Framing China’s Corruption: A Content Analysis of Coverage on New York Times from 2006 to 2015

Abstract

The study tries to map the coverage of China’s corruption on New York Times in the past ten years (2006-2015), aiming to explore how did western media portray China by varied framing strategies. It is found that NYT paid increasing attention to the issue of China’s corruption and the valence of news reports tended to be less negative since the 18th Party Congress in 2012. However, the results also indicate no substantial difference varied by time in the application of framing strategies. Ideological and social/economic frames are still the two main attributive ways contributing to negative coverage of corruption issue. The findings suggest the dynamic and stubborn nature of media bias.