Narrating China from the in-between: Literary journalism and the modalities of objectivity in <i>The New Yorker</i> , 1977–2025

This study examines how The New Yorker has represented China over nearly five decades and how these portrayals negotiate evolving norms of journalistic objectivity. Drawing on Schmidt’s three modalities of objectivity—procedural, ethical, and ideological—the study analyzes 97 China-focused feature articles published between 1977 and 2025. Through reflexive thematic analysis (TA), three dominant frames were identified: (1) “My China in-between,” which foregrounds the correspondents’ hybrid positionality and subjectivity as a performance of professional credibility, aligning with procedural objectivity; (2) “Bizarre and Motley China,” which constructs marginal figures through a Western gaze, performing ethical objectivity without challenging audience assumptions; and (3) “Ironic and Conflict-Ridden China,” where irony functions as a narrative device to generate evaluative distance and, through its patterned deployment, essentializes into a form of accommodationist ideological objectivity that reinforces U.S. liberal-democratic values. These frames reveal that literary journalism reconfigures, rather than abandons, professional norms through narrative practices and culturally embedded framing. The article demonstrates how The New Yorker’s correspondents negotiate procedural, ethical, and ideological objectivity in foreign correspondence, contributing to debates on objectivity and subjectivity in literary journalism studies.