News production and construal level: A comparative analysis of the press coverage of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Author(s)
Date Issued
2021
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Journal
ISSN
1754-4750
1754-4769
Citation
Chinese Journal of Communication, 2021, vol. 14(2), pp. 211-230.
Type
Peer Reviewed Journal Article
Abstract
This research integrates construal level theory with news production strategies by exploring the joint effects of distance and editorial commitment on news narratives. In content analyzing the coverage of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by four newspapers in China and West, we investigate determinants of choice of principled or personalized accounts in storytelling. The findings showed that editorial commitment was low and power reliance high when the site of event was far away, leading to the use of higher construals in Western news texts than in Chinese newspapers. This study contributes to the unexplored relationship between news production and construal level theory.
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