News framing of the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian conflict: a comparative analysis of CNN (USA) and CCTV (China) from a war and peace journalism perspective

Abstract

Framing analysis is a widely employed method for examining multiple narratives in media reporting to investigate potential political orientations and possible influences on viewers. However, there has been a lack of extensive investigation into the 2022 Russian-Ukrainian Conflict, specifically regarding the analysis of Western and Eastern media coverage from a war journalism and peace journalism perspective. To fill this vacancy, this study applied the Framing theory and the peace journalism model developed by Lee & Maslog (2005) to identify multiple strategies related to the themes, sources and war/peace journalism applied by CNN for America and CCTV for China. Analysing how CNN and CCTV present the conflict from WJ/PJ perspectives helps to facilitate an understanding of how two different media systems might shape their respective audiences’ perceptions according to different ideologies. The findings revealed that CNN mainly focused on “Humanitarian Crisis and Civilian Impacts” and “Military Operations and Strategic”, whereas CCTV predominantly centred on the themes of “Military Operations and Strategic” and “Political Reactions and Stances”. Additionally, CNN’s coverage overwhelmingly relies on Ukrainian sources and international voices, while CCTV is significantly centred on Russian sources and also includes considerable Ukrainian voices. Finally, CNN and CCTV both use a war journalism frame, but CCTV’s use of a peace journalism frame is slightly higher than CNN’s. This study displays similarities and differences in portraying international conflicts to diverse viewers, offering valuable insights into how Western and Eastern media influence perceptions of worldwide conflicts.