British Newspaper Coverage of the Tibet Issue Over Time, 1949
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British Newspaper Coverage of the Tibet Issue over Time, 1949-2009: Representations of Repression and Resistance by Chunyan Wu A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University June 2018 © by Chunyan Wu 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Professor James Stanyer, who has given me the most precious intellectual inspirations, valuable advice and help on this long road. Without his generous supports, encouragements, discussions and comments, this dissertation may never appear. I appreciate the help and support from the whole faculty of Social Sciences Department at Loughborough University, especially the administrator Deirdre Lombard who is always willing to help under all conditions. I am also very grateful for the support from all my personal friends at Loughborough, including Lingqi Kong, Mingxi Yin, Hui-Ju Tsai, Xue Li, Zhijia Yang, Edward Winward, Miaoshan Pan, Jiacheng Zhen, Fabia Lin and Harry Gui. In the process of this research, they not only kept with me very insightful academic communications but also shared with me their warmest friendship which helped me move on in the darkest moments. My PhD life at Loughborough would be very dull and colorless without them around. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents for their selfless love, understanding, and endless support for me for my entire life, without which I could impossibly achieve what I have accomplished today. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .............................................................................viii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................xviii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 9 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9 The Relationship Between News Coverage and National Image ............................................ 9 The Propaganda Model, Frames and Framing ...................................................................... 11 Frames in Media Content ................................................................................................ 13 Frame-Building That Spins the News Coverage ............................................................... 16 Issue-Specific Frames and Generic Frames ...................................................................... 22 Research on the Framing of China ....................................................................................... 25 British Newspapers in General ............................................................................................ 30 Tibet in the Western Imagination......................................................................................... 33 Early Beginnings (Before The 17th Century) .................................................................... 34 The 17th Century to The 18th Century .............................................................................. 34 The 19th Century to The 20th Century .............................................................................. 35 British Foreign Policy towards China during the Cold War and the Post-Cold War Periods: 1949-2009 ........................................................................................................................... 39 ii Britain’s Early Interaction with Tibet and Its Position on the Tibet issue in history .............. 40 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 43 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ................................ 44 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 44 Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 44 Selecting A Sample ............................................................................................................. 45 Sampling Media .............................................................................................................. 45 Sampling Time Periods ................................................................................................... 46 Selecting the Relevant Sample ......................................................................................... 48 Methods: Procedures of Framing Analysis........................................................................... 53 Content Analysis ............................................................................................................. 54 Qualitative Frame Analysis ............................................................................................. 61 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 64 CHAPTER 4: BRITISH NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TIBET DURING THE EARLY COLD WAR – I: THE BATTLE OF CHAMDO ........................................ 65 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 65 The Battle Of Chamdo (1950): Quantitative Results And Discussion ................................... 65 Front-Page Presence ........................................................................................................ 68 Average Word Count....................................................................................................... 69 Types of News Stories ..................................................................................................... 70 Topics ............................................................................................................................. 72 Who Spoke on Tibet and What Their Political Stance was? ............................................. 75 The Battle of Chamdo in 1950: Dominant Frames and Discussion ....................................... 85 Frame 1: The Red Menace, China is the Invader of Tibet ................................................. 86 Frame 2: Tibetans are the Victims of Communist China’s Invasion ................................. 90 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 94 iii CHAPTER 5: BRITISH NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TIBET DURING THE EARLY COLD WAR – II: THE 1959 TIBETAN UPRISING ................................. 95 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 95 The 1959 Tibetan Uprising: Quantitative Results And Discussion ....................................... 95 Front-Page Presence ........................................................................................................ 98 Average Word Count..................................................................................................... 100 Types of News Stories ................................................................................................... 101 Topics ........................................................................................................................... 103 Who Spoke on Tibet and What Their Political Stance was? ........................................... 106 The 1959 Tibetan Uprising: Dominant Frames and Discussion .......................................... 116 Frame 1: The Red Menace, China’s Oppression............................................................. 116 Frame 2: Tibetans are the Victims of Communist China’s Oppression ........................... 122 The Absence of The Human Rights Frame .................................................................... 129 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 130 CHAPTER 6: BRITISH NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF TIBET NEAR THE END OF THE COLD WAR: LHASA PROTEST IN 1989 ................................................. 132 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 132 Lhasa Protest in 1989: Quantitative Results and Discussion ............................................... 132 Front-Page Presence ...................................................................................................... 135 Average Word Count..................................................................................................... 136 Types of News Stories ................................................................................................... 137 Topics ........................................................................................................................... 138 Who Spoke on Tibet and What Their Political Stance was? ........................................... 141 The Lhasa Protest in 1989: Dominant Frames and Discussion ..........................................