Covering conflicts and risks: Chinese newspapers’ peace-loving discourse and their use of risk language

The process through which people and society begin to see and frame something as risky is complex. As risk communication practitioners play a critical role in fostering real-world risk governance, this study emphasizes the performative role of language in mobilizing symbolic resources to build and control risks from a communication standpoint. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used to reveal patterns of how two events – the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine dispute – were covered by the Chinese media, and speculate about the relationship between risk communication practice and its wider geopolitical context. Results revealed different frames were used for the two events, and that ‘threat’ was most frequently used when addressing the Russia-Ukraine dispute, whereas ‘risk’ was adopted for most COVID-19-related articles. Two themes were generated when interpreting the discourse through a critical geopolitical approach: ‘From the COVID-19 Approach to the Political Systems’ and ‘China as a global Player through its peaceful Rise’. While China prefers to maintain peace in its interaction with other global actors, the Chinese government does not simply accept adversity, particularly when it comes to geopolitical conflicts derived from arbitrary ideological disagreements. The study adds to the current literature on the relationship between the practice and context of risk communication, as well as to the underrepresented regional online news coverage of risks and conflicts that focus on China.