Research
How Chinese and Western newspapers frame the same events, and how English changes as it travels.
How two newspapers told the pandemic
My master's thesis compares 261 COVID-19 headlines: 143 from China Daily and 118 from The New York Times, across three phases: the outbreak (January to March 2020), the Delta wave (June to September 2021) and China's reopening (December 2022 to March 2023).
I coded every headline for agency, process type (following Halliday's systemic functional grammar) and polarity. Both papers name an actor in about half of their headlines. The difference lies in tone: China Daily stays positive and grows more so, while The New York Times stays mostly negative throughout.
The study looks at headlines only and was coded by one person, so it describes a pattern rather than proving a cause.
The findings in three numbers
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261
headlines analyzed
143 from China Daily, 118 from The New York Times
-
80 %
positive in China Daily
during China's reopening, up from 51% at the outbreak
-
70 %
negative in The New York Times
during the outbreak; its positive share never passed 16%
Why it matters for business
Teams working between China and Europe read different news about the same world. Knowing how each side frames events helps me prepare briefings, read media coverage for a project, and explain to colleagues on both sides why the other sees things differently.
World Englishes
My second field is how English varies around the world. I have written on Hong Kong English, Hawai'i Creole English and Singapore English: how they grew out of contact between languages, and what they show about identity and belonging.
Want to talk about it?
I am open to roles in team and project coordination in Munich, on site or hybrid.