Abstract
Coverups and under-reporting of coal mining accidents are pervasive in China, but no research has studied how the media has portrayed these accident coverups or attributed responsibility. By extracting news articles from major Chinese news outlets, this study shows that the coverup cases receiving the most coverage were those with high casualties and the involvement of government officials and journalists, while other cases did not receive much media attention. The media also intimated pervasive collusion between the government and coalmines. More blame was attributed to local officials than to coalmine owners. Victims’ families were also accused of accepting higher compensation and being part of the coverup network. This study further explores the underlying motivations for the media's framing choices and their possible effects on society and policymaking. It maintains that the portrayal of pervasive government-coalmine collusion in coverage of accident coverups may have led to more similar incidents.
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