Fair or biased? A corpus-based study of Australia’s early COVID-19 media representation of China

ABSTRACT

Given the surge in xenophobia faced by Chinese communities during the pandemic, there is a pressing need to delve into the concealed ideologies within public discourse that fuel discrimination. Against this backdrop, this study employs Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to scrutinise the discursive construction and communication of China’s image in Australian print media during the early outbreak of COVID-19. The analysis uncovered recurrent negative depictions of the Chinese government, associating it with authoritarianism and responsibility for the pandemic. In the context of blame attribution and racialisation of COVID-19 terms, a counter-narrative was observed in Australian newspapers, reflecting journalistic efforts to present a balanced perception of China and to challenge the prevailing racialisation and discrimination. Furthermore, the study revealed Australian media’s focus on economic consequences over human losses during the early outbreak of this pandemic. That underscores China’s role as Australia’s indispensable economic partner. This research contends that the depiction of China in Australian news discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic is intertwined with historical tensions, bilateral relations, and journalistic efforts to counter prevailing biases.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical discourse analysis
• corpus linguistics; media representation
• China
• Australia
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Changpeng Huan disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article: The National Social Science Fund of China [国家社会科学基金项目(青 年项目)] from National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences [grant number 19CYY016].

Notes on contributors

Yiming Xia

Yiming Xia is PhD candidate at School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include Media Discourse Studies, Systemic Functional Linguistics, and Corpus Linguistics.

Changpeng Huan

Changpeng Huan is Professor of Linguistics at School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research focuses on news discourse studies, emotionality, stance, and news values, with a particular focus on Python and corpus linguistic techniques.

Alexandra García Marrugo

Alexandra García Marrugo is the Learning Hub Lead (Academic Language and Learning) at the University of Sydney. In addition to research in the field of academic support for tertiary students, she also investigates language and ideology from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Corpus Linguistics.