Cultural differences between China and U.S. mainstream newspaper coverage ot Taiwan s presidential elections

Cultural differences between China and U.S. mainstream newspaper coverage ot Taiwan s presidential elections Abstract Taiwan s independence has been a hot topic for years. Studies have concentrated on the political factors of the issue. This study examines the cultural differences between China and U.S. mainstream newspaper coverage on Taiwan s presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. This study develops a cross-cultural content analysis framework to examine two important cultural perspectives (individualism and collectivism) in Hofstede s (1980) crosscultural dimensions. The selected newspapers include The New York Times and People s Daily. The chosen articles in the 4 years are combined together for the study because the study regards Taiwan s independence as the premise and focuses on the cultural perspectives instead of political factors. Introduction This study concentrates on the cultural differences between China and U.S. mainstream newspaper coverage on Taiwan s presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. First, newspaper is chosen because, according to Li (1999), it speaks for the nation. Also, being one branch of media, newspaper covers and displays different points of mainland China and Taiwan. Second, the two mainstream newspapers chosen in the study are The New York Times and People s Daily. According to Berry (1990), the New York Times has extensive coverage of foreign policy and prominence and influence on decision-making. People s Daily, in Wang s (1986) opinion, has an eminent status in China and it performs as a spokesperson for China s foreign policies. 1

Third, the chosen four years of Taiwan presidential elections have unique characteristics. The 1996 election was not only the first direct presidential election in Taiwan, but also took place in the period of the third Taiwan Strait crisis (Fu, 2007). As stated by Su (2009), Lee Teng-hui s Two-States Policy, which was said by Lee on July, 1999, was against the One China principle. This so-called theory also had influence on 2000 presidential election. Han (2007) said the election in 2004 was unique in that it was a medley of an assassination attempt, a national referendum, unprecedented television debates, some emotionally-invested local ballot recounts, and widespread public protests in the rain. The president-elect of the 2008 election is Ma Yingjeou, who is a KMT (Kuomintang) nominee. The political direction changed since KMT favors reunification with mainland China. Finally, Hofstede s (1991) individualism and collectivism cultural dimension is used to study the cultural differences. This study is based on the Asian and U.S. contexts. According to Hofstede (1980), the most common dimension distinguishing the East Asian culture from the North American culture is the individualism-collectivism distinction. The Importance of This Study First, as illustrated above, the timeframe in this study is unique. Second, although applying the individualism and collectivism culture dimension in a comparative study has been done before, it still makes sense in this study because it concentrates on the cultural differences of Chinese and U.S. newspaper coverage. Finally, because studies of the 2008 presidential elections and a comparative study about cultural differences as reflected by newspapers are rare, this study aims to fill this research gap and provide a foundation for future studies. Literature review 2

Mainland China and Taiwan On Oct 25, 1945 (Copper, 2009, p.43), subsequently celebrated as Retrocession Day, Taiwan officially became a part of the Republic of China (ROC). In 1971 (Copper, 2000, p.xxii), the ROC was expelled from the United Nations after the United States lost a General Assembly vote to make the matter of the China seat an important question that required a two-thirds majority; the China seat was given to the People s Republic of China (PRC). According to Su (2009), for 38 years prior to that, mainland China and Taiwan had experienced only military conflict, diplomatic confrontation and political struggle between them. After 1987, however, even though the two sides had continued with military face-offs and diplomatic struggles, civilian economic and cultural contacts began to develop. Even bilateral negotiations began to take place. Mainland China and Taiwan relations have since softened. The agenda items became more varied, and the influencing factors naturally increased. In July 1999, Taiwan s first democratically elected president, Lee Teng-hui (Li Denghui), said on German radio that future talks between Taiwan and China should be state-to-state talks, suggesting that Taiwan be treated as an independent country by mainland China (PRC) (Brown, 2004,p.4). After the announcement of the Two-States Policy, the PRC s reaction was immediate and unyielding. The U.S. reaction was a mixture of surprise, perplexity, anger and irritation at the idea that it would have to help Taiwan clean up its mess (Su, 2009). At the turn of the 21st century, Taiwan again became a global hot topic (Brown, 2004, p.1). Taiwan s second presidential election in March 2000 aroused discussions from different aspects. This one China policy (Brown, 2004, p.1), officially supported by the PRC (mainland China), the U.S., and many other countries, and formerly supported by Taiwan, asserts that there is only 3

one China and that Taiwan is a part of it. Su Chi (2009) said that cross-strait relations of 1988-99 could be summarized into five points: First, cross-strait relations are not destined to be confrontational. From 1988 to 1995, personal contact and trade exchange became more frequent and intense. This demonstrates that common ground can be found on the basis of the key concept of One China; it is most likely to build a stable, win-win cross-strait relationship. Second, cross-strait relations could be separated into five different dimensions: military, diplomatic, political, ecomomic and cultural. Because of the Lee Teng-hui s visit to Cornell, the previous soft five dimensions ended. Third, Taiwan s democratization was the newest factor in the 1990s. It increased the motivation for Taiwanese to be active in mainland exchanges and added a heavy emotional ingredient. Some people s views changed gradually from democratization to indigenization, which negatively affected cross-strait relations. Fourth, rising in tandem with Taiwan s democratization made China regain confidence. Cross-strait relations of the 1990s can be seen as a mutual stimulation of parallel nationalism. Finally, the United States was the most important player in cross-strait relations. In July 1999, Taiwan dropped its Two-States Policy because Taipei quickly softened; the United Stated branched out into two directions: pacifying China and restraining Taiwan. Mainland China, Taiwan and the U.S. On June 7, 1995, Taiwan s President Lee Teung-hui departed for the U.S. and attended a 4

Cornell University reunion. This private trip had different implications. From Taiwan s perspective, it was a symbolic breakthrough from a long-term official international isolation; from China s perspective, it was a provocative move and a challenge to the One-China principle. Following President Lee s trip, mainland China launched missiles tests aimed at Taiwan s offshore areas three times and conducted four rounds of military exercises. This was also known as the third Taiwan Strait crisis. During the crisis, the U.S. Seventh Fleet monitored all of the military exercises (Fu, 2007). According to Fu, the issue of Taiwan s independence involves a triangular relationship amongst mainland China, America, and Taiwan. First, between mainland China and Taiwan, whether to support reunification or to promote independence is the most crucial issue. Second, issues need to be resolved between mainland China and America, including nuclear proliferation, trade, human rights, and relations with Taiwan. Third, as to the relations between Taiwan and America, based on the Taiwan Relations Act, America acknowledges China s One-China principle and the Taiwan question can only be resolved by a peaceful solution. Studies on media coverage of mainland China and Taiwan Taiwan and mainland China are hot topics in media. Events in Taiwan or China can always catch media attention. In reviewing media coverage of Taiwan and mainland China, studies can be classified into five categories. The first category focused on Taiwan s identity. Chen (2008) applied Soja s notion of thirdspace to view the identity of Taiwan as a real-imagined thirdspace. He also argued that Taiwan s identity is simultaneously discursive and a physical thirdspace that encompasses and 5

occupies both ends of the binaries surrounding it. Chang and Holt (2009) studied how New Taiwanese was offered and constructed as a viable identity category for people in Taiwan through the news discourse of the United Daily News (UDN) referenced in 922 news reports between 1987 and 2007. Studies either focused on Taiwan s physical identity or on people who lived in Taiwan--namely, the Taiwanese. Mainland China s media coverage of Taiwan is the second category. Researchers used framing analysis to study how mainland China s media frame Taiwan and things that happen in Taiwan. For instance, Han (2007) studied how China s news website covered Taiwan s 2004 presidential election and discovered that in China, online news frames are identical to the frames underlying traditional mainstream media when it concerns coverage of Taiwan. The third category is Taiwan s media coverage of mainland China. Wei (1995) studied the selection of mainland Chinese news in the Taiwanese press. He said the coverage of China in Taiwan s press, for decades a predictable anti-communist ideological product, was marked by twists and turns. The fourth category is U.S. media coverage of Taiwan. Sun (2007) studied U.S. coverage of Taiwan in order to answer the question of role of the press in foreign policymaking in the U.S. with respect to Taiwan. Sun (2007) said early research on the press and foreign policy primarily concerned the press s role in foreign policymaking and administration. Comparing the early research, he found that the attitudes of the U.S. government and the editorials on the Taiwan issue generally agreed with each other, which is to say that the press acted as a supporter or a mutual exploiter of foreign policy-making in Taiwan s issue. Economic investment and commercial trade between Taiwan and mainland China was the fifth 6

category. Chan (2009) said that because China has become Taiwan s most important export and investment destination, commercial communication tends to be more complicated because of cross-strait relations. He argued that whereas it has been suggested that commercial ties enable states to signal resolve short of military demonstration, these ties could also be used to communicate reassurance and commitment to peaceful cooperation. Newspaper coverage on mainland China and Taiwan in mainland China and the U.S. Li (1999) said that newspaper speaks for the nation. Newspapers, one branch of media, cover and display different points of mainland China and Taiwan. Coverage of mainland China and Taiwan in the U.S. and China s newspapers concentrate on different aspects. In U.S. newspapers, political, military and economic issues are mainly discussed. For instance, Tyler (1996, March 24) from The New York Times wrote an article about the 1996 presidential election in Taiwan. He said in the article: President Lee Teng-hui swept to an election victory that exceeded all expectations and served as a forceful rebuke to mainland China. This island voters gave Mr. Lee a strong mandate in their first democratic balloting for president. Tyler (1996, March 24) focused on the reactions to presidential election by Taiwan residents, of mainland China s government and of the American ambassador. In addition, for the 2000 presidential election, Rosenthal (2000, March 19), from The New York Times, wrote mainland China s attitude of the issue. She said, 7

The surprisingly strong victory of Chen Shui Bian in Taiwan s presidential election generated plenty of buzz in Beijing today, but was greeted with an official cold shoulder. Rosenthal (2000, March 19) argued that the Chinese government seemed to be setting off on a moderate course, restating its claims on Taiwan but avoiding military action. Eckholm (2000, March 21) also wrote about the 2000 presidential election. He said that the newly elected president in Taiwan and president in China held different views of Taiwan. The former said they could talk one China as long as it is not a principle. The latter said the one China principle must first be recognized, and under this precondition, everything could be discussed. Political issues are the foundation of the other four dimensions. Different countries hold different views of Taiwan s problem, thus they would focus on different aspects of the same problem. For military issues, U.S. newspapers see the tensions between mainland China and Taiwan in that they hold different political views of Taiwan s problem. Kahn (2005, March 3) said a bill would effectively preauthorize military action if Taiwan took concrete steps toward formal independence. Kahn (2005, March 3) said the bill did not compel China s leaders to initiate military action, but it amounted to a political commitment by China s new leadership under Hu Jintao to act decisively were Taiwan to try to solidify its existing separateness in legal terms. U.S. newspapers also focus on economic issue in mainland China and Taiwan. The main point of this issue is acknowledgement of growth in economic connections. Eckholm (2003, January 28) said Chinese officials had stepped up their charm offensives against Taiwan in recent days, dangling the fruits of closer economic ties and muffling their threats to bring Taiwan back to the 8

motherland by force. Smith (2001, May 15) said though the military and political issues between Taiwan and mainland China aroused tensions, the economic connection between them was stronger than ever and was growing. In China s newspaper coverage of mainland China and Taiwan, no matter which dimension an article focused on, the main and only precondition is the One China principle. For instance, Chen (2000, May 8), from People s Daily, said in his article, No matter what the result of Taiwan province s presidential election is, it could not change the fact that Taiwan is a part of China. The one China principle is the foundation and precondition of peacefully solving Taiwan s problem. Taiwan s independence is against Chinese people s will and it definitely will fail to any extent. Xiaoyang (2000, February 15), also from People s Daily, said the Taiwanese are the fundamental power behind peacefully solving Taiwan s problem. Zhi and Zheng (2000, May 1) reported that Tang Shubei, vice president of the standing committee of cross-strait relations, said in the seminar of mainland China and Taiwan relations that the peaceful and stable future of cross-strait relations depended on Taiwan officials acknowledgement of the one China principle. China s newspapers tend to concentrate on the attitudes of Taiwan s officials and people on the one China principle. Studies on newspaper coverage of Taiwan presidential elections Studies on media coverage of presidential elections of Taiwan turn out to be fruitful. Han (2007) examined how two mainstream websites in mainland China framed Taiwan s 2004 presidential election and how the present news frame varies within the same websites as well as 9

between these two websites. Wang (2000) studied the effect of interactivity on web campaigning in Taiwan s 2000 presidential election. Fu (2007) studied Taiwan presidential elections from 1996 to 2004. Theoretical framework Culture Level of culture The world is full of confrontations between people, groups and nations who think, feel and act differently (Hofstede, 1991. p. 3). Because almost everyone belongs to different groups and categories of people at the same time, people unavoidably carry several different layers of culture. The layers are a national level according to one s country; a regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or linguistic affiliation level; a gender level and a social class level and an organizational or corporate level (Hofstede, 1991, p. 10). National culture differences Hofstede (1991, p. 13) said according to Alex Inkleles and Daniel Levinson, the following issues qualify as common basic problems worldwide: relation to authority, conception of self (either the relationship between individual and society or the individual s concept of masculinity and femininity) and ways of dealing with conflicts. Individualism and collectivism cultural dimension This study is within the Asian and U.S. contexts. Two major cultural issues are concentrated: individualism and collectivism. The most common dimension distinguishing the East Asian 10

culture from the North American culture is the individualism-collectivism distinction (Hofstede, 1980). Individualism reflects an orientation of placing personal goals over group goals; in contrast, collectivism emphasizes the views or needs of the group over those of individuals. Under this basic tenet, highly individualistic cultures tend to encourage competition over cooperation, whereas highly collectivistic cultures tend to encourage cooperation over competition (Samovar & Porter, 2001). According to Hofstede s (1980) research, U.S. society represents the most individualistic culture, whereas Chinese culture is classified as the most collective one. There are studies using cross-cultural dimensions. For instance, Lee et. al. (2004) studied newspaper photographs of candidates in the U.S. and Taiwan. Wen (2004) studied the 2000 Taiwanese and U.S. presidential spots. Research Question: Regarding Taiwan s independence, what are the cultural differences between China and U.S. mainstream newspaper coverage on Taiwan s presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008? Hypothesis Based on the above literature review, this study makes comparison research to newspaper coverage of Taiwan presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. The two most important cultural characteristics including individualism and collectivism are selected. Hypotheses are formulated as following: Individualism H1: U.S. newspaper coverage has a greater number of independence indicators than Chinese 11

newspaper coverage. H2: U.S. newspaper coverage has a greater number of freedom indicators than Chinese newspaper coverage. Collectivism H1: Chinese newspaper coverage has a greater number of affiliation indicators than U.S. newspaper coverage. H2: Chinese newspaper coverage has a greater number of family indicators than U.S. newspaper coverage. H3: Chinese newspaper coverage has a greater number of community indicators than U.S. newspaper coverage. Method Content analysis Content analysis is the method for this study. Content analysis has been used to analyze communications for many years. The definition offered by Neuendorf (2002, p. 10) said, Content analysis is a summarizing, quantitative analysis of messages that relies on the scientific method (including attention to objectivity intersubjectivity, a priori design, reliability, validity, generalizability, replicability, and hypothesis testing) and is not limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the context in which the messages are created or presented. Content analysis has been used for newspaper coverage studies (Li, 1999; Chang, 1986; etc). It also has been used in cross-cultural newspaper coverage studies. 12

From an executional perspective, content analysis is a procedure for classifying qualitative information to obtain data amendable to quantitative manipulation (Cho, et al, 1999). The procedure is a multi-step process that requires developing categories for coding thematic content, training coders, coding the categorical data, and statistically analyzing the coded data (Kassarjian, 1977; Pollay, 1983; Schneider, Wheeler & Cox 1992). Population Newspapers This study chooses two mainstream newspapers, The New York Times and People s Daily to conduct content analysis. These two newspapers have been frequently chosen in comparative studies between the U.S. and China (Chang, 1985; Fu, 2007; Xie, 2009; Li, 1999). The New York Times is chosen because, according to Berry (1990), the New York Times has extensive coverage of foreign policy and prominence and influence on decision making. News coverage of the New York Times on four of Taiwan s presidential elections (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008) is retrievable through the Lexis-Nexis database. People s Daily is chosen because, in Wang s (1986) opinion, People s Daily has an eminent status in China and it performs as a spokesperson for China s foreign policies. News coverage of People s Daily on four of Taiwan s presidential elections (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008) is chosen from People s Daily database in the University of Kansas and the online database of People s Daily. Timeframe 13

The content analysis concentrates on four of Taiwan s presidential election (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008) news coverage in the U.S. and China newspapers. Each time period is chosen by the election campaigns and other relevant events: 1996: According to Fu (2007), the 1996 election was not only the first direct presidential election in Taiwan, but also took place in the third Taiwan Strait crisis. Therefore, the collection of news coverage began on July 21, 1995 (China proceeded with the first missile shooting near Taiwan waters), and ended in President Lee Teng-hui s inauguration speech on May 20, 1996. 2000: As stated by Su (2009), Lee Teng-hui s Two-States Policy, which was said by Lee in July, 1999, was against the One China principle. This policy also had influence on the 2000 presidential election. The news coverage for this year is from July 9, 1999 to May 20, 2000, when Chen Shui-bian, a DPP (Democratic People s Party) nominee, released his inauguration speech. 2004: Also in Fu s (2008) study, he said the 2004 presidential election was involved with the first practice of referendum in Taiwan s history. On November 28, 2003, a referendum bill authorized Taiwan s president to hold a referendum of Taiwan s independence under certain independence. March 20, 2004, was both the date for Taiwan s first practice of referendum and the third direct presidential election. News coverage collection started on November 28, 2003, and ended with the President Chen Shui-bian s inauguration speech on May 20, 2004. 2008: This year was the fourth direct election for president of Taiwan. The president elected for 14

this year is Ma Ying-jeou, who is a KMT (Kuomintang) nominee. KMT and DPP are the two main political parties in Taiwan. The former favors reunification with mainland China while the latter favors independence of its own. This year differs from previous ones because the presidentelect is from KMT, which makes a great change of Taiwan s condition and cross-strait relations. News coverage collection started on June 23, 2007, when the KMT ticket was officially formed, and ended on May 20, 2008 with president Ma Ying-jeou released his inauguration speech. Newspaper content This study focuses on cultural perspectives rather than political factors of the newspaper coverage of the chosen for four years, so the population is the combination of the four years instead of separate ones. Judging from a political point of view, events happened before, during and after elections was different. However, analyzing from a cultural perspective, the four years elections are to be considered the same because this study focuses on individualism and collectivism. Therefore, the newspaper coverage of Taiwan s presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 is studied as a whole. Before the elections and during the presidential campaigns, the issue of Taiwan s independence was the most decisive factor determining which candidate would win the election. Along with China s reaction and America s comments, the news stories of Taiwan s presidential elections are the best data to investigate the cultural differences of newspaper coverage in China and the U. S. In order to get complete information about news coverage of four presidential elections (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008), several sources are used. For the New York Times, the Lexis-Nexis database is used. For People s Daily, People s Daily on the University of Kansas database and 15

People s Daily on the web are used. The New York Times The New York Times Index. The Index provides access to full page and article images with searchable full-text from 1851 to 2006. Using Taiwan presidential election as keywords and selected timeframe as the date range, 145 articles, including editorials are found. The headlines and contents are carefully examined and all 145 articles including editorials, fit into the research topic. Lexis-Nexis database search. Using Taiwan presidential election as keywords, 873 articles, including editorials, are found during the selected timeframe of four different years. The headlines and contents are carefully examined according to the criteria. The articles without relations with Taiwan presidential elections were excluded. News summaries, corrections, Inside, world briefing and Inside the Times are also excluded because of their lack of elaboration (usually one sentence or one paragraph). After deleting these articles, 176 articles, including editorials, are chosen. Combining these two lists of articles, including editorials, 321 in total are chosen. These articles, including editorials, comprise the population of The New York Times coverage of the chosen Taiwan presidential elections. People s Daily People s Daily database search. The People s Daily database in the University of Kansas provides 1946-2005 archives, but because this study only concentrates on 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 periods, the archives are chosen according to the timeframe. Using simplified Chinese kuomintang, Democratic Progressive Party, two leading political parties in Taiwan, as key 16

words, 629 articles, including editorials, are found. The headlines and contents are carefully examined. Ultimately, 252 articles including editorials are chosen. People s Daily online search. People s Daily online provides access to articles since 2006 to recent articles. The total number, including editorials, found from the web are 141. In order to avoid repetition, Kuomintang is the only key word. After a careful study, 51 articles including editorials are chosen. Combining these two lists of articles, including editorials, 303 in total are chosen. These articles, comprise the population of People s Daily coverage of the chosen Taiwan presidential elections. Census of the population The unit of analysis in this study is the article from the newspaper. After carefully choosing the population for this study, a census is done for all the chosen articles. Coding scheme The coding of cultural differences of news coverage, first, depends on the prescribed procedures by Daniel Riffe et al. (1998), including coder training and reliability checks before coding started; second, it depends on Hofstede s individualism/collectivism cultural dimension model. The independent variables in this analysis are individualism and collectivism. Zhao (2009) used 11 cultural indicators to compare ads for VMS in U.S. and China. In this study, the dependent variables are four cultural indicators for cultural values: independence, affiliation, 17

family and community. The definitions for each indicator are as follows: Independence: Self-dependence, self-reliance, autonomy, Freedom: Be free, do your own things and keep unattached. Affiliation: To associate, to get together, to be one nation. Family: Develop within the family, follow the rules of family, and be responsible to the family. Community: Group unity, nation identity, society, patriotism. In order to make it easier for coders to code information, a codebook and a coding form are created. Codebook Study of cultural differences of news coverage on Taiwan presidential elections in the years of 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 of The New York Times and People s Daily Unit of analysis: Every article chosen from The New York Times and People s Daily. Headline of article: Please write down the headline of article Coder ID: Each coder has received an individual number; please write that number on every sheet. The coding scheme: a. The article reflects independence indicator (individualism indicator) b. The article reflects freedom indicator (individualism indicator) c. The article reflects affiliation indicator (collectivism indicator) d. The article reflects family indicator (collectivism indicator) Coding form Study of cultural differences of news coverage on Taiwan presidential elections in the years 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 of The New York Times and People s Daily 18

Coder ID: Article name: independence freedom affiliation family community article Coding procedure To achieve understanding of cultural differences of news coverage of Taiwan presidential elections, two bilingual Chinese coders with interest in Taiwan presidential elections participate in coding. Two groups are created for coding. One group with one coder who has a highly prominent skill of English codes items from The New York Times, another group with two coders both code items from People s Daily. Before the coding procedure starts, the researcher explains the study purpose, key conceptions, variables, cultural indicators and codebook to the coders. The researcher then works with the coders to identify cultural indicators in chosen articles until intercoder reliability is reached. Each of the coders will independently code 30 percent of 624 articles. The intercoder reliability would be measured by their agreement of the articles. Because of the categorical variables used in this study, Chi-square is adopted to analyze the coded data. References 19

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