Research On The Status And Strategy Of “Stigmatization Of China” In The U.S Media Under Covid-19 Epidemic

Since the 21st century,the global situation has undergone great changes,and China-US relations has always played an important role in the international order.With China’s rapid economic and social development,the U.S.has developed a reverie about China’s rise as a "strong country that is bound to dominate" and sees China as a great threat to its own world dominance.The “stigmatization of China” in the U.S.media has existed in recent years,and have been exerting extensive pressure on China in the international arena.Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020,a wave of "stigmatization of China" was launched in the United States,and the “media war”between China and the United States escalated again.This study combines critical discourse analysis and international political theory to analysis the "stigmatization of China" by the U.S.media in the context of the Covid-19.Firstly,we select three major U.S.media reports on the stigmatization of China during the Covid-19 epidemic from The New York Times,The Washington Post,and The Wall Street Journal to form an anthology for discourse analysis,and conduct a discourse analysis of the news texts and sort out the relevant manifestations of the stigmatization.Secondly,the reasons for the stigmatization are explored in the context of Fairclough’s social-cultural analysis at three levels: political demands,media approaches,and cultural biases.Finally,we discuss the possible negative impact of the stigmatization and propose relevant strategies to deal with the stigmatization in China.Through the analysis of texts,this study shows the performance of the stigmatization in terms of reporting stage,reporting theme,and discourse expression.The stigmatization was based on certain political demands,both to meet the needs of the domestic election struggle at this time and because the U.S.media always harbored a sense of Western institutional superiority and attempted to infiltrate and suppress socialist ideology.In addition,the difference in cultural values and concepts between the U.S.and China is also an important reason for the stigmatization.The widespread dissemination of stigmatization will bring a series of negative impacts on China’s politics,economy,culture,society and other aspects.We can respond to and counteract the "stigmatization of China" by the U.S.media.