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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 24, No. 0, pp.496-512
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2024
Received 05 Mar 2024 Revised 11 Apr 2024 Accepted 13 May 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.24..202405.496

Legitimizing Narratives: The U.S. Media’s Framing of China’s COVID-19 Response

Zhiyu Liu ; Kesumawati A. Bakar ; Azhar Jaludin
(1st author) PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, North China University of Science and Technology liuzhiyu@ncst.edu.cn
(corresponding author) Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia kesuma@ukm.edu.my
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia azharj@ukm.edu.my


© 2024 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In the backdrop of global health emergencies, news media assumes a pivotal role in disseminating information and shaping public perception. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the U.S. media has consistently tracked its progression in China. The way it is portrayed in the media has significant impacts on how the international community assesses China’s response to COVID-19. This study investigates what discursive strategies were adopted by the U.S. media to characterize COVID-19 in China at its three development stages and how these strategies legitimized the U.S. media’s framing of China’s COVID-19 response over time. Under the guidance of Ruth Wodak’s discourse-historical approach, this study examined salient discursive strategies present in the three sub-corpora that correspond to three development stages from four U.S. mainstream newspapers. The goal was to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the complete legitimization process. The results suggest that the newspapers used all five discursive strategies to portray COVID-19 in China, with some being shared across stages and others unique to a specific stage. They collectively functioned to legitimize the U.S. media’s framing over time. In addition to the overall negative representation, numerous positive portrayals were also identified, notably highlighting China’s swift responses, the effectiveness of lockdown measures, and the efficacy of Chinese vaccines. Revealing the discursive strategies and their roles in legitimization aids readers in comprehending the process of representation in the U.S. media. Additionally, the positive representation also contributes to fostering mutual understanding and amicable relations between the two countries.

Keywords:

legitimization, discursive strategy, COVID-19 in China, the U.S. media, discourse-historical approach

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