Foreign news and national interest: Comparing U.S. and Japanese coverage of a Chinese student movement

Mass media reflect, and thus reify, social consensus. Foreign policy concerns play a central role in defining media accounts of the political world in international communication. Focusing on media coverage of the Tiananmen movement in China, this case study argues that the vital interests of the United States in China were winning ideological victories in the cold war, whereas Japan's paramount concern was economic gains, hence Japan's reluctance to challenge the Chinese authorities. A content analysis of wire services reportage shows that the Associated Press tended to highlight the Chinese protesters' ideological yearnings for democ racy and freedom, and Kyodo tended to provide factual accounts of the daily development during the movement. Likewise, the Associated Press was more likely than Kyodo to quote protesters as news sources, to describe the movement as a challenge to the Communist sys tem, and emphasize the harsh treatment of protesters by the Chinese government. Alternative explanations were discussed.