A Study On The Presentation Of The Images Of Sino-US Political Elites Through The Cover Stories Of TIME(1923-2009)

TIME has been named as a LIBRARY OF HISTORIES. Its cover story has its own unique features, especially the coverage of political elites. The aim that the TIME chooses political elites as image presentation is to show grand social environment and historical background behind them as well as hint and reflect the image of a country.Drawing upon the theory of political elites and media image and adopting the methods of literature analysis, content analysis, comparative analysis and questionnaire, this research firstly combs and analyzes Sino-US political elites image presentations and their constant adjustment process in the TIME during1923-2009from the perspective of diachronic.And then mainly probes the following four issues:to begin with, how the TIME presents Sino-US political elites image in their social and historical events; second is the differences of Sino-US political elites image presented in the TIME; third is the internal mechanism that the TIME presents Sino-US political elites image; last one is to dissect the elite view of the East and West.The research finds that for U.S political elites, the image presentation of the TIME takes parallel orders:one is the multi-angle showcase for elite charm and all-round report for character and deeds; the other is the analysis and evaluation of capabilities and merits the elites display in dealing with domestic and foreign affairs. While China’s political elites, the image presentation of the TIME has gone from suspicion, fear to longing and cheering.The reason why such a difference arises is that not only the American political system, economic development level and cultural life play a leading role in the world but also has much connection with our historical development. Of course, the main reason lies in cultural differences and different elite views. At the same time, journalistic professionalism, the interests of national positions and the media have demanded a profound impact on the operation of the media practice. It is already not enough if you simply use IDEOLOGY and DEMONIZED to define the image of China presented in the Western media, or it is oversimplified if you treat them all negative reports just because of critical reports. Therefore, scholars should take rational attitude with great cautions.That this research chooses Sino-US political elites image presentation has two positive meanings. One is for practice:knowing and understanding how the U.S. mainstream media construct and disseminate elite image and reflect national image allows us to adjust communication strategies in a more targeted way in cross-cultural communication to and fully recognize the U.S. media properties and mode of operation so as to better guide the domestic media how to disseminate national image; Meanwhile, we can take he image of China in the U.S. mainstream media as mirror for self-improvement. The other is for the academy:Currently there are many intercultural communication theories and Chinese report analysis of the U.S. media, but it is quite innovative to combine the quantitative and qualitative analysis methods to give political explanation on image presentation in the cross-cultural communication process. Accordingly, this research can enrich the theoretical vision of intercultural communication.