Depicting Democracy as Chaos: An Analysis of International News in Chinese Media

• In Event: Political Communication in China

Abstract

International news serves as a crucial source of information for many people to deepen their understanding of foreign events and global issues. Its reporting significantly influences the formation of public opinion in foreign policy and international relations. However, previous studies on Chinese media have mainly focused on the control and manipulation of domestic reporting, with insufficient analysis of international reporting. This study aims to reveal the characteristics and influencing factors of international news reporting by Chinese state-owned media. Specifically, it involves collecting international articles reported by People’s Daily and Global Times, two representative Chinese media, over the past decade, and analyzing the reporting on 192 United Nations member countries. First, using automated content analysis methods, the main topics reported are identified, and changes in the proportion of each topic over time are detected. Next, a latent semantic analysis model is employed to quantify the “emotional temperature” of Chinese media towards each country. Finally, this “emotional temperature” is used as a dependent variable to test the hypothesis that Chinese state media tend to report negatively on democratic countries. This study offers a new perspective on international news, which is considered to have a significant impact on foreign policy and public opinion formation. In particular, by focusing on the unique context of international news by Chinese state-owned media, it contributes novel insights to media studies under authoritarian regimes.

Author

• Yuan Zhou, Kobe University