3 Research Methods
3.8 Statistical Tests
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B. (IA) and (IR) of Tone Categories IA =
139 139
126 2
= 278
252 = 0.91
IR = 1
2210
.910.91
= 11..8291 = 0.95All the above test outcomes indicated the research as quite reliable, for Kassarjian (1997) and Wimmer and Dominick (2003) argue respectively that test results above 0.85 and 0.9 are considered reliable.
3.8 Statistical Tests
SPSS 15.0 was employed for statistical analysis, particularly frequency and percentage for an understanding of subject and tone distributions throughout the three periods, and whether there were any differences of subject, tone, and article lengths between the two newsmagazines. Other statistical tests such as chi-square and t-tests were not employed because the articles analyzed in this study were actually the population that appeared in Time and The Economist during the three periods of Olympic bid failure, bid success, and Games hosting.
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Chapter IV Findings
This chapter reports findings about the editorial presentations and news frames on coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in particular and China in general in Time and The Economist during the three periods of China‘s Olympic bid failure, bid success, and Olympics hosting, as explained in Chapter Three. The first section gives a statistical profile of the coverage in the two magazines, i.e., the subjects, tones, and length of coverage, while the second section gives the frames in reporting China‘s human rights, environment, technology, economy, society, health, culture and leisure, and education sectors during the three research periods.
4.1 The Samples from Time and The Economist
During the study periods, a total of 696 articles were sampled from Time and The Economist, with 229 stories (32.9%) in Time and 467 stories (67.1%) in The Economist (Figure 4.1).
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0 200 400 600
newsmagazines
no. of articles
N 229 467
% 32.9% 67.1%
Time The Economist
Figure 4.1 China coverage in Time and The Economist
Of the 229 Time articles, China-related articles accounted for 24.5 percent (56 stories), 37.6 percent (86 stories), and 38 percent (87 stories) in ―September 1992 to September 1994,‖ ―July 2000 to July 2002,‖ ―August 2007 to August 2009,‖
respectively. Of the 467 articles sampled in The Economist, China-related articles accounted for 27.4 percent (128 stories), 29.1 percent (136 stories), and 43.5 percent (203 stories) in ―September 1992 to September 1994,‖ ―July 2000 to July 2002,‖ and
―August 2007 to August 2009,‖ respectively (Figure 4.2).
Clearly, coverage on China climbed by 13.1 percent from ―bid failure‖ to ―bid success‖ and inched up by another 0.4 percent from ―bid success‖ to ―Olympics hosting‖ in Time, while coverage on China rose 1.6 percent from ―bid failure‖ to ―bid success‖ and jumped by another 14.4 percent from ―bid success‖ to ―Olympics hosting‖ in The Economist (Table 4.1).
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56
86 87
128 136
203
0 50 100 150 200 250
bid failure bid success Olympics hosting time periods
no. of articles
Time
The Economist
Figure 4.2 China coverage at three periods
*bid failure: September 1992-September 1994;
bid success: July 2000-July 2002;
Olympics hosting: August 2007-August 2009
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Table 4.1 China Coverage in Time and The Economist by Subjects during Bid Failure, Bid Success, and Olympics Hosting
* N = number of articles * bid failure: September 1992-September 1994;
bid success: July 2000-July 2002;
Olympics hosting: August 2007-August 2009
Subjects
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4.2 China Coverage in Time and The Economist by Number of Pages
Table 4.2 and Figure 4.3 show the coverage of China in Time and The Economist by number of pages given for each subject. The number of pages devoted to each subject category was measured to see which subjects were covered with more details. Both newsmagazines spent the most pages on ―General‖, in other words, articles that cover more than one subject, with an average page number of 1.30 pages in Time and 0.72 pages in The Economist.
For Time, China‘s ―Health‖ matters received an average coverage of 1.23 pages, followed by ―Economics‖ with 1.21 pages, ―Education‖ with 1.17 pages, ―Culture and Leisure‖ with 1.12 pages, ―Technology‖ with 1.12 pages, ―Environment‖ with 1.09 pages, ―Politics‖ with 1.08 pages, and ―Society‖ with 1.07 pages.
For The Economist, China‘s ―Environment‖ issues received an average coverage of 0.70 pages, followed by ―Economics‖ with 0.68 pages, ―Politics‖ with 0.68 pages, ―Technology‖ with 0.66 pages, ―Society‖ with 0.66 pages, ―Education‖
with 0.55 pages, ―Culture and Leisure‖ with 0.48 pages, and ―Health‖ with 0.45 pages.
In sum, aside from the ―General‖ category receiving the most number of pages in both magazines, China‘s health issue received more detailed coverage in Time, followed by economics, education, culture and leisure, technology, environment, politics, and society, while environment issues were covered with more details in The Economist, followed by economics, politics, technology, society, education, culture and leisure, and health. The articles in the two magazines also seem to be of equal length except Time‘s ―General‖ articles are considerably longer than those in The Economist.
Table 4.3 presents the number of pages used for each subject throughout the three periods. For Time, one year before and after China lost the first bid for the 2000
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Olympiad, ―Culture and Leisure‖ received an average coverage of 1.83 pages, followed by ―Economics‖ with 1.19 pages, ―Politics‖ with 1.10 pages, ―Technology‖
with 1.08 pages, ―General‖ with 1.07 pages, ―Society‖ with 0.76 pages, ―Education‖
with 0.72 pages, ―Environment‖ with 0.66 pages, and ―Health‖ with 0 pages. One year before and after China won the second bid for the 2008 Olympic Games,
―Education‖ had an average coverage of 1.61 pages, followed by 1.25 pages on
―General,‖ 1.17 pages on ―Economics,‖ 1.16 pages on ―Society,‖ 1.14 pages on
―Politics,‖ 1.02 pages on ―Technology,‖ 1.02 pages on ―Culture and Leisure,‖ 0.98 pages on ―Health,‖ 0.62 pages on ―Environment‖. One year before and after the hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, Time spent an average of 1.83 pages on
―General,‖ followed by 1.48 pages on ―Health,‖ 1.37 pages on ―Environment,‖ 1.24 pages on ―Economics,‖ 1.22 pages on ―Culture and Leisure,‖ 1.19 pages on
―Technology,‖ 1.02 pages on ―Politics,‖ 1.01 pages on ―Society,‖ and 0 pages on
―Education‖.
For The Economist, in ―bid failure‖ period, ―Environment‖ received an average coverage of 0.71 pages, followed by ―Economics‖ with 0.71 pages, ―Politics‖ with 0.67 pages, ―General‖ with 0.57 pages, ―Culture and Leisure‖ with 0.54 pages,
―Society‖ with 0.43 pages, 0 pages for ―Technology,‖ ―Education,‖ and ―Health,‖
respectively. In ―bid success,‖ ―Technology‖ had an average coverage of 1.01 pages, followed by ―General‖ with 0.87 pages, ―Society‖ with 0.76 pages, ―Politics‖ with 0.68 pages, ―Economics‖ with 0.66 pages, ―Environment‖ with 0.59 pages,
―Education‖ with 0.55 pages, ―Culture and Leisure‖ with 0.46 pages, ―Health‖ with 0.36 pages. In ―Olympics hosting,‖ ―Environment‖ had an average coverage of 0.76 pages, followed by 0.76 pages on ―Society,‖ 0.74 pages on ―General,‖ 0.68 pages on
―Politics,‖ 0.67 pages on ―Economics,‖ 0.48 pages on ―Technology,‖ 0.47 pages on
―Health,‖ 0.45 pages on ―Culture and Leisure,‖ 0.47 pages on ―Education‖.
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Thus, throughout the three study periods, clearly, ―Culture and Leisure,‖
―Education,‖ and ―General‖ were the most covered subjects in Time, while
―Environment,‖ ―Technology,‖ and ―Environment‖ were the most covered subjects in The Economist.
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Figure 4.3 Coverage of China in Time and The Economist by number of pages
Table 4.2 Coverage of China in Time and The Economist by Number of Pages
Newsmagazines Time The Economist
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Table 4.3 Coverage of China in Time and The Economist by Number of Pages throughout the Three Periods
* bid failure: September 1992-September 1994;
bid success: July 2000-July 2002;
Olympics hosting: August 2007-August 2009
Subjects
Time The Economist
bid failure
bid success
Olympics hosting
bid failure
bid success
Olympics hosting
N Mean N Mean N Mean N Mean N Mean N Mean
pol. 27 1.0967 39 1.1387 39 1.0164 46 0.6663 63 0.6841 70 0.6780
econ. 19 1.1863 8 1.1725 25 1.2380 62 0.7084 44 0.6595 75 0.6701
environ. 1 0.6600 2 0.6200 5 1.3660 1 0.7100 6 0.5933 11 0.7636
tech. 1 1.0800 4 1.0225 6 1.1933 ─ ─ 4 1.0075 8 0.4825
soc. 4 0.7550 18 1.1606 5 1.0140 11 0.4255 10 0.7590 15 0.7587
cul. & lei. 1 1.8300 11 1.0218 4 1.2200 5 0.5400 4 0.4625 7 0.4514
educ. 1 0.7200 1 1.6100 ─ ─ ─ ─ 2 0.5500 ─ ─
health ─ ─ 2 0.9750 2 1.4750 ─ ─ 1 0.3600 6 0.4700
gen. 2 1.0650 1 1.2500 1 1.8300 3 0.5700 2 0.8700 11 0.7382
Total 56 1.0998 86 1.1170 87 1.1415 128 0.6591 136 0.6790 203 0.6673
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4.3 Profiles of China in Time and The Economist by Subjects
Table 4.1 and Figure 4.4 show a difference between Time and The Economist in coverage of China by news subjects. Time emphasized most on China‘s ―Politics‖
with 105 stories (45.9%), followed by 52 (22.7%) ―Economics‖ articles, 27 (11.8%)
―Society‖ articles, 16 (7.0%) ―Culture and Leisure‖ articles, 11 (4.8%) ―Technology‖
articles, 8 (3.5%) ―Environment‖ articles, 4 (1.7%) ―Health‖ and ―General‖ articles each, and 2 (0.9%) ―Education‖ articles. The Economist, on the other hand, stressed most on China‘s ―Economics‖ with 181 (38.8%) stories, followed by 179 (38.3%)
―Politics‖ articles, 36 (7.7%) ―Society‖ articles, 18 (3.9%) ―Environment‖ articles, 16 (3.4%) ―Culture and Leisure‖ articles, 16 (3.4%) ―General‖ articles, 12 (2.6%)
―Technology‖ articles, 7 (1.5%) ―Health‖ articles, and 2 (0.4%) ―Education‖ articles.
Time had 4 (1.7%) general articles, while The Economist had 16 (3.4%) of them.
Articles under this category covered more than one subject. For example, Time did a coverage on how China‘s rising economy was creating social inequality problems as presented below:
The economic leap forward has also created a challenge for Beijing: how to cope with inequality and social ferment. (Time—May 10, 1993)
The Economist did a coverage on beyond China‘s excitement of hosting the Olympics, the Chinese government was actually worried about possible protests by minority groups and the slow growth of the country‘s economy:
Behind the sporting glitz, anxieties about minorities and the economy (The Economist—August 9, 2008)
Worthy of noting is that in 1992-1994, one year before and after China lost its
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bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, Time paid a lot of attention to China‘s capable leadership. However, one year before and after China won the bid for the 2008 Olympiad, Time not only increased its coverage on China, but also switched its focus from Chinese leadership to the country‘s suppression on human rights. Human rights remained a major focus in Time one year before and after hosting of the Beijing Olympics. For example, Time reported the then Premier Zhu Rongji‘s decisiveness in dealing with China‘s banking issues as below:
As he took charge of the central bank last month, the official Xinhua news agency said Zhu Rongji would push his policies with ―the power of a thunderbolt and the speed of lightning.‖ (Time—Aug. 16, 1993)
Then, in 2001, the year of the bid success, Time had the following to say about how Beijing brought Falun Gong members to their knees via policies of brainwashing, bullying and brutal force:
Chinese police call people like Liu Shujuan ―die-hard elements.‖ After the government banned Falun Gong, her spiritual practice, Liu traveled three times to the political heart of China to protest in Tiananmen Square. The last time, in November, she brought her four-year-old daughter and unfurled a yellow banner reading, ―The Falun Law Is the Universal Law!‖ Police jailed Liu and threatened to dispatch her to one of China‘s labor camps. Her terrified parents begged her to disavow her beliefs. Her husband smacked her. At work, her boss threatened to fire her. Then someone brought her weeping daughter to jail, and Liu‘s will broke. She promised in writing never to demonstrate against the government and for Falun Gong again…―It‘s hard to say,‖ she responds when asked if she would still practice if the government hadn‘t banned Falun Gong. A pause. A glance at her minders. ―I think it‘s still better not to.‖ That‘s the sound of freedom being squelched and a government that has spared no means to crush it. (Time— Jul. 2, 2001)
Contrary to Time, one year before and after China lost its bid for the 2000
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Olympiad, The Economist in 1994 focused a lot on the country‘s economy, particularly its ―out of control‖ economic growth:
For the Chinese government, the Americans are a secondary problem.
The runaway economy, and the political problems that go with inflation, are a bigger worry.
That creates another problem: the government‘s burden of debt is swelling. It will stay manageable only if the other elements of policy fall into place and if China settles down to a rate of fast-enough, not-too-inflationary growth. If. (The Economist—May 21, 1994)
In 2000-2002, one year before and after China won its bid for the Olympics Games, focus switched from the country‘s economy to politics, especially changes in Chinese leadership:
China‘s Communist Party is about to see the biggest change of faces at the top in over 20 years (The Economist—Oct. 28, 2000)
As China‘s leaders take their annual seaside break, storms are brewing over future policy and who is to get the top jobs (The Economist—
Aug. 11, 2001)
However, one year before and after the hosting of the Games, in 2007-2009, equal attention was given to China‘s politics and economy, with human rights and economic growth receiving the most coverage. Besides, the overall amount of China coverage increased as well. Similar to Time, The Economist did a coverage on how China was worried that demonstrations by minority groups would spoil the Olympics, thus, the Chinese government tightened the securities:
If there is one city in China where the authorities are truly worried about
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three periods. Time emphasized more on the ―Politics‖, ―Technology‖, ―Society‖, and―Culture and Leisure‖ sectors in China than The Economist, while The Economist stressed more on the ―Economics‖ sector in the country than Time. China‘s environment, education, and health had about the same amount of coverage in the two newsmagazines. More details are presented below.
Figure 4.4 China coverage in Time and The Economist by subjects
Table 4.4 further shows the top three topics in the five most covered subjects in Time and The Economist. For Time, of the 105 articles on politics, human rights received the most attention with 48 articles (21%), followed by 28 articles (12.2%) on Chinese leadership, and 11 articles (4.8%) on the Olympics. For instance,
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In its bid to host the 2008 Games, Beijing prepares a (Potemkin) Olympics Village (Time—Feb. 26, 2001)
Of the 52 articles on China‘s economy, 17 stories (7.4%) were on the country‘s investment, followed by 11 stories (4.8%) on trade, and 10 stories (4.4%) on the economic growth, such as:
While the West remains bogged down in the worst recession in decades, China‘s economy has sprung back to life with remarkable speed. (Time—
Aug. 10, 2009)
China‘s society received a coverage of 27 articles, under which 16 stories (7%) were on social problems, 6 stories (2.6%) on other, and 5 stories (2.2%) on labor issues. For example, Time reported in September 2001 that coal mine operators did not care much about the lives of coal miners:
China knows its coal mines are dangerous. But operators are ignoring state orders to shut them down. (Time—Sept. 3, 2001)
There were 16 articles in Time about China‘s culture and leisure, with 11 stories (4.8%) on art, 4 stories (1.7%) on sport activities, and 1 story (0.4%) on culture heritage. For instance, one Time article showed that China was not very keen in protecting cultural heritages within the country:
…Even today, some cadres remain unconvinced by the mansion‘s art-deco touches. ―I‘m not sure the building has enough historical value to keep it from being demolished,‖ sniffs He Bing, a park project manager. A blueprint of what Shanghai‘s new urban heart will look like in five months is taped above his
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head. On it, the Pei house is gone. The only building that emerges unscathed is a nondescript gray affair that once housed the office of a Communist Party magazine. (Time—Mar. 5, 2001)
Of the 11 articles on China‘s technology sector, 4 stories (1.7%) were on the Internet, 3 stories (1.3%) on other, and 2 stories (0.9%) on the country‘s space programs. For example,
At the Beijing Olympics, China proved it was best in the world at coming in first by dominating the gold-medal count. On Sept. 27 the country showed it can also be very happy with bronze. Forty-three years after cosmonaut Alexei Leonov spent 12 minutes outside an orbiting spacecraft, China became the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the U. S. to conduct a spacewalk.
(Time—Oct. 13, 2008)
For The Economist, there were 181 articles on China‘s economy, with 52 stories (11.1%) on investment, 41 stories (8.8%) on the economic growth, and 29 stories (6.2%) on trade. For example,
…New figures show that China‘s GDP growth fell to 6.8% in the year to the fourth quarter, down from 9% in the third quarter and half its 13% pace in 2007…(The Economist—Jan. 24, 2009)
Of the 179 articles on China‘s politics, 61 stories (13.1%) were on human rights, followed by 54 stories (11.6%) on Chinese leadership, and 40 stories (8.6%) on foreign affairs. For instance, The Economist reported that though relationship between Russia and China warmed up, there still seemed to be mistrust between the two sides:
Though officially friends again, Russia and China still worry about each other, not just about America. (The Economist—July 21, 2001)
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There were 36 articles on China‘s society, under which 20 articles (4.3%) were on social problems, 15 stories (3.2%) on labor issues, and 1 story (0.2%) on other. For example, an article in October 1993 seemed to clarify people‘s view of the Chinese being obedient and hardworking and that Chinese actually go on strikes if being mistreated in their work environment.
Strikes in China? They do happen. On September 28th the Beijing Youth News, a government newspaper, reported that workers in factories in Tianjin, a port city, had gone on strike at least ten times this year. (The Economist—Oct. 23, 1993)
The environment sector in China received a coverage of 18 articles, with 5 stories (1.1%) on shortage of resources, 4 stories (0.9%) on environmental projects, and 3 stories (0.6%) on environmental protection. For example, one story showed that the Chinese government was not very active in improving environmental pollutions:
These days China‘s environmental bureaucrats know how to talk the talk. They readily admit that pollution is poisoning the country‘s water sources, air and soil. They acknowledge that carbon emissions are soaring. If only, they lament, the government would give them the means to do something about it. (The Economist—Jan. 26, 2008)
The general category and culture and leisure category both ranked as number 5 in The Economist, with 16 articles. Of the 16 articles on China‘s culture and leisure, 7 stories (1.5%) were on art, followed by 4 stories (0.9%) on other, and 2 stories (0.4%) on tourism. For instance,
China may boast a 5,000-year-old culinary tradition, but when it comes to fast
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food, Western-style outlets rule. For this you can thank—or blame—changing consumer tastes, and the breathless expansion plans of chain restaurants, which are eager to grab a bigger slice of the country‘s estimated annual Rmb2000 billion ($29 billion) fast-food market. (The Economist—Oct. 25, 2008)
In sum, the top 5 subjects along with each of its 3 most covered topics in Time were: ―Politics‖ (human rights, Chinese leadership, Olympics), ―Economics‖
(investment, trade, economic growth), ―Society‖ (social problems, other, labor issues),
―Culture and Leisure‖ (art, sports activities, cultural heritage), and ―Technology‖
(Internet, other, space program). The top 5 subjects with each of its 3 most covered topics in The Economist were: ―Economics‖ (investment, economic growth, trade),
―Politics‖ (human rights, Chinese leadership, foreign affairs), ―Society‖ (social problems, labor issues, other), ―Environment‖ (shortage of resources, environmental projects, environmental protection), with ―Cultural and Leisure‖ (art, other, tourism) and ―General‖ both as the fifth most covered categories. Note that as ―general‖ refers to articles covering more than one subject, it indicates that The Economist seems to be presenting a more diversified China than Time.
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Table 4.4 3 Most Covered Topics in Top 5 Subjects in Time and The Economist 3 most covered topics
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4.4 Trend of China Coverage in Time and The Economist
Table 4.1 also shows that for Time, the top three most covered subjects during the 1992-1994 bid failure period were ―Politics‖ with 27 articles (11.8%),
―Economics‖ with 19 articles (8.3%), and ―Society‖ with 4 articles (1.7%). In the 2001-2002 bid success period, ―Politics‖ received the most coverage with 39 articles (17%), followed by 18 ―Society‖ articles (7.9%), and ―Culture and Leisure‖ with 11 articles (4.8%). ―Politics‖, again, received the most coverage with 39 articles (17%) during the 2007-2009 Olympics hosting period. Next in line were ―Economics‖
articles, followed by 6 ―Technology‖ articles (2.6%).
The Economist mainly focused on the political, economical, and societal sectors in China in all the three periods, with an order-shuffle in the second period. For the 1992-1994 period, China‘s economy counted 62 stories (3.3%), followed by 46 (9.9%) political articles, and 11 (2.4%) societal stories. During the 2000-2002 period, the main focus of the magazine switched from economy to politics with 63 stories (13.5%), while economy dropped to second place with 44 stories (9.4%), followed by society with 10 stories (2.1%). In the 2007-2009 Olympics hosting period, the political and economical sectors received about the same amount of coverage with the economic articles slightly higher than political ones by 5 stories (1.1%).
To summarize, the top three most covered subjects in Time one year before and after China‘s Olympic bid failure were ―Politics,‖ ―Economics,‖ and ―Society‖, one year before and after China‘s Olympic bid success were ―Politics,‖ ―Society,‖ and
―Culture and Leisure,‖ one year before and after China‘s hosting of the Games were
―Politics,‖ ―Economics,‖ and ―Technology‖. The top three most covered subjects in The Economist in ―bid failure‖ were ―Economics,‖ ―Politics,‖ and ―Society,‖ in ―bid success‖ were ―Politics,‖ ―Economics,‖ and ―Society,‖ in ―Olympic hosting‖ were
―Economics,‖ ―Politics,‖ and ―Society‖.
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Time seemed to have a more diverse coverage of China throughout the three periods, while ―Politics,‖ ―Economics,‖ and ―Society‖ were foci of China coverage in
Time seemed to have a more diverse coverage of China throughout the three periods, while ―Politics,‖ ―Economics,‖ and ―Society‖ were foci of China coverage in