Ideological framing in Taiwanese media: Analyzing editorial responses to COVID-19 incidents

This study critically analyzes the editorials of two Taiwanese newspapers, the China Times and the Taipei Times, regarding their portrayal of three incidents that occurred during COVID-19, which led to domestic political disputes. These incidents include Taiwan's exclusion from the WHA meeting, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's mask diplomacy, and the debate surrounding the potential renaming of China Airlines. The selected articles have been translated from Mandarin to English. The theoretical framework for this study utilizes the five generic news frames proposed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000), the concept of textual silence by Huckin (2002), and the emphasis and de-emphasis strategies identified by Rosulek (2014). The analysis examines how the publishers frame the events, the information presented to readers, the information excluded, and what is given greater emphasis. This approach helps to identify how the newspapers uphold their ideological stances through various linguistic techniques. The findings indicate that the China Times frequently frames events by suggesting misconduct by the current government. At the same time, the Taipei Times tends to frame incidents in terms of moral obligations or emotional appeals to foster empathy and encourage timely governmental action. Furthermore, the China Times includes and emphasizes cross-strait relations or international risks, often excluding or downplaying Taiwan's success in managing COVID-19 and gaining international recognition. Conversely, the Taipei Times highlights Taiwan's contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing more detailed information on these topics. However, their editorials rarely address the political constraints and potential repercussions that may arise from advocating for national identity recognition. These insights underscore the need for further research to uncover the underlying ideologies in newspaper editorials, highlighting the pervasive nature of media bias and the importance of media literacy.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching of English Sec Lang

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Keng, Jillian Philippe

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bhatt, Rakesh M
• Sadler, Randall W

• Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
• Media Framing
• Ideological Bias
• Political Discourse
• Newspaper Discourse
• Taiwanese Newspapers
• COVID-19

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Jillian Keng

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129217

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129217