Emotions in Western coverage of China during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study adopts the Appraisal Theory ( Martin and White, 2005 ) to explore how emotions are discursively constructed in Western coverage of China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patterns of emotion, emoter (experiencer of emotion), and trigger (causer of emotion) are identified by annotating news article data from four mainstream Western newswires: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times , and Deutsche Welle . The annotation reveals a consistent dominance of citizen emoters attributed to the demand for accountability. While the European media frequently construct emotions elicited by the pandemic, the antagonistic perception of China in the American socio-cultural context leads to the preference for emotions triggered by the Chinese authorities. Emotions attributed to unspecified emoters play a reinforcing role. The recognition of China as “Other” shapes how these media represent China, leading to minimized positive and authorial emotions.