Framing foreignness: a case study of Chinese media coverage of the NBA’s arena development in China

Abstract

Media framing was employed in this study to examine the meanings and implications of foreignness for transnational sport organizations through a case study of the National Basketball Association’s arena development project in China. The results of the analysis of China’s traditional newspaper and social media coverage revealed that news writers/social media users highlighted specific disadvantages, advantages and paradoxes of foreignness surrounding the NBA’s arena development practices through the development of frames of cultural difference (positive and negative frames), building relationships (negative frame), firm strategies and resources (positive frame) and untapped Chinese sport market (negative frame). In particular, the social media showed a different framing process from the traditional newspapers in which the positive frames of cultural difference and firm strategies and resources were more prevalent. The different framing process and frame content showed the complexities of China’s media coverage, ranging from an American consuming culture to traditional Chinese political cultural ideology represented in sport and from articulating state ideology and control to developing a rhetoric of market forces related to the issue of foreignness.

Keywords:

• Foreignness
• National Basketball Association (NBA): arena development
• media framing
• China

Notes

1. The Sina Weibo texts were further divided into a) weibo posts (509) and b) comments and replies to posts (160). We consider the comments and replies important for investigating frames because weibo posters deliberately keep or delete comments to promote their posts or create debates and help shape popular sentiment.

2. Sina Weibo offers personal and enterprise account verification to verify the identity of a famous person, elite, organization. A verified account has a ‘V’ logo behind the username.

3. A media frame may not present all the eight types of symbolic devices (Gamson & Lasch, 1983).

4. These sport stadiums and arenas refer to stadiums with a seating capacity of 20,000 and above, gymnasiums seating 3000 and above, and natatoriums seating 1500 and above.

5. The CBA is part of the Chinese government that controls all basketball games, including the professional basketball league in China.

6. The Chinese national team lost by 47 points to the Spanish team.

7. In 2005, the NBA had bid for the marketing contract with the CBA but the CBA finally had signed the contract with Infront, a Swiss sports marketing company.