POWER, BLAME, AND RESILIENCE: CONSTRUCTING CRISIS DISCOURSE AND MEDIA FRAMING OF LEADERSHIP IN THE U.S. AND CHINA DURING COVID-19

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MUHAMMAD JAVED ASHRAF, SALMA UMBER, ZAIN ABBAS, MUHAMMAD ASIM KHAN, TANZEELA ARSHAAD

Abstract

This research examined how political leadership of the United States and China discursively claims and disputes responsibility, resources, and resilience in their communication during the COVID-19 crisis, particularly concerning the media framing. The purpose was to analyze how leadership discourses were mediated through media and how it supported normative valorizations of power dynamics and ideological disputes in both countries. A qualitative research design was adopted and headlines from different Media houses were analyzed using Fairclough’s 3D model of discourse analysis. The news headlines analyzed were from Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily (China) and Fox News and The New York Times from United States. The headlines of the news which were publicly published between 2020 and 2021 formed the data source for the study. The study findings revealed that the U.S. media and leadership discourse constructed the pandemic as an act of agency by an external ‘ adversary’, China’s leadership constructed the pandemic as an act that called for unity, scientific collaboration and global solidarity and one that it as a responsible for addressing openly and proactively. These narratives were actively supported by media in both China, where state-controlled media would support government success as highlighted above, and in the USA where the discourse was highly polarized. The work enriches knowledge about the ways political leaders communicate in crises and what these ways mean for international attitudes and international relations. This underpins the questions about critical media literacy and the nature of discourse and power and their role in creating the international system.

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