The comparison of U.S. and China’s news sites on the reporting of China’s real estate crisis

Absztrakt (kivonat)

In recent years, there have been some significant differences in the media's coverage of Beijing-US ties. Since the implementation of the Three red lines policy to tackle the excessive borrowing of property developers which could stop the real estate market from overheating in August 2020, China’s property market has entered into a crisis. The majority of people stay informed about current events through media, making it one of the most crucial sources for how the general public perceives critical national issues. It is crucial to comprehend what information the media outlets in the various nations are disseminating and whether it is accurate or not because the problem affects not only the home country but also it can impact many nations around the world. It is critical to comprehend how this issue is being covered by Chinese and American news outlets and understand the differences between the reporting. Utilizing comparative analysis with qualitative content analysis, this research examines the reporting of China’s real estate crisis by English-language newspapers in China versus media in the United States. A total of 101 samples of news articles from eight news sites were collected, dated 1st October 2021 to 31st November 2022. The selected newspapers are China Global Television Network (CGTN), Global Times, South China Morning Post (SCMP), People’s Daily, Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC), The New York Times, Cable News Network (CNN), and Bloomberg. The study focused on analyzing the entire article which includes but is not limited to headlines, images, and sentences. The study results show that, U.S. media tends to focus more on the negative aspects of the topic when covering news related to China. Chinese media tends to portray the events in a more positive or neutral light, given the subject matter is related to issues happening in their own country. Both U.S. and Chinese media focus mostly on the real estate market. Some attention of Chinese news sites given to the government and small amount of U.S. media coverage to other topics. While covering the same recent events, Bloomberg provided more in-depth information on the current situation and its implications, while Global Times was explaining the situation, it also focused on the positive aspects without delving into the details.