The UK media coverage of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak

Zhang, Xiaoling and Shaw, Gareth (2020) The UK media coverage of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Global Media and China . ISSN 2059-4364

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Abstract

This article addresses one question: how is the coronavirus outbreak and its management in China reported in the UK media in general, and on the Internet in particular? It does so by examining how the online versions of the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Mail reported on the coronavirus outbreak in China, but more importantly, on how China handled it, over a 20-week timeframe. The sentiment analysis and thematic analysis show that although the selected media are of different types in the United Kingdom, the themes and topics are not substantially different from each other. This implies that the general media-consuming public in the United Kingdom would regard China’s handling of the virus as largely negative or neutral. However, the ways of discussing and presenting those topics were subject to variation between the publications, which in turn is reflected in the attitudes and perceptions of their readers.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: China; COVID-19; pattern; representation; sentiment analysis; thematic analysis; UK media
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham Ningbo China > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of International Communications
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/2059436420980072
Depositing User: Wu, Cocoa
Date Deposited: 22 Jan 2021 05:52
Last Modified: 22 Jan 2021 05:52
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/64359

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