The Research On The Media Image Of Chinese Athletes

The athletes’media image is created under the specific historical period of political, economic and cultural interaction and influence in their country. Meanwhile, the ideology, the value and the cultural orientation from the athletes’ media image impact the public consciousness and cognition through the mass media’s spreading and diffusion. Because of its broad social impact, there is a need for clear identification of what features are associated with Chinese athletes’ media image, what symbol it presents, what loaded content is, and what the social factors lie behind these characteristics.Various articles from magazines, New Sport and All Sport, which focused on the Chinese athletes from different representative era, are selected as the research samples. By employing some social sciences research methods including historical review, content analysis, key person interviews, the study aims at analysing the Chinese athletes’ media image from four aspects which are occupational role image, social role image, personality features image and social interaction image in different history stage, clarifing its track of changes and summarizing its trend of changes. At the same time, this research analyses and discusses the linkages between the athletes’ media image and social factors of the the specific historical phase that the athletes belong to, based on the socio-political, economic and cultural conditions in different historical periods in China.Research result shows that the athletes’ media image is marked with the distinctive imprint in different period of the People’s Republic of China. With China’s transition from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy, the athletes’occupational roles, social roles, personality, social interactions, and other characteristics presented by the media could grow from scratch, or change significantly. The values reflected from the athletes’media image evolve into complex blends of multiple values and obvious consumerism tendency. The athletes’ media image currently has deviations to certain degrees in the aspects of mainstream values, personality, success-path showing, orientation of lifestyle and so on.Under the goal of constructing Socialist advanced culture, we need to pay more attention to the social function and value of athletes’media image. Especially for media organizations, they need to establish the media position led by the dominant values. The sports media staff should enhance the understanding of the content of sports, and deepen the awareness of education and guidance of athletes’ media image, combining the social responsibility and the interests of the market, so as to enable athletes’media image to better fulfill its role in the society.