Is the Pandemic a Boon or a Bane? News Media Coverage of COVID-19 in China Daily

• Main Authors: Gong, Jiankun, Firdaus, Amira
• Format: Article
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2024
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); PN Literature (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/46103/; https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2043766

During the current worldwide pandemic, media coverage of COVID-19 influenced popular perceptions and provided guidance on how to deal with the crisis. However, prior research may have been limited by a singular approach and the portrayal of COVID-19 in mainstream newspapers in China has not been fully explored. This study utilised mixed-methods research, incorporating automated analysis (n = 308 articles) and manual (n = 52 articles) thematic analysis to unravel and illustrate the prominent topics and themes in China Daily. The results showed that although China Daily initially depicted COVID-19 as a ``bane'', it has since portrayed it as a relative ``boon.'' Positive themes were identified, like prosociality, cooperation, pandemic recovery and informativeness, while themes of political tension emerged, like Occidentalism. The current study advances our understanding of COVID-19 news representations by harnessing mixed-methods research, which reduces subjective bias and offers a more complete picture. Moreover, it is significant in helping to understand journalistic practice and how China, a state-controlled and ideology-dominated mediascape, has depicted COVID-19 while facing international stigma, conspiracy and blame.