Global Solidarity or Individual Rights?—A Comparative Critical Discourse Analysis of China’s National Image in China Daily and CNN’s Coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics

This study examines how China’s national image was constructed in media coverage of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics through a comparative critical discourse analysis of reporting by China Daily and CNN. Employing Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and corpus linguistics techniques, we analyzed a corpus of 60 China Daily articles (31,759 tokens) and 33 CNN articles (31,934 tokens) published during the Games (February 4–20, 2022). Keywords analysis revealed striking differences in reporting focus: China Daily emphasized development, cooperation, and international harmony using predominantly positive language, while CNN concentrated on human rights issues, LGBTQ+ representation, and political controversies through more critical framing. These divergent portrayals reflect underlying ideological orientations and socio-cultural contexts. China Daily adopted a macro-level perspective highlighting collective achievement and global solidarity, consistent with China’s communal values and historical continuity. Conversely, CNN employed a micro-level approach focusing on individual rights and minority concerns, reflecting America’s pluralistic cultural identity. Our findings demonstrate that national images are not static but dynamically constructed through ideologically-informed discourse, with media narratives serving strategic objectives even in contexts ostensibly dedicated to international cooperation. This research contributes to understanding how national identities are negotiated through both self-representation and external portrayal in international media, revealing the pervasiveness of political discourse in sports coverage.