Representation of China and the Chinese in the Ethiopian Broadcast Media

The chief objective of this study was to examine the representation of China in the Ethiopian broadcast media. The study aims to address specific objectives such as unraveling the major frames used in reporting about China and the Chinese, identifying the dominant information sources used by the Ethiopian broadcast media in reporting about China, and examining the representation of negative comments about China in the Ethiopian broadcast media. Theoretically, the study employs social constructionism together with framing theory through a qualitative research design. To that end, the study selected six television channels using purposive sampling and their coverage of issues in China in relation to three events. They are: 1) U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan; 2) the 2023 BRICS<sup>1</sup>’ summit held in South Africa; and 3) the 2023 Belt and Road Initiative summit held in Beijing. A corpus of 47 stories, regardless of their genre, was compiled and analyzed using framing theory and qualitative content analysis. The analysis revealed that China has been represented consistently through three frames. They are: 1) China is a “mighty power”; 2) China is a “fortress”; and 3) China is a “beacon of hope." These frames constitute several sub-themes within them.