Framing AIDS in China: A Comparative Analysis of US and Chinese Wire News Coverage of HIV/AIDS in China

Author: Wu, Min

Source: Asian Journal of Communication, Volume 16, Number 3, September 2006 , pp. 251-272(22)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

This paper compares the news coverage of HIV/AIDS in China by the Xinhua News Agency of China and the Associated Press of the United States in 2004. By examining the frames embedded in the two news discourses, the study aims at uncovering how the social reality of HIV/AIDS in China is constructed by the two leading news organizations. Findings suggest that an overarching anti-government frame was evident in AP's report whereas Xinhua's coverage has articulated a pro-government frame. Three major frames, i.e. the dishonesty/oppression frame, the human rights abuser frame, and the incompetence frame, have combined to support the anti-government frame in AP's report. Xinhua's pro-government frame is also supported by three distinct frames, i.e. the defense frame, the progress frame, and the ambivalence/ambiguity frame. Overall, multiply realities are constructed on the social phenomenon of HIV/AIDS in China by the news media and the contrasting frames as identified in the study have lent support to the argument that news is a socially constructed product, not an objective mirror of social reality. Complexities in journalistic framing are discussed to account for the different message framings in the news and practical implication for international audience framing is also suggested.

Keywords: Frame; Framing Analysis; HIV/AIDS; China

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01292980600857781

Publication date: 2006-09-01