Influencer discourse as a dynamic continuum: A corpus-assisted discourse study of representing influencers in Chinese and US newspapers

This study combines corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to compare the discursive representation of influencers in Chinese and US mainstream English newspapers (2020–2024). The findings suggest that Chinese newspapers tend to represent influencers as positive agents who are instrumental in promoting culture and tourism, advancing the digital economy through livestream sales and overseas e-commerce, contributing to poverty alleviation, and disseminating scientific and policy knowledge. In contrast, US newspapers prefer to portray influencers as more intricate and multifaceted figures who shape elections and lifestyle trends, navigate controversial social issues, narrate personal lives, and strategically collaborate to advance their goals, while also facing criticism for contributing to overconsumption. This study further explores how discursive strategies and linguistic means are deployed to construct these divergent representations. Conceptualizing influencer discourse as a dynamic, contextually situated continuum, this study elucidates how different portrayals are interactively shaped by cultural values, media systems, national ideology, and broader socio-political structures.