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the dominant values emerged in the press (Hargreaves, 1982: Chapter 2) thereby making the press look pro-establishment. Even the same kind of action could provoke different reactions from the press because of this pro-establishment stand. Chorbajian, analysing the press depictions of the African boycott of the 1976 Olympics and the USA boycott of the 1980 Olympics, found that the press was hostile to the 1976 boycott while sympathetic to the latter one. He concluded that the press simply ‘agreed with the official USA government position' (Chorbajian, 1985: 134) and announced the fall of the *myth of the fourth estate* (ibid: 149).
How did the press become so unobjective? How did the press come up with such favourable images of their own countries and their respective systems? How did the People's Daily decide to be so positive towards the athletes' performance, so keen on bringing in the success of the state as the backbone of the achievements in sports? In the past, scholars have looked into other values, or a set of values that appear in the press to probe the newsmaking processes. Some of these schema appear to be too broad for small-scale investigation while some of them might contain too many different values to reach fruitful conclusions in terms of favourableness toward the ruling system (e.g. Trujillo and Ekdom, 1985; Snyder, Eldon and Spreitzer, 1983; Edwards, 1973). The present study shows that the concept of face could offer a convenient alternative in the study of news reporting.
Moreover, the values presented in the press seemed to have changed over the years. Sports, for instance, has shifted from an arena of "heroes only" to one containing both "heroes and villains". One reason suggested was the rise in educational level among the masses (Garrison, 1985: Chapter 14). This educational background prompted the general readers to look for more information, more complete instead of one-sided pictures of sports and athletes. As the present study found that Chinese athletes were mostly heroes, and even though they did poorly, they are pardoned or justified. China was still a strong country with a big face after all. Could this "heroes only" picture be one prior to that of the “villains also””? It is possible to answer this question by studying how the concept of face is being treated by the news makers. If research could be done on how reporters of different countries differ in treating the face of their respective countries and thereby their news making processes, there is optimism that the working of different types of press systems could be highlighted.
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the dominant values emerged in the press (Hargreaves, 1982: Chapter 2) thereby making the press look pro-establishment. Even the same kind of action could provoke different reactions from the press because of this pro-establishment stand Chorbajian, analysing the press depictions of the African boycott of the 1976 Olympics and the USA boycott of the 1980 Olympics, found that the press was hostile to the 1976 boycott while sympathetic to the latter one. He concluded that the press simply ‘agreed with the official USA government position' (Chorbajian,m 1985: 134) and announced the fall of the *myth of the fourth estate' (ibid: 149)
How did the press become so unobjective? How did the press come up with such favourable images of their own countries and their respective systems? How did the People's Daily decide to be so positive towards the athletes' performance, so keen on bringing in the success of the state as the backbone of the achievements in sports? In the past, scholars have looked into other values, or a set of values that appear in the press to probe the newsmaking processes. Some of these schema appear to be too broad for small-scale investigation while some of them might contain too many different values to reach fruitful conclusions in terms of favourableness toward the ruling system (e g. Trujillo and Ekdom, 1985, Snyder, Eldon and Spreitzer, 1983; Edwards, 1973). The present study shows that the concept of face could offer a convenient alternative in the study of news reporting.
Moreover, the values presented in the press seemed to have changed over the years. Sports, for instance, has shifted from an arena of "heroes only" to one containing both "heroes and villains". One reason suggested was the rise in educational level among the masses (Garrison, 1985. Chapter 14). This educational background prompted the general readers to look for more information, more complete instead of one-sided pictures of sports and athletes. As the present study found that Chinese athletes were mostly heroes, and even though they did poorly, they are pardoned or justified. China was still a strong country with a big face after all. Could this "heroes only" picture be one prior to that of the “villains also””? It is possible to answer this question by studying how the concept of face is being treated by the news makers. If research could be done on how reporters of different countries differ in treating the face of their respective countries and thereby their news making processes, there is optimism that the working of different types of press systems could be highlighted.
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