China's image in the coverage of 2008 Beijing-Olympic: A comparison of major newspapers in the US and in Taiwan

本研究透過分析比較台灣與美國重要報紙媒體上的北京奧運相關報導，檢視中國主辦2008年北京奧運會，所投射出來的媒體國家形象(projected national image)，進而探討舉辦全球性媒體活動(global media events)做為國家形象管理策略一環的應用性。本研究挑選台灣的《聯合報》、《自由時報》，與美國的《紐約時報》、《華盛頓郵報》為兩地重要媒體的代表，並經過搜尋篩選程序之後，共得到375則新聞報導。再以內容分析法與框架清單(the list of the frame)分析法，對構成媒體國家形象的各個變項進行相關統計分析。 本研究主要得到三點發現。首先，就台灣與美國報紙整體而言，中國國家形象偏向負面，且報導方向與新聞框架、報導型式之間皆存有顯著關係，而該負面形象的來源，未必是直接與奧運會相關的新聞主題。其次，若將美國報紙與台灣報紙進行比較，則發現兩地的中國國家形象均呈現負面，而台灣報紙的整體報導量以及負面新聞主題較多。另外，本研究發現，同一個國家內的不同媒體之間，也有顯著的差異，《華盛頓郵報》與《自由時報》的負面報導多過中立報導，而《紐約時報》及《聯合報》則仍然以中立報導最多，且《自由時報》的新聞框架運用偏重在政治的角度，而《聯合報》則較多元。 最後，本研究認為北京奧運成功帶來了許多相關的正面主題與正面框架報導，與奧運活動本身較不相關的負面主題，則顯示良好的國家形象需要長期多方面的努力建構。To host global media events is one of the important kinds of strategies for the national image management. This study focuses on news coverage of 2008 Beijing-Olympic from the New York Times, Washington Post in the US, and the United Daily, Liberty Times in Taiwan to examine China's projected national image. The content analysis, and the list of the frame analysis were carried out to analyze several variables forming the projected national image in the 375 news items. Through statistic analysis, this study found three main points. First, for four newspapers, China's projected national image was negative. The valence was related to news frames and news style evidently, and also a few indirect news topics were the source of the negative image as well. Secondly, in comparison of newspapers in the US and in Taiwan, both images of china were negative. The total number of stories and negative news topics in Taiwan's newspapers were more than in the US counterpart. Thirdly, in terms of valence, Washington Post and Liberty Times had more negative news than neutral ones, but the neutral news were still the most in the New York Times and United Daily. The Liberty Times reporting had much more political frames, but the United Daily reporting emphasized on several kinds of news frames. Finally, this study found 2008 Beijing-Olympic event brought mass positive news topics and news frames in the news items. The negative news topics showed that building good national image takes much more time and efforts to achieve