A Systematic Literature Review on China’s Image in News Discourse Studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1603.33Keywords:
systematic review, PRISMA, China’s image, news media, discourse analysisAbstract
To better understand how China’s image is represented in global news discourse, this study systematically reviews and examines existing studies on the topic. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, this study employed Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus to retrieve relevant articles published between 2015 and 2024. Through content analysis, this study identified six themes reflecting China’s media image: (1) economic development and international relations, (2) health and crisis management, (3) social and political issues (4) integrated media representation, (5) environmental issues, (6) culture and education. After analysis, the SLR revealed that research on China’s image from 2015 to 2024 was generally on the rise, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of the studies focused on Western media, making non-Western media relatively underexplored. China’s image in Western media tended to be negative. While China’s image in the non-Western world was generally presented in a positive light, negative portrayals also existed, resulting in a more nuanced picture. Methodologically, there was a growing trend towards employing mixed methods, particularly the combination of corpus linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings of this study provide a clearer understanding of the discursive construction of China’s image in global news discourse from 2015 to 2024 and highlight important directions for future research, including greater engagement with non-Western media, visual content, and interdisciplinary analytical frameworks.
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