Portraying China as an alternative to U. S. Hegemony: The China daily's framing of the arab spring.

This study explored how China's most authoritative English news medium, The China Daily, portrayed the Arab Spring within the context of the concerns of the Chinese government about the possibility of social movements within its own territory. It found that The China Daily utilized several characteristics – story framing, reliance on official sources, and delegitimization – of the "protest paradigm" to degrade the significance of the Arab Spring. By making the voices of China's political and economic elites the most visible in its news stories, this paper advocated the Chinese government's perspectives on the Arab Spring, while minimalizing those of Arab citizens and social activists. More significantly, it tried to present the Arab Spring as an issue that might serve to revitalize the patriotism of the Chinese people. The paper's coverage laid emphasis on the increasing global power and influence of China in the Middle East and, at the same time, encouraged the Chinese people's support for their own government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]