The purpose of this study is to examine whether a region's economy has an impact on regional coverage of China's WTO entry. It is predicted that regional newspapers vary in reporting this issue because of variation in the regional economic structure. The findings of the study support this prediction. A content analysis of 282 news articles in the U.S. regional newspapers finds that the regional economy can be a predictor of regional newspaper's coverage. For North Carolina, Illinois and California, significant differences exist in the regional coverage of China's WTO accession in terms of reference to key economic issue, reference to regional economic gain/loss and coverage tone. This study extends the community structure approach by including the regional economic variable. This regional economy approach will add to our understanding of the traditional theoretical perspectives in the framing of international news.
Kong, Ying, "U.S. regional newspapers' coverage on China's entry into the WTO--a regional economy approach" (2003). LSU Master's Theses. 823.