Anti-Chinese sentiment in the Czech public service media during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This paper focuses on Sinophobia which is usually not expressed openly in the public service media. The Sinophobia discourse intensified in 2020 in connection with the coverage of the pandemic. How are anti-Chinese attitudes expressed in the news discourse of the Czech Radio and Czech Television? Examples from a broader analysis of the representation of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in news and journalism programmes are given. Inductive qualitative research methods (discourse and semiotic analysis) were used to detect subtle nuances of meaning and reveal implicit presuppositions. This study focuses on the manifestations of bias, e.g., the ideologically grounded attitudes of the speakers. The anti-Chinese statements (about poor hygiene habits and eating wild animals) were most often mentioned in connection with the origin of the coronavirus, vaccination, and China expansive policy. Sinophobic messages were built on the opposition of Us and Them, which is, according to van Dijk (2000), the core of new racism. In spite of the fact that the open hate speech and systematic bias (intentional implications, obvious evaluation or signposting) were not found in the researched sample, the analysis identified the presence of Sinophobic statements in both public service media.

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“…12 Zejména v případě alkoholu čelí naše společnost vysoké toleranci, ba až bagatelizaci a silnému podhodnocení existujícího 12 V současné společnosti pozdní modernity fungují jako klíčoví aktéři podílející se na vytváření sociální reality média, zároveň plní funkci generalizovaných druhých v procesu socializace. Dominantní obsahy šířené mainstreamovými médii jsou podstatné nejen pro formování hodnotových postojů a internalizaci sociálních norem, ale i pro vnímání deviací (Sedláková 2021). Skrze prezentované obrazy se média stávají nositeli symbolického vyloučení, již se podílejí na definování sociálně přijatelného chování.…”

Substance Abuse in the Czech Population

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