Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 19:4 (2020) ► pp.646–665

A contrastive analysis of reports on North Korea’s missile program

The New York Times and China Daily

ORCID logo | Tsinghua University
The paper compares the representation of the November 2017 missile test in news reports by The New York Times and China Daily. The U.S. reports embody to some extent a Cold War mindset by tending to internationalize the issue and make itself appear as a victim of the crisis. Through the attribution of blame, the U.S. seeks to evade its responsibilities and maintain its hegemonic status. The Chinese reports intimate that the crisis is mainly a problem between the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula. These reports tend to present China as a responsible stakeholder seeking to help solve the issue through communication and dialogue. The analysis of these differences is informed theoretically by perceived differences in culture. The paper concludes that the discourse patterns of these reports index a rising China and a shift in the balance of power in international politics.
Keywords: DPRK missile test, nuclear issue, The New York Times , China Daily
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Research findings
    • 4.1Social actors
    • 4.2News narratives
      • 4.2.1News topics
      • 4.2.2News contexts
      • 4.2.3Consequences and verbal reactions
      • 4.2.4News comments
    • 4.3Argumentations
    • 4.4Discussions: Culture differences and power struggles
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 January 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19030.lia
References (22)
References
Berger, Peter Ludwig, and Thomas Luckmann. 1966. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Choi, Jinbong. 2010. “The Representation of North Korean National Image in National Newspapers in the United States.” Public Relations Review 36 (4): 392–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chouliaraki, Lilie. 2005. “Spectacular Ethics: On the Television Footage of the Iraq War.” Journal of Language and Politics 4 (1): 143–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chung, Mun-Young, Justin R. Lessman, and Meijing Fan. 2014. “Framing the Nuke: How News Media among Countries in the Six- Party Talks Framed North Korea’s Nuclear Test.” North Korean Review 10 (1): 22–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dai, Jia, and Kideuk Hyun. 2010. “Global risk, Domestic Framing: Coverage of the North Korean Nuclear Test by US, Chinese, and South Korean News Agencies.” Asian Journal of Communication 20 (3): 299–317. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Entman, Robert M. 1993. “Framing toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” Journal of Communication 431: 51–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fu, Ying. 2017. “The Korean Nuclear Issue: Past, Present, and Future-A Chinese Perspective.” Last updated May 9 2017. [URL]
Ji, Xianlin. 2006. Ji Xianlin Talks. Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House.Google Scholar
Kim, Kyung Hye. 2014. “Examining US News Media Discourses about North Korea: A Corpus-based Critical Discourse Analysis.” Discourse and Society 25(2): 221–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krzyżanowski, Michał. 2009. “Europe in Crisis?” Journalism Studies 10 (1): 18–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, Jeongsub, and Hyunjin Seo. 2009. “Frame Flow between Government and the News Media and its Effects on the Public: Framing of North Korea” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 21 (2), 204–223. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, Malcolm, and Duncan Hunter. 2019. The Discourse of Security: Language, Illiberalism and Governmentality. Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCombs, Max, and Donald Shaw. 1972. “The Agenda-setting Function of Mass Media.” Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (2): 176–187. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mills, Sara. 2004. Discourse. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Min, Su Jung. 1999. “Strategies of Constructing Meaning: A Critical Discourse Anaysis of News on the North Korean Nuclear Threat”. I.T.L. Institut voor Togepaste Linguistik, 123–124: 1–35.Google Scholar
Oberhuber, Florian, Christoph Bärenreuter, Michał Krzyżanowski, Heinz Schönbauer, and Ruth Wodak. 2005. “Debating the European Constitution: On Representations of Europe/the EU in the Press.” Journal of Language and Politics 4(2): 227–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qin, Yaqing. 2012. “Chinese Culture and Its Implications for Foreign Policy-making.” Last updated April 12, 2012. [URL]
Reisigl, Martin, and Ruth Wodak. 2001. Discourse and Discrimination. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Richardson, John E. 2004. (Mis) Representing Islam. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rosati, Jerel A., and James M. Scott. 2010. The Politics of United States Foreign Policy (5th ed). New York: Cengage.Google Scholar
Shi, Xu. 2005. A Cultural Approach to Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Van Dijk, Teun A. 1988. News as Discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar