“Too good to be true?”: US and Chinese media coverage of Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen in the 2012 Olympic Games

Abstract

This study examined Chinese and US newspaper coverage of the controversial performance of female Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen during 2012 London Summer Olympics. While Ye won two gold medals, the ease in which she did so led to doping suspicions in Western media. Analysis of 222 articles from the US and China revealed sharp differences between the two countries’ amount of coverage about Ye, highlighting the valence and usage pattern of information sources as well. US coverage of Ye Shiwen was not as extensive as in China, and gender and nationality-based dialogues were present in newspaper reports. US coverage showed more skepticism on the doping issue; meanwhile, Chinese coverage exhibited a strong desire to protect its national image and national identity through defending Ye as unquestionably innocent. From a theoretical perspective, a framed “us versus them” dichotomy suggests that both countries’ coverages were still strongly influenced by the hostile ideologies beyond mere Olympic performances.

The Fall of the Queen of Nordic Skiing: A comparative analysis of the Swedish and Norwegian media coverage of the Therese Johaug scandal

“…Similarly to other studies (e.g. Bie & Billings, 2015;Li et al, 2016), our study shows that a nation's own media can exhibit a desire to protect its own national identity linked to a sport by defending the athlete under accusation. Accordingly, it is hardly a surprise that a rival nation -in this case, Sweden -performs the role of the opponent.…”

“…In particular, our analysis dwells upon the latter, outlining and comparing the identification by others through media representations of Johaug. Inspired by Li (2009), we link this representation to constructions of national identity -for instance, by looking at us/them distinctions (see also Bie & Billings, 2015). The power of a certain discourse is linked to notions of subjectivity, which is another key feature of our analysis: on the one hand, we investigate who is granted the right to speak in and through the texts and to distinguish between morally acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.…”

“…The policies laid down in the WADC have certainly not been embraced without controversies and conflicts, as a variety of studies have indicated (Efverström et al, 2016;Elbe & Overbye, 2014;Hanstad et al, 2010;Hanstad & Loland, 2009;Houlihan, 2014;McNamee & Tarasti, 2010;Møller, 2009Møller, , 2016. Likewise, studies on sport and national identity construction related to mass-media coverage have for years been of academic interest (Bairner, 2015;Boyle & Haynes, 2009), and studies have shown that doping accusations have led to significant differences in media coverage depending on national context (Bie & Billings, 2015).…”

Interstices news on mobile media: A comparison between the United States and China

“…As the largest two economic powers in the world (Statistics Times, 2016), the relations between the U.S. and China grab the world's attention in many areas, including both politics (Friedberg, 2005;Ross, 2003) and economics (Evenett, 2010;Tung, 1982). Because of the distinct political and economic systems of the two countries, their media systems also differ significantly (Bie & Billings, 2015), as media in China are generally centrally controlled or supervised by the government, while media in the U.S. are more "marketoriented" and owned by the private sector (Bie & Billings, 2015).…”

“…Stemming from distinct media systems, news stories usually are framed differently due to the different sources being used (Yang, 2003), especially when it comes to international news (Yang, 2003;Bie & Billings, 2015). Thus, a comparison of their news reports between the two countries is of great importance in journalistic studies.…”