A Comparative Case Study of Media Coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

Abstract

Establishing a good national image and encouraging Chinese culture to spread out is a particularly important part of China's national cultural soft power construction. Winter Olympics Beijing 2022 is a global event, which is of immense value and significance for showing China's cultural charm and shaping the national image. Recently, research on the combination of framing theory and reports on the Olympic Games has significantly increased. However, there are few studies focusing on the cultural part of the analysis of reports. After making a summary of the coverage on China major events and Olympic Games of mainstream media, this study, based on the theory of cultural resistance and cultural-bound frame, chose mainstream media CNN (Cable News Network), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), and China Daily as samples, attempting to analyze their reports of the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics Games Beijing 2022. Through the comparative analysis of Olympic coverage, this research shows that foreign media’s attitudes towards China have remarkably changed and investigates how Chinese culture is disseminated in some parts of the world to identify the factors affecting the dissemination of cultural elements. The research findings also revealed that coverage of BBC and CNN concerns more about China’s alleged abused human rights, while the part about Chinese cultural translation is limited. Only by having a comprehensive understanding of the process of transmitting culture can cultural translation be well-achieved. and it can help promote mutual communication and cooperation of the world.