Weakening Objectivity And Strengthening Stance: Analysis On The Framework Of Chinese And Us Media COVID-19 Stories

At the end of 2019,the novel coronavirus outbreak caused nearly 7 million deaths worldwide,hit the process of global economic integration,added to the already tense China-Us relations,and affected the presentation of information and attitudes in media reports of the two countries.During this period,how did commercial media,guided by "journalistic professionalism",report the epidemic? Can the two media adhere to the principle of "objectivity" in the tense political and economic game?This study takes the epidemic reports of Caixin and Newsweek in China and the United States as the research object,uses the "frame package" analysis method to analyze the characteristics of their news frames,reveals the ideological tendency hidden behind the report frames,examines how commercial media practice the concept of news value,and further discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the practice of news production and the concept of news value.And the two-way construction relationship between media and society.This study found significant differences in the news frames used by Caixin and Newsweek in reporting the epidemic in China and the United States.First of all,Caixin’s report on the epidemic mainly adopts the humanistic framework and the scientism framework,which plays the role of media in information dissemination,supervision and criticism in public health events.The humanist framework focuses on the situation and suffering of ordinary individuals in the COVID-19 pandemic,focusing on issues such as rights protection and treatment of patients.The scientism framework mainly covers the scientific research achievements of China and the United States on the epidemic and the scientific route of epidemic protection.In addition,Caixin’s epidemic report also used a nationalistic framework,which was consistent with the mainstream ideology of China,highlighting the superiority of China in the comparison of epidemic prevention modes and achievements between China and the United States.Meanwhile,it also showed the weakness and disorder of the United States in dealing with the epidemic.However,in the latter report,Caixin took a moderate nationalistic attitude and stance.Newsweek’s coverage of the epidemic is mainly based on the nationalist framework,and its obvious emotional expression reflects the contradictions and conflicts between China and the United States on the epidemic issues.Exclusive nationalism is particularly significant in the reporting framework.The humanist framework mainly involves the protection of civil rights in the prevention and control of the epidemic in the United States,while the scientism framework mainly reflects the scientific innovation achieved by the United States in the response to the epidemic.On the whole,the two media not only play the function of information informing,but also play the role of public opinion guidance and ideological construction.It is concluded that news production is not a closed and independent activity,but is closely related to "internal and external factors" such as the domestic and foreign situation,ideology,media business objectives and social and cultural environment,which makes it difficult for commercial media to adhere to the principle of "objectivity" in reporting the epidemic.First of all,the debate between China and the United States on issues related to the epidemic and their respective positions and tendencies can be reflected in the news topics of the two media.Secondly,under the mechanism of ideological hegemony,news reports use metaphors,images and other discourse elements to construct "public common sense",thus leading the public’s cognition and attitude towards the epidemic.Finally,the judgment of news value is alienated due to external influences,such as changing from "interesting" to "dramatic",and overemphasizing the "conflict" of news content.At the same time,news report plays an important role in the reconstruction of society.The reports of the two media affected the audience’s cognition of the nature of the virus and the country’s choice of epidemic prevention mode.They also acted on international relations,presenting different or even conflicting cognitive frameworks and attitudes,reflecting the two-way interactive relationship between the media and society.This suggests that we should view the production practice and value concept of news from a historical,situational and concrete perspective,and sum up more vivid experience and theoretical reference for the transformation of Chinese media.