An analysis on reporting pattern of People’s Daily’s international news coverage: The case of Sino-Japan summit meeting since the normalization of relations between Sino-Japan

Abstract

To study the international news reporting patterns of the Chinese media, this research provides a longitudinal analysis of the news coverage of Sino-Japan summit meetings from 1972 to 2019 in the People’s Daily. Based on the framing theory, the results of the analysis show that different aspects of the summit are selected to be covered in the news depending on the Chinese government’s policy towards Japan in different time periods. However, the news coverage itself has maintained a high degree of consistency. Before the period of reform and the opening up of China, there was no mention of the summit meetings’ content; reports only introduced the date, location and attendees. After the reform, information reported about the summit meetings increased and the coverage began including quotations from both the Chinese and Japanese heads of state; at the same time, reports adopted a ‘propagandized’ text editing mode by quoting more from Chinese leaders than Japanese leaders. Furthermore, the People’s Daily framed the Chinese government’s attempts to stabilize and develop Sino-Japanese relations over time.