Bias in television foreign news in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Abstract

Television news has been criticized for bias toward certain countries and topics, relying too much on public officials as news sources and presenting a large portion of sensational news. This study investigates whether biases exist in foreign news on television in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, where potentially more than a billion Chinese viewers reside. A content analysis was conducted, and 565 news stories were analyzed. Results confirmed the patterns discovered in the Western context. Foreign news on television in these Chinese societies was found to devote much coverage to the United States alone, concentrated mostly on political issues and internal order, used more governmental officials and men as news sources, and presented considerable sensational news. Differences among these societies exist and are discussed in the context of political cultures, media systems, and journalistic practices.

Keywords:

• foreign news
• television
• geographic bias
• topic bias
• sources bias
• presentation bias

Notes

^1. In the original coding, there were many more categories, which were combined into seven categories for this analysis.

^2. Only in Taiwan with 12.8% of the stories but none for China and Hong Kong.