Research on Western media coverage of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

As the Western world’s policy towards China has been changing in recent years, the international public opinion, that China comes into contact with, is also deteriorating, which has a serious negative impact on forming the international image of China and on shaping soft power. In the context of the rapid development of modern information technology, sports events like the Winter Olympics are often accompanied by large-scale media coverage and propaganda, and it is important to deal with the negative coverage of the Olympics involving China in the Western media and to build a good national image through the Winter Olympics. This study focuses on the specific content of Western media reports on China during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, and summarizes and analyzes the characteristics of “distorted facts”, “far-fetched” and “prominent political demands” in the negative reports on China in the Western media during the Winter Olympics. Based on the importance of guiding international public opinion and covering by media of such large sporting events as the Olympic Games, it is urgent and necessary to improve China’s international public opinion crisis response mechanism and enhance national and international media capacity. In this regard, this paper proposes four specific response strategies: strengthening the international communication capacity of mainstream media, enhancing the role of the government in guiding and making decisions, strengthening cooperation with international media; and making full use of our own media platforms.