Features of Assessing the Image of the PRC Abroad on the Example of News Coverage of COVID-19[Особенности Оценки Имиджа Кнр За Рубежом На Примере Новостного Освещения Covid-19]

The article examines the foreign policy image of the People’s Republic of China in the reflection of foreign news media in covering a negative topic closely related to China — the COVID-19 pandemic, and analyses the possibility of forming a positive image by conducting foreign policy. Aim. To assess the foreign policy image of the People’s Republic of China based on content analysis of online news media and determine whether there is an opportunity to improve it in the international arena when considering the initially negative situation. Methods. To determine the specifics of coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the English-language media, a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of The Guardian and The Washington Post corpuses, totalling 172 articles, was conducted according to a set of parameters developed by the authors, including the possibility of sample formation, lexical analysis of headlines, tonality analysis and frame analysis. Results. Within the 6 criteria analysis, the following results were obtained - the degree of intensity of coverage was rated as high, headline analysis showed a decrease in negative connotations in the second macro-period, the positive tone of the corpora increased by 10–20% by 2021, the qualitative analysis of the tone of the text showed the importance of international cooperation when describing the topic related to China, where one of the key words is “support”, and also confirms the existence of theories about the leakage of the virus and its artificial origin in the West and the United States. Conclusion. The study concluded that negative assessments of the image of the People’s Republic of China prevail in the Western news media, which is due to the coverage of an initially negative topic, as well as the coverage of a state with an ideology different from the West, the creation of sensational material by criticizing another state, and the dissemination of conspiracy theories about the creation of a coronavirus in laboratory conditions. At the same time, the possibility of the state to improve its own image in the foreign news media by implementing a well-considered friendly foreign policy was established