| Xinjiang is the largest administrative region in China in terms of land area,accounting for about one sixth of China’s territory.Rich in water,forests,biological as well as mineral resources,Xinjiang has been a pivotal passage along the ancient Silk Road.The autonomous region borders eight countries in Central Asia and North Asia,making it a strategic choke point in western China.Due to its unique strategic position and complex ethnic composition,Xinjiang has always been one of the focuses of international media outlets on China issues.In the past several years,some hot-spot issues related to Xinjiang have attracted the attention of the West.For example,the United States enacted Xinjiang-related legislation;the Disney film Mulan was boycotted because it was partly filmed in Xinjiang;Xinjiang cotton,which was believed to be related to forced labor in the region.Against the backdrop of a rather negative international communication situation regarding Xinjiang issues,attaching due importance to the analysis of Xinjiang-related foreign reports while improving the ability of international communications on Xinjiang-related issues are of vital practical significance for China to create a stable and favorable international public opinion environment,and to construct a good national image which will comply to its comprehensive national strength.Using the method of frame analysis,this study examines how the New York Times,one of the US mainstream newspaper that occupies a dominant position in international information dissemination,report on Xinjiang related issues in the past five years from 2017 to 2021.A keyword search was done through Factiva database and 153 pieces of news articles were reserved as research objects.Goffman and Zang Guoren’s theories on news frame are adopted as theoretical framework of the thesis.All 153 news articles were coded according to different categories and SPSS was used to do chi-square tests on the data to examine the co-relevance of dependent and independent variables.Four research questions were brought about.Through a detailed quantitative content analysis,there are the following findings.1)In terms of numbers of reports,the newspaper reported on Xinjiang most frequently in 2019 and 2021.2017 was the year when the newspaper reported least on Xinjiang.2)Genre that appears most frequently is hard news which is closely related to certain news event.3)Human rights issue was the most prominent topics in reports from the New York Times regarding Xinjiang in the past five years among 11 types of second class topics.The second most frequent topics was culture assimilation,followed by international relationship.4)Experts/scholars and government officials were the dominant sources in the coverage of Xinjiang,followed by Chinese media and international organizations.Xinjiang people/Uighurs and business sources were the least-quoted sources in the coverage.5)Negative reports on Xinjiang issues from the New York Times are overwhelmingly dominant.6)In terms of headlines,four types of headlines are adopted including fact-stating,opinion-delivering,story-telling,use of question pattern and use of rhetoric,with fact-stating the most commonly used one.The research data shows that there was no significant difference and changes in the aspects of the five variables above from 2017 to 2021,i.e,the newspaper has maintained consistency in its choice of topics,news sources,attitude as well as the way headlines were organized.The thesis draws to the following conclusions.Firstly,the study found that the newspaper preferred to use conflict frame and suppression frame in the coverage of Xinjiang-related issues.By presenting two opposite sides that is hostile to each other and quoting opposite sources and topics,the newspaper reiterate and deepen the impression that human rights have been heavily violated in the region in far-west China and ethnic minorities groups find themselves struggling through the "unjust legislation"、" persecution"、"forced labour" and "cultural genocide".The preference that the coverage showed was the results of bias and prejudice in news production,strategic communication in politics as well as hostility to " Oriental Discourse " in academic community of the West.Secondly,as far as the image of Xinjiang is concerned,the newspaper attempts to portray the people of Xinjiang as "suffering"people;It tries to portray the Uighurs in Xinjiang as an ethnic group going through "cultural genocide".It also tries to shape Xinjiang as a "dark zone" where the development of economic,social and political life have been trapped in stagnation.Generally speaking,the New York Times has been applying double standards on Xinjiang related issues and turns a blind eye on basic truth,echoing to American government’s statements and policies regarding China and Xinjiang.Its practices of fact-twisting and truth-bending though framing has terribly tarnished Xinjiang’s global image.At last,on the basis of the results,the thesis brings up several pieces of suggestions for Xinjiang to further improve its international communication from the perspectives of the government,domestic media outlets,local people and the academic community respectively.The thesis concluded that Chinese governments should continue to boost Xinjiang’s economic development and Xinjiang should also continue to stay open to foreign media and international organizations;Ordinary locals should be given more chances to tell stories and speak for themselves;Chinese media outlets should set agenda related to Xinjiang issue more positively and improve the quantity and quality of Xinjiang-related information products;And academic researches on Xinjiang-related issues should be strengthened and put into a broader vision into the Belt and Road Initiative. |
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