US media’s coverage of China’s handling of COVID-19: Playing the role of the fourth branch of government or the fourth estate?

The present study is an analysis of a sample of reports on China’s handling of COVID-19 by several major US media with a focus on a controversial op-ed by the Wall Street Journal. It is found that instead of covering it objectively as a public health crisis, these media reports tend to adopt the strategy of naming, shaming, blaming, and taming against China. In other words, they seize the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan as an opportunity to serve Trump’s “America First” doctrine by a coordinated attempt to destroy the Chinese dream and arresting China’s ascendency. First, the naming/shaming technique is used to tarnish China’s image as a virus. The op-ed on the Wall Street Journal describes China as “the real sick man of Asia.” In addition, a cluster of ferociously negative names are slung onto China to describe the coronavirus as “the Wuhan virus,” “the Belt & Road Initiative pandemic,” “the China virus,” and so on. Second, the blaming technique is applied. On top of such negative name-calling, these media tend to blame the Chinese leadership, the political system, and finally Chinese food culture for eating pangolins. Finally, the taming technique is used to constrain, isolate, or quarantine China. One goal behind such a China threat strategy is to fan American or foreign businesses to move (back) to the United States out of China. Another goal is to create the public opinion environment that would be conducive to some American groups’ litigations against China. It is concluded that American mainstream media while quarreling with the Trump administration for domestic affairs seem to be colluding with the conservative intellectual base in the United States in supporting Trump’s strategy to knock down and divide China.

BALANCE OF OPINION IN NEWSPAPERS THROUGH EDITORIAL AND OP-ED GENRES

The article deals with the analysis of the balance of opinion in the newspaper, which is originally realized through editorial and op-ed genres. We analyzed 20 articles from “The Wall Street Journal” and “The New York Times” in the genres of editorial and op-ed about events in Afghanistan in August 2021, which were interpreted differently in mass media due to the role of the White House. The findings prove that in the context of new digital reality the op-ed has lost its original function of conveying alternative positions to the ones stated in the editorial; at the same time newspapers tend to advocate the positions shared by the political parties they have historically developed close relations with: “The Wall Street Journal” - with the Republican Party, “The New York Times” - the Democratic Party.

Anatomia przywództwa charyzmatycznego

The monograph of one of the twenty five most influential women in Europe (according to The Wall Street Journal) contains the analysis of causative factors of leadership and sources of social perception of the leader’s charisma. The author, using her own professional experience and multi-disciplinary scientific knowledge, provides two model and theoretical conceptions: the first one refers to general leadership, the second one to charismatic leadership. The hypotheses are confronted by selected cases of leadership seen as charismatic: of John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa, Margaret Thatcher and Steve Jobs.

Encuadres noticiosos sobre primeras damas: las expertas, las novatas y las actuales

The protocol figure of the first lady is subject to media exposure, whether for directing an organization, when accompanying her husband at events, or because she is involved in conflicts of interest. Literature indicates that her role generates a narrative of how an exemplary woman should be in her country. In this context, this paper aims to identify, using the model of Winfield (1997), the news frames used to cover the first ladies of three countries, namely Argentina, USA, and Mexico. For this, three groups of first ladies were selected: a first group of expert politicians, including those who had a political career prior to their position and later sought the presidency of their country (Cristina Fernández, Hillary Clinton, and Margarita Zavala); a second group of novices who took the position without a previous career (Juliana Awada, Laura Bush, and Angélica Rivera); and a third group made up of those who currently hold the position (Fabiola Yáñez, Melania Trump, and Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller). The newspapers analyzed were La nación, Página/12, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reforma, and La jornada. Content analysis and the framing model revealed that the most widely used frame was that of a political official, being more pronounced for expert politicians and in newspapers opposed to her husband’s government. Moreover, this allows presidential wives to express themselves via direct quotes. It can thus be concluded that the first ladies are preferably covered from political news frames, which endows them with soft power that allows them to intervene in elections, makes their opinion relevant, and shapes their political career. Resumen La figura protocolaria de la primera dama ha sido mediáticamente expuesta a escrutinio ya sea por dirigir un organismo, acompañar a su esposo en eventos o porque se ve incolucrada en conflictos de interés. La bibliografía señala que su papel genera una narrativa de cómo debe ser una mujer ejemplar en su país de origen. En dicho contexto, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo detectar, a partir del modelo de Winfield (1997), cuáles son los encuadres noticiosos desde los que se cubre a las primeras damas de tres países: Argentina, Estados Unidos y México. Para ello, se seleccionarion tres grupos de primeras damas: uno denominado como las políticas expertas en las que se incluyen las que tenían una carrera política anterior a su cargo y que después buscaron la presidencia de su país (Cristina Fernández, Hillary Clinton y Margarita Zavala); el segundo grupo fue el de las novatas, las cuales llegaron al puesto sin una trayectoria previa (Juliana Awada, Laura Bush y Angélica Rivera); y un tercer grupo conformado por las que actualmente ocupan dicho cargo (Fabiola Yáñez, Melania Trump y Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller). Los diarios analizados fueron La nación, Página/12, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reforma y La jornada. Por medio del análisis de contenido y del modelo del framing se encontró que el encuadre más utilizado fue el de funcionaria política, lo cual se pronuncia en mayor medida en las políticas expertas y en los diarios opositores al gobierno de su marido. Además, dicho frame les permite a las cónyuges presidenciales expresarse desde citas directas. Se concluye que las primeras damas son abordadas desde marcos noticiosos preferentemente políticos lo cual las dota de un poder blando que le permite intervenir en elecciones, vuelve relevante su opinión y les forma trayectoria política.

O Plano Real visto de fora

O presente artigo pretende analisar como as quatro mais importantes publicações econômicas do mundo (The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times e The Wall Street Journal) perceberam a implementação do Plano Real em 1994. O objetivo central do artigo é analisar a percepção anglo-americana sobre o Brasil da época, com foco nas questões políticas e econômicas do país. A análise das publicações aqui realizada compreende os anos de 1993 e 1994, com um olhar detalhado para as eleições presidenciais de 1994. A pesquisa vem a evidenciar os vícios de análise das publicações, bem como os valores anglo-saxônicos influenciam a percepção sobre a América Latina.

De Primera Dama a candidata presidencial: masculinización en la cobertura periodística de mujeres políticas

El estudio presenta casos de candidatas presidenciales que anteriormente fueron primeras damas: Cristina Fernández (Argentina), Hillary Clinton (Estados Unidos) y Margarita Zavala (México). El objetivo fue registrar, en diarios nacionales (La Nación, Página/12, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reforma y La Jornada) cuáles fueron los atributos de personalidad, agenda temática y tonalidad presentados en las noticias surgidas durante ambos periodos políticos. Para su estudio, se establecieron de forma deductiva rasgos de personalidad femeninos (empatía, honestidad, celebridad) y masculinos (liderazgo, inteligencia, dureza), así como tópicos de corte suave o femenino (cultura, salud, educación) y duro o masculino (economía, seguridad y corrupción, política exterior). Entre los hallazgos se encontró una masculinización de la personalidad política y agenda temática durante las candidaturas presidenciales, la cual no se registró de manera significativa durante los periodos de Primera Dama. Se detectó que el tono de las noticias era negativo cuando las candidatas fueron presentadas desde una personalidad femenina y tópicos de corte masculino. Entre las conclusiones se señala que las mujeres que se candidatean para puestos presidenciales se ven obligadas a ser más estratégicas en su actuar político para ser vistas por la ciudadanía como capaces de resolver problemáticas que culturalmente no se asocian con la feminidad. Además, se concluye que la prensa las ubicó en una paradoja entre ser cubiertas periodísticamente como mujeres o como políticas, al mismo tiempo elegibles e inelegibles para la presidencia.