An Anaysis On The Female Image Presented By The People’s Daily In The New Era (2012-2021)

Equality between men and women is the basic state policy of China.Since the 18 th Party Congress,the Party Central Committee,with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core,has attached great importance to women’s work and included "adhering to the basic state policy of equality between men and women and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of women and children" in the Party’s policy platform as an important element of governance.On September27,2021,the State Council issued the "China Women’s Development Program(2021-2030)",which aims to achieve gender equality and comprehensive development for women,and proposes corresponding countermeasures and measures to promote the elimination of inequities against women.Women’s ability and contribution to economic and social development have increased significantly,and women are shining in various fields,the image of women is also more widely disseminated in the media.People’s Daily,the central party newspaper,is representative of the way women are communicated and portrayed.This paper compares the concept of media image and the research overview of female media image in People’s Daily,and constructs a weekly sample of female news reports in People’s Daily from the period after 2012 to 2021.Using content analysis and textual analysis,combined with discourse analysis,we study the image of women portrayed by People’s Daily since the new era,and supplement it with gender theory to examine whether the media is gender sensitive and whether there are stereotypes about the female gender.The study found that the female characters in People’s Daily have outstanding characteristics in terms of physical,professional,political,intellectual,and deep images,but all these characteristics point to one place-People’s Daily emphasizes the value of women’s socially productive work.The coverage of women’s news in People’s Daily has shaped the image of women who are mainly young women,active in the fields of culture,education,science and health,and institutions and troops,with Party members as role models,mainly dedicated to their work,and with a high average knowledge level.The People’s Daily constructs a diversified image of women in the media,whose qualities are positive and uplifting,such as selflessness and dedication,shrewdness and competence,hard-working and self-confidence and independence.The factors that influence the construction of different media images of women in People’s Daily are also diverse,among which the strong involvement of national political discourse is the main force in shaping women’s images;the value orientation of the media is implicitly impregnated by the mainstream social and cultural consciousness;and women themselves as active actors also influence the shaping of women’s images in the press.