An industry or a sport: media framing of esports development in Hong Kong

Purpose This paper aims to look at the case of esports in Hong Kong by content analysis of news between 2020 and 2022 to explore how esports development was being framed in the news and discuss the implications of the media framing of esports in Hong Kong’s context. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis approach is adopted to study the news framing of esports in selected news articles between 2020 and 2022. Findings Findings of news framing of esports in Hong Kong suggested that esports were emphasized as an industry in Hong Kong’s context. Even though esports coverage emerged as the Asian Games approached, the absence of sporting elements in the news contributed to the consolidation of understanding of esports as discussed in previous studies, which hinders the social recognition of esports as a sport that could be further developed in the city. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on the news framing of esports in Hong Kong, highlighting the important role of media in influencing the public perception of esports and its image in Hong Kong’s context.