Multimodal Framing of Germany’s National Image: Comparing News on Twitter (USA) and Weibo (China)

Abstract

This article examines multimodal frame construction and presents comparative research regarding Germany’s mediated national image. We conducted a quantitative content analysis of 2455 news posts (NUSA = 1722, NChina = 733) published by leading newspapers on Twitter (USA) and Weibo (China) between 2007 and 2019. The results reveal that news texts attribute varying degrees of salience to the dimensions of national image. Chinese news texts portray Germany more positively among most indicators compared to US news texts. News visuals assume more complementary or dramatizing functions in the US context and more elaborated or illustrative roles in the Chinese context. A hierarchical cluster analysis shows how Germany’s national image is constructed through textual contents, visual denotations, and text-image relations in multimodal news. German cultural attractions, football excellence, social diversity, and economic performance are commonly visible across both nations, whereas political debate, crisis, and international controversy are largely absent from Chinese news frames. Contexts shape multimodal frames, where the uniformity of coverage is the result of globalized news production and shared journalistic standards such as (visual) news values relating to eliteness, impact, and consonance. National differences are interpreted by contextual factors of political homophily, journalism culture, and platform affordance.