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BROADCASTING DISABILITIES: A COMPARISON OF AMERICA’S AND CHINA’S MEDIA COVERAGE OF THEIR DISABILITIY COMMUNITIES by STEPHANIE COLLINS A THESIS Presented to the Department of East Asian Language and Literature and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts June 2017 An Abstract of the Thesis of Stephanie Collins for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Department of East Asian Language and Literature to be taken June 2017 Title: Broadcasting Disabilities: A Comparison On America’s and China’s Media Coverage On Their Disability Communities Approved: _______________________________________ Professor Pat Curtin The research question for this project asks what is the difference between America’s and China’s media coverage of disabilities and explores why this question is important. A media content analysis of 20 articles – 10 from each country – were selected based on their popularity with readers and analyzed for their frameworks. The differences in the articles suggest that media tend to reflect societal values and that the differences in the portrayals of the disability communities may be rooted in societal and social phenomenon. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Curtin, Professor Groppe, and Professor Williams for helping me to fully examine the specific topic and consider the various perspectives and contexts related to this subject matter. I cannot express the gratitude I feel for your assistance in helping me to explore this subject. You have all been patient, flexible, understanding, critical, sincere, and much, much more. Without your tireless support, I would not have been able to complete this project. You continue to support my efforts time and time again. After meeting with each and every one, I am exhilarated and eager to continue working on my thesis, and I cannot express the dedication that you have shown me and demonstrated for me to follow. Thank you. I would also like to thank Professor Epstein, Professor Von Ravensberg, Mr. Wang, Ms. Holben, and Mr. Jacobsen. You have assisted with me with my research and presentation. I am sincerely grateful for the time and effort you put in to helping me, and I hope to emulate your helpfulness in the future. I would also like to thank my mother, my father, my sisters, and my close friends. You have allowed me to discuss my ideas with you and are always the best cheerleaders along with my best critics. I would not have been able to complete this project with you. Thank you. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Existing Literature 9 Chapter 3: Method 16 Chapter 5: Discussion 43 Chapter 6: Conclusion 53 Appendix 55 Bibliography 101 iv Chapter 1: Introduction Disabilities and the Media Media reflect societal and cultural values. Different media sources compete for our attention and for our business. Therefore, each media source has to report stories that are of the greatest interest to the largest number of people. These tend to be topics such as the economy, politics, and chaotic presidential elections. However, these topics may differ from culture to culture. For instance, a story of a protest against the government may be intriguing to Americans, whereas a story of patriotism and nationalist pride may sell well in China. Because of media’s importance in distinguishing a nation’s values, it is the ideal lens through which to study the cultural connotations concerning the disability community. This thesis uses a media content analysis to better understand the frameworks used by journalists and news print to report on disabled individuals and communities. The frameworks include, exclude, and shape America’s and China’s values concerning their respective disability communities. The media deny and affirm disabled individuals’ identities of themselves and of their identities. News print is the main source used because it is clear, easily understood and cannot be changed. News print is also the best medium to compare articles in two different languages. This thesis studies and compares media coverage of the disability communities in America and China. Because America and China are of relatively equal size, have distinguished and well-known governments, are wealthy, and internationally relevant, this thesis asserts that the two countries form an excellent comparison. Both America and China have comparable land mass and resources. Although China has a significantly bigger population than America does and is more agrarian, while America has a smaller population and is more urban, their populations are comparable in many ways. Despite the different governmental structures (one party Communist republic and two party constitutionals democratic republic), both governments are strong, powerful and influential. President Barack Obama and Chairman and President Xi Jinping are household names. Both governments are constantly discussed in the media and academia. Both are strong enough to pose a threat to the other, both watch and analyze the other’s movements and both are wary of armed conflict with the other. Other nations attempt to imitate or be allied with both America and China because of their strength and influence. Both nations are incredibly wealthy with thriving economies. China, in particular, has a strong economy. China’s industries mostly comprise factories and material goods, whereas America’s economic industries are IT, luxury and service-based. Concerning the economy, Premier Li Keqiang stated during the World Economic Forum in 2015 ““Mass entrepreneurship and innovation could offer an endless source of creativity and wealth. It could be a goldmine that we could tap into…”. Though this statement’s verbs are passive and future-oriented, the Chinese interpretation indicates current and decisive action. Li asserts that China has a goldmine for its economy through its creativity and innovation. Both countries are also internationally relevant. Both are regional hegemons, America in North 2 America and China in South East Asia. Both have powerful military capability, strong economies, influential governments and are internationally significant. The disability communities in both China and America have been relatively unstudied until recent years. This thesis defines disability to include physical impairments, visual impairments, hearing impairments, learning impairments and intellectual/behavioral impairments. However, this thesis only studies physical disabilities (physical, visual, hearing, etc.) because mental, learning and behavioral disabilities are generally not recognized by the Chinese population. Recognition of the disability community began to gain momentum in the 1970s in America and in the 1980s in China through a number of protests in both countries (ADA, Weiss). The mainstream media in both China and America mirror the cultural approaches of both countries and serve as a way to study how these cultures view disabled populations. It is important to do a thesis on disabilities because it is a minority that has been neglected and unstudied. Gender, race and sexuality have been greatly studied and still need to have action taken on their minority’s behalf, while the disabled community has few academic or professional studies. This gap must be closed. In order to begin the process for equality, the group must first be studied and understood by outsiders, which is the purpose of this thesis. This thesis aims at understanding and comparing two different sets of groups in a larger community to further understand and explore the media coverage of these groups. 3 History of America’s and China’s Disability Communities In China, before any activism or advocacy, individuals with disabilities were simply not part of the community. This concept changed with the revolutionary ideas and pride of Mao’s China, beginning in the 1940s, though the ideas and pride in disabilities did not lead to any significant action for years to come. Following Mao’s China in the 1980s, disabled war veterans conducted a number of peaceful protests. The veterans used rickshaw-like vehicles to motor passengers across town on their motorcycles and motorized bikes (Weiss). This allowed the vets an income despite their impairment. Local government officials, however, thought this looked “very third world” and decided to ban the rickshaw-like vehicles, which denied the vets their livelihoods. Distraught that their only source of income was banned, the vets conducted peaceful protests to regain their employability. In 1988 the China Disabled People’s Federation was formed to assist the blind and deaf Chinese community financially (Weiss). In 1995 the Fourth World Conference on Women had the largest gathering of disabled individuals up until that point (WCW). This was a monumental moment and achievement because it was difficult for disabled individuals to meet because of the lack of infrastructure making it difficult to travel. Since then, there have been smaller and more consistent efforts to assist this community (Weiss). Policies have been put in place to ensure equality. According to Congressional records, however, these policies are “inadequate, vague and lack consequences” (Office of the Spokesperson). Despite these setbacks, the Chinese government has also made concerted efforts to assist the disabled community, even if these efforts primarily 4 derive from international pressure. Preceding the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China installed tracks in the sidewalks in all urban areas for the blind to use their white canes. The tracks are grooves in the sidewalk that lead the safely out of the streets, to bus stops, and so on (Butler). There are also specific schools for children who are blind or deaf, which is a big advancement for developing countries trying to assist the disabled. However, there are few schools of this nature, and they are only in urban areas so blind and deaf children coming from suburban and rural areas are forced to leave their families at a young age. These schools provide limited education and offer only two job prospects: street musician or massage therapist (HRW).