After Games Wind Down, So Does Coverage of Issues

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

In the weeks leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games, the excitement of the Games was tempered by news coverage of a number of issues that cast the host city, and China, in a negative light. The traditional relay of the Olympic torch drew protests from people who objected to China’s less-than-stellar human rights record and its relationship with Tibet. There were questions about Beijing’s air quality and its possible effects on the athletes’ health and performance. Coverage of environmental issues peaked with the government’s efforts to clean up the air in Beijing and the enormous algae bloom at the sailing venue. There were also concerns about the government’s efforts to hinder the media in its access to information and its ability to freely report on the events. And, like other recent Games, the Beijing Games were taking place under the specter of performance-enhancing drug use.

Since the Closing Ceremonies, however, coverage of these issues has declined significantly. During the period of August 26 to September 7, there were a total of 3,800 mentions in social and traditional media sources analyzed by Dow Jones Insight of issues relating to human rights, the environment, Tibet, media freedom, athlete health and doping. The most-mentioned issue, human rights, declined from 255 mentions on August 26 to 51 mentions on September 5 (data were analyzed to September 5, since September 6-7 was a weekend, when all coverage tends to be lower). Mentions of China’s relationship with Tibet decreased from 147 to 20 during that period. Mentions of media freedom went from 131 on August 26 to 67 on September 5.

Mentions of the environment declined from 121 on August 26, but spiked back up to 92 on September 1. This increase in coverage was driven by stories about Beijing’s improved air quality. The government’s attempts to improve Beijing’s air quality, including restricting driving based on an odd-even license plate schedule, were so successful that the city’s air quality was the best it had been in about 10 years. These improvements were so successful that some Beijing residents are calling for the driving restrictions to be extended in an effort to keep the air clean. Following coverage of these stories, mentions of the environment declined again to 28 on September 5.

Methodology: Analysis includes the English-language sources taken from a database of 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.

No Difference Seen Between U.S. and non-U.S. Coverage of Political Issues

By Dow Jones Insight Staff

The choice of Beijing as the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games raised some eyebrows when it was announced seven years ago. At the time there was some doubt that a city in insular China would be able to pull off a global event of this nature. But in recent months, talk in Western media turned not to whether the Games would succeed, but whether the city deserved the honor of hosting in light of such issues as China’s human rights record, its relationship with Tibet and its environmental problems. In recent weeks topics receiving coverage included Beijing’s polluted water and air, protests along the Torch Relay, questions about travel visas, and athletes’ political stances being quieted.

Analysis by Dow Jones Insight shows that in the period between July 28 and August 10 the breakdown of the discussion of these topics was nearly identical in the U.S. and in English-language media around the world. Among the seven politically charged issues being tracked by Dow Jones Insight, human rights issues led coverage in U.S. sources, with 3,144 mentions, or 36%, of 8,650 total mentions. The environment was a distant second, with 1,611 mentions, or 19%. The numbers were very similar in non-U.S. sources during the same period. Of the 15,155 total mentions, human rights issues garnered 5,812, or 38%, and environmental issues accounted for 2,510 mentions, or 17%.

Tibet was third in U.S. sources, with 1,091 mentions, for 13%, followed by media freedom, with 1,040 mentions for 12%. In non-U.S. sources, media freedom was the third-most-covered topic, with 2,288 mentions, for 15%, and Tibet was fourth, with 2,243 mentions, for 15%. The topic of athletes’ health was fifth in both U.S. and non-U.S sources, with 10% and 8% of mentions, respectively. Doping garnered 9% of mentions in U.S. sources and 6% of mentions in non-U.S. sources. Athlete freedom of speech had 190 mentions, or 2%, in U.S. sources and 230 mentions, or 2%, in non-U.S. sources.

Methodology: Analysis includes the English-language sources taken from a database of 6,000 newspapers, wires, magazines, radio and TV transcripts; about 13,000 current-awareness news sites; 60,000 message boards and about two million blogs.