute or confirm was that the news related to China published in the online versions of the printed copies of two Argentinian newspapers in 2020 and 2021 tend to exhibit a national image of China that varies between negative and neutral.This thesis is structured as follows.The first chapter presents the context of the research question addressed in this thesis.China’s aim of building a community with a shared future for mankind,and its clear objective of strengthening the relations with Latin America,fits with the development of Sino-Argentinian relations,described throughout the rest of the first part.From the channels of corporations established around the 1920s,to Argentina’s recognition of China in the 70s,and the addition of Argentina to the Belt and Road Initiative,the partnership gets stronger.The particular circumstances experienced by the world during Covid-19 are also highlighted in this section,as it is important to the general context of the thesis.Since the first days of the pandemic,Argentina’s largest exchange partner was the People’s Republic of China.It started with shipments from Argentina to China,followed with cooperation through donations from China,and continued with Argentina’s purchase of medical supplies,contact between doctors of both nationalities,and the possibility of having one of the vaccines in development.The pandemic only made the relationship stronger,evident in the launch of the Year of Friendly Cooperation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Argentina.In the second chapter,key concepts and theories are introduced.First,it presents the literature review,which takes into account the research that is related to the topic in some aspect.As the analysis of China’s national image in argentinian media is not very much explored,the literature quoted focuses on research about China and its representation in the media of several countries around the world,China’s image in the pandemic,and European and US media coverage of China.In the final part of this section,there is more information about the Latin American context and China.Section two of this chapter starts by clarifying the notion of national image,defined as the attitude or opinion people have toward other nations,which later can influence people’s decisions.The connections of this concept with international relations,public diplomacy research,and information dissemination are also explained in this section.Because cognitive representation influences global stakeholders’ actions,nations employ strategies to cultivate a positive national image.This course of action is where strategic public diplomacy enters,described as an instrument used by different state and non-state entities to understand other cultures,build and manage relationships,influence thoughts and mobilize actions to advance their interests and values.And is with the apparition of information dissemination,that the link between National Image and Media is clear.Media is regarded as an important factor in forming people’s image of other countries.The explanation of this link is developed in the rest of chapter two.To explain the crucial role mass media plays in constructing the image of various societies and their peoples,plus journalists’ part,a communication theory is introduced:Framing.Framing,when applied to media,refers to the way journalists and other communicators present news and other information to the public.This theory was selected for the research,as the main goal was to understand which aspects of the news regarding China are highlighted and given a noticeable relevance,while also paying attention to the sources presented in the articles of the argentinian news outlet.The third chapter describes the methodology used in this research and the corpus.Two sources-Clarín and Página 12-were selected for two motives:both are renowned newspapers in Argentina with very different ideologies,especially regarding their attitudes towards the current pro-China Argentinian government.Página 12 is in favor of this government,while Clarin is against it.As this study is mainly designed to explore the national image representation in Clarin’s and Página 12’s coverage of China during the pandemic,including the prevailing tone and topics,content analysis was decided as the appropriate method.The methodology chosen was mixed,where there is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches.To obtain observable information from the news analysis,it was created a coding mechanism that allowed to collect information on the research corpus and units of analysis.A coding book was written and included rules to acquire the data consistently,and a table was created to summarize the information,which focused on the following observables:topic,tone of the news,number of news regarding China per newspaper,section,sources(news agencies),journalists background,and quoted sections in the text.To answer inquiries regarding journalists,the articles’ authors were notated for a later professional path search online.The fourth chapter offers a more detailed discussion of the findings.After the scrutiny of 206 online versions of the printed copies of Clarin and Página 12 newspapers,this research finds they have a different focus concerning China’s news coverage,which translates into different framing of the news.Although Clarin mentioned China more,the general tone goes from neutral to negative(20%were positive,40%neutral,and 40%negative.).By contrast,Página 12 mentioned China less,however,the tone is positive(71.4%were positive,28.6%neutral,and none of them were negative).As for the topic,Clarin focused on Covid-19 during 2020 but in 2021,the topics regarding China shifted from the pandemic to the relations/status of the relations of China with other countries,whilst,Página 12 focused on the pandemic throughout the two years.Regarding journalists and sources,in both cases the bulk of news did not have an identified author,for this reason,results regarding the background of the journalists were not conclusive.However,Clarin clarified the news agencies utilized in a large number of articles,which showed a clear western influence as they were in their majority from Europe and the US.When paying attention to the sources in the text,in those articles that were positive or neutral,both newspapers’ journalists decided to quote in their writing,people,organizations,or news agencies related to the Chinese government and argentinian government.In the case of those Clarin articles with a negative tone,the tendency changed and the articles quoted in their majority western news agencies like Le Monde,CNN,and The New York Times;and the people were opposed to China’s side.The fifth chapter shares the conclusions.The analysis mentioned above allowed us to confirmed partially the initial hypothesis that news related to China published in the Argentinian online newspapers in 2020 and 2021 tends to exhibit a national image of China that varies between negative and neutral.The word partially was added because the veracity of this affirmation depends on the political affinity and orientation of the newspaper.Both newspapers have two different "China" frames that determine the attributes highlighted in the articles,sources chosen,and general ideas,which are firmly related to the newspapers’ political positions regarding the current Argentinian government,which is close to the Chinese government.In this sense,Clarín readers read more often about China(news and comments)under a negative/neutral perspective,while Página 12"s read a smaller amount,but with a more positive tone.Knowing more about China’s national image in Argentina is of high importance as China’s objective in the long term is to keep engaging and straightening this relationship.By having more information,China’s government can create a personalized plan to improve its national image in the Latin American country,which will affect in the long term,the decisions of central argentinian stakeholders regarding China and the acceptance of the resolutions from the argentinian public. |
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