Framing strategies at different stages of a crisis: Coverage of the ‘July 5th’ Urumqi event by Xinhua, Reuters, and AP

Abstract

Western media organizations have frequently complained about the lack of reporting freedom in China, especially when covering controversial events. During the ‘July 5th’ Urumqi event in 2009, the Chinese government loosened the regulations on reporting freedom for foreign media and tested a new policy in dealing with foreign media reporting social conflicts in China, a sensitive topic that the government had laid firm hands on for decades. This study examined how Xinhua, Reuters, and AP covered the 2009 ‘July 5th’ Urumqi event under the loosened regulations. The findings revealed that during the initial stage, the three news agencies displayed considerable similarities in news frames. When it was time to investigate background and contextual information, media organizations began to reveal the different interest they represent and hence the variance in news frames.

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