Avril Brown

How did Chinese and American media portraythe United States and China over the course of the trade war between the United States and China and Covid-19 in 2018-2022?

Started Sept. 9, 2023

Abstract or project description

In 2018, the United States and China entered a trade war that strained the relationship between the two countries and impacted public attitudes and perceptions toward each other. While the impacts of this conflict on international relations are well studied, the changing attitudes of ordinary citizens from each country is less known. I ask how the Chinese and American media’s portrayal of each other changed over the course of the trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic that further changed global attitudes. I expect that the United States and Chinese media’s portrayal of each other became more negative over the course of the trade war, and the United States media’s portrayal of China became even more negative over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. I conduct a content analysis of news articles from the three most popular Chinese and United States news sites between 2018 to 2022, using articles from the beginning and middle of each month. This research demonstrates how international events and disputes can impact public sentiment towards foreign countries and change global attitudes.