Newspaper portrayal of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin American newspapers: A content analysis

Abstract

The current study is a content analysis of international economic news about Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin American countries from corresponding Latin American newspapers. We studied the portrayal of Chinese outward foreign direct investment among 14 different Latin American newspapers. The study aims at illustrating differences between newspaper portrayals of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in the region, with a special focus on the possible factors that influence the editorial selection of relevant news frames on international economic news. We found that the use of conflict and economic consequence frames corresponds to the editorial distinct focuses on either geopolitical interpretations or economic interpretations of international economic news in the case of Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Latin America. We also found attitudes and perspectives adopted in the portrayals are different both on a national basis and on an editorial basis.