Framing Development in a New Global Order: A critical discourse analysis of British media’s portrayal of Chinese developmental involvement in Africa

Sammanfattning: This thesis purpose is to look at British media’s coverage of Chinese developmental involvement in Africa, particularly at how the most-read newspapers in the UK have written about the situation, and how they have used media framing when reporting on it. As media can have an enormous impact on people’s perception of certain situations, this paper’s aim is to analyse the media discourse and offer an explanation for why it might look as it does, what the causes are and what effects could be. It does this by using Fairclough’s three-level critical discourse analysis (CDA), and with a dual-theory approach, using both framing theory (mainly Entman’s framing theory) and the World-systems theory. The paper analyses eight articles, one from every major British newspaper writing on the subject, studying them at the textual level, then how the discursive practice might influence the discourse, and lastly how the social practices might influence it. The results show that the discourse is varied but some trends can be seen. China often framed as a potential threat, as well as being directly opposed to the West’s interests. Many major issues are simplified, and sometimes this leads to a negative view of Chinese involvement in Africa. The discourse leaves very little agency to African voices as well as voices representing civil society and critical to the current global economic system. While China is often framed as exploitative, no attention is given to the system that allows this exploitation by larger countries in the first place, as the discourse frames Chinese involvement as a state-based geopolitical affair and is not seen as part of a broader global system. Ultimately, according to WST, this lack of critique from any major newspaper aids the maintaining of the current global hierarchy and economic order.