“Our City Will Be the First to Hold Both Summer and Winter Olympics”: A comparative analysis of how media coverage and public opinion were framed on social media in the lead up to the Beijing 2022 winter Olympic games

Abstract

IntroductionBeijing is the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Mega sporting events such as the Olympic Games, which attract mass audiences, benefit greatly from social media. This article examines how the news coverage and public opinion about the Beijing 2022 were articulated on social media in the lead up to the Beijing 2022.MethodWe employed computational content analysis to examine 9,439 individual posts and 450 official media posts that appeared before the Beijing 2022 Olympics. We also used ROSTCM6 to investigate the sentiment of official media and public opinion toward Beijing 2022.ResultsThe results of this study reveal that members of public are more inclined to highlight certain aspects of Beijing 2022 based on their individual perspectives. Official media, whose work generally aligns with the government’s interests. Through a sentiment analysis of these posts, we found strongly positive attitudes concerning Beijing 2022 among the Chinese public and the media.DiscussionOur results provide ample evidence of an overall relative convergence of positions between public opinion and news coverage about the Beijing 2022, despite their divergences. This study indicates that social media presents itself as a space for broader public statements, and empowers ordinary people to discuss China’s social issues of concern. Meanwhile, official media represents the government’s position, strategically framing Beijing 2022 as a landmark event in the new era of China.

Exploring China’s Image through News Coverage of Sports Events from a Media Framing Perspective: Taking Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games as an Example<sup>*</sup>

“…A plethora of research has been carried out to determine the role that media framing plays in shaping China's image when it comes to mega-sports events. Han (2009) analyzed the news frame conflict between China's official press conferences and the New York Times' coverage of the Beijing Olympics; Xia (2010) prioritized the significance of communication strategies in building the city image of Guangzhou during the 2010 Asian Games; Zeng et al (2011) noted that while news coverage did not directly improve China's national image, it did indirectly raise awareness of the country in the international media and clarify the image of the host nation; Boykoff (2022) identified and analyzed the dominant frames that US media outlets used when covering the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics; Yang et al (2023) discovered that social media presents itself as a forum for more general public statements and gives ordinary people the ability to debate social issues in China. Meanwhile, the government's perspective is represented via official media; examined the self-shaping national image of China in the coverage of the two Olympic Games in China Daily; conducted a topic analysis of six mainstream media reporting about Beijing Winter Olympics and offered practical suggestion on the content, strategies, and effect of communication.…”