A Study On The News Characteristics About The COVID-19 Related To China By The Joong Ang Daily Official Website

At the beginning of 2020,as a sudden international public health event,the novel coronavirus(COVID-19)epidemic attracted wide attention from the media around the world.As the mainstream media in Korea,the Joong Ang Daily also showed great concern about the development,prevention and control of the COVID-19 in China,and quickly carried out follow-up reports.At present,there is relatively little research on mainstream media reports in Korea.Therefore,the study on the news characteristics about the COVID-19 related to China by the Joong Ang Daily official website can not only enrich the sample database of China-related reports by Korean media,but also help to understand the content of reports by mainstream media in Korea and the cognition and attitude of Korean society toward China,and grasp the presentation of China’s national image in foreign media reports.It is of profound significance to improve our foreign communication strategies and enhance the power of international discourse.Based on the framework theory and agenda-setting theory,this paper takes the China-related reports on the official website of the Joong Ang Daily from January 3 to June 30,2020 as research samples.This paper summarizes the stage characteristics,basic composition characteristics,communication orientation characteristics,issue guidance and control characteristics and form characteristics of the news about the COVID-19 related to China by the Joong Ang Daily official website,analyzes the causes of these basic characteristics,and sorts out the problems in its coverage of the epidemic related to China,in order to put forward suggestions for improving the level of China’s external communication.In addition,in view of the adjustment and optimization of COVID-19 response measures in December 2022,this paper also makes corresponding supplements in the reporting phase division,which divides China-related reports into five phases: the initial phase of the epidemic in China,the outbreak phase of the epidemic in China,the outbreak phase of the epidemic in Korea,the stable phase of the epidemic in China,and the orderly release phase of control in China.The study found that the Joong Ang Daily’s coverage of the epidemic related to China was affected by political factors,economic factors,cultural factors and media’s own factors,and there were some problems,such as lack of professional rationality,preconceived reporting,obvious sense of framework,and quoting inaccurate information sources.Finally,based on the analysis of the problems,reasons and empirical research,this paper takes the result oriented that China can better cope with the challenges and opportunities faced by external communication,and puts forward some core countermeasures,such as respecting the facts and resisting stigma,broadening communication channels for differentiated communication,strengthening the professional discipline of journalism,innovating the concept of external communication,and expanding international cooperation.