Research On The Image Of National Leaders In COVID-19 Based On Grounded Theroy

Leaders are the most direct and representative publicity cards of the state and the government.The mass media complete the construction process of media image by shaping the words and deeds of state leaders.Ordinary people cannot have direct contact with national leaders in their daily life,so they can only form their cognition of the personal characteristics of leaders with the help of media images under various spotlights.Media image exists in people’s mind as a symbolic form.Influenced by cognitive framework,there may be deviation between the leader image constructed by mass media and the final impression formed in the audience’s cognition.In this paper,98 news reports from People’s network and 189 news reports from CNN were selected as the research objects,and the samples were summarized and sorted according to the stages of the epidemic in China and the United States.The third chapter uses Excel to make a quantitative analysis of the data,and compares the similarities and differences between the two in terms of content form and presentation picture from four aspects:the number of reports,the source of information,the content of reports and the tone of manuscripts.The fourth chapter uses Nvivo12 and the qualitative research method of grounded theory to find out that the People’s network and CNN both construct five categories of national leaders’ image,including cordial image,civilian image,ruling image,professional image and diplomatic image.The difference lies in the fact that Chinese leaders have military image,while American leaders have negative image.By constructing the media image communication model of leaders,the author explains how communicators build the image of leaders through various aspects from the perspective of mass media,and explains the cognitive system process of people forming the media image of leaders in their minds from the perspective of audiences.The fifth chapter,on the basis of integrating the previous articles,explains that the mainstream media of China and the United States have not only general reports that cross races and countries,but also special articles that show differences in the media image building of leaders,and puts forward the enlightenment on how the media image of Chinese leaders should be transmitted in times of public crisis.By exploring the ways,methods and main categories of the media image construction of leaders in the mainstream media of China and the United States,and the cognitive and interpretation models of the media image of the audience,this paper summarizes the communication path of the media image of leaders with Chinese characteristics and provides theoretical help for the promotion of their international communication.