A Study on the News Construction of the Xinjiang Cotton Incident by Ten Western Mainstream Media Outlets, Including The New York Times and the BBC

Abstract

This study focuses on the news construction of ethnic policies in China's Xinjiang region by mainstream Western media, which generally exhibits a negative tendency and includes some demonizing reports. These reports present stereotyped impressions and strong biases, erroneously linking Xinjiang’s ethnic policies with so-called “human rights issues”. They even sensationalize individual cases and obscure issues to deliberately frame them as “matters of global security”. Such coverage distorts China’s image and places Xinjiang within a misleading framework. Through a typical case study, the Xinjiang cotton incident, this research aims to reveal the news construction strategies employed by Western mainstream media regarding Xinjiang and to explore the practical approaches for constructing China’s international discourse power in this context. The findings reveal that Western media employ “double standards” in their news construction to smear the nature of ethnic policies in Xinjiang and the region’s cotton production conditions. They project their own framework of “racial discrimination” onto issues concerning Xinjiang’s ethnic minorities, aligning with the U.S.-led Western governments’ “encirclement” of Xinjiang cotton, thereby fostering misconceptions among overseas audiences and fueling negative public opinion. In response to accusations from Western mainstream media, China needs to optimize its response strategies and enhance its international discourse power. This can be achieved by increasing the sources of discourse output, strengthening logical coherence, reducing moral judgments, and incorporating more micro-narratives to counter false reporting on the Xinjiang cotton incident, while striving to build more credible international news reporting.