A frame analysis of the language used by eight US media to describe the role of China and Chinese in spreading Covid-19 during late January to early June 2020

Abstract

A framing analysis of eight US media with different political bias was done to identify how they positioned themselves regarding the role of China in Covid-19 in the USA. The number of articles in the media varied much with Los Angeles Times leading with 32 articles discovered in the search. About 76% of all articles in the media were negative to China and 24% were sympathetic and only one article (American Conservative) saw the benefit of economic contribution of China to the USA. Both maximum negative and positive articles were seen in Los Angeles Times. All of the articles in the Star Tribune were negative and close to 95% in US today, also. However, the total numbers of articles in these two were only 15 and 19 respectively. Majority of articles in both right-centered and left-centered media were negative with obvious sympathetic stand of left-centered media towards China. On this basis, no definite association between political bias and positive or negative reporting on the role of China in Covid-19 spread in the USA exists for the eight US media studied. The results have been discussed with the aid of other works. Some limitations of this study are also discussed at the end.