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近代中国的媒介镜像:《纽约时报》驻华首席记者哈雷特·阿班中国报道研究(1927-1940)

Modern China in Media: Through the Lens of Hallett E. Abend, the Chief Correpondent of the New York Times from 1927 to 1940

【作者】 李莉

【导师】 张咏华;

【作者基本信息】 上海大学 , 传播学, 2011, 博士

【摘要】 13世纪,意大利人马可波罗来到中国,开启了中国形象远播世界的历史。晚清以降,在与世界不同民族国家的频繁交往中,通过社会各色力量参与的建构实践,近代中国之形象在继承和颠覆传统认知的过程中,开始获得新的面向和认同。此间,外国传媒机构和记者作为一股新兴的力量,一跃成为20世纪以来中国近代国家形象构建和传播过程中的重要单元,通过他们各自多样化的职业实践,促生了近代中国之媒介镜像,并对其进行了前所未有的世界性传播。哈雷特·阿班(Hallett E. Abend)是20世纪30年代美国主流大报《纽约时报》派驻中国的重要记者之一,1927年后,他不仅担任了《纽约时报》驻华首席记者一职,而且负责管理《纽约时报》的全部中国报道。一直到1940年底离华回国,阿班的驻华新闻实践历经十五载春秋,共发表了一千余篇的中国报道。因此,阿班自身不仅是20世纪上半叶驻华美国记者中的重要代表,而且他的报道也是20世纪30年代美国主流新闻业塑造和传播近代中国形象的关键文本,研究价值不言而喻。本研究试图通过考察阿班在华十五年的新闻采访实践及其一千余篇的涉华报道作品,展现阿班及所属媒介组织《纽约时报》如何通过其特有的新闻框架和话语系统建构起一种典型化、历史性的近代中国形象——“危机中国”的形象,并揭示此种形象背后所蕴含的西方自由主义意识形态、进步主义价值评价体系和功利主义的国际关系观,说明20世纪以来的国际新闻传播实践是一个充满了西方意识形态浸化、价值评判垄断、国际政治利益制约、新闻专业主义规范和个人价值追求的复杂过程。第一章主要阐述了研究问题的意义和缘起。首先提出了国际新闻生产对中国国家形象塑造与传播的历史意义与文化价值,认为近代中国的媒介镜像是中国加强自身理解,重塑当代中国形象的一面镜子。其次,分析了当代西方涉华报道与中国形象研究领域的现状和存在的问题,指出了中国本土研究比较偏重20世纪90年代以来西方媒体的对华报道而较少对其他历史时期加以关注、偏重于使用定量的内容分析方法而较少使用其他定性研究方法的现实,并藉此说明哈雷特·阿班涉华报道研究的必要性和重要性。最后,指出了《纽约时报》和哈雷特·阿班在美国国际新闻发展史上的地位和价值,认为阿班的中国报道是研究西方媒介建构中国近代国家形象和塑造美式“中国观”过程中无法或缺的一个重要部分。第二章主要探讨了哈雷特·阿班中国报道的总体特征。通过对1257份报道文本进行的统计分析,发现了三个层面的问题:其一,在报道的总量和频率方面,哈雷特·阿班的报道基本上与中国的现实律动保持了一致,比较全面及时地反映了当时中国重大的政治、经济和社会问题。其二,在报道议题的设置方面,阿班的中国报道呈现了突出的硬新闻特质,中国内部的政治动荡和中日关系的矛盾和冲突是主要的新闻议题。其三,在发稿时间、地点和版面安排方面,出现了发稿日期与刊载日期间隔时间由长变短、发稿地点主要集中在上海等大城市,重要版面占有量不足等特点,说明了阿班的中国报道在国际传播层面受到多种社会因素影响的现实。第三章分析了阿班的“危机中国”这一主导性的报道框架。认为新闻框架不仅是报道者传播意图的直接体现,同时也是把握国际新闻生产深层社会意涵的途径和方法。指出阿班“危机中国”的框架实际具有“双重危险”的含义:其一是对中国社会本身危险境遇的言说,其二则是对当时的中国现实对美国方面所构成的挑战和危险的言说。通过对132篇阿班撰写的中国评论性文章的内容分析,揭示了“危机中国”这一主导新闻框架的话语呈现方式和表达路径。认为“危机中国”这一指导思想基本上贯穿了阿班对中国全部社会问题的认知和判断。第四章讨论了哈雷特·阿班中国报道的四个重要案例:有关“满洲问题”的报道、有关“西安事变”的报道、有关日本侵占上海的报道以及有关新闻检查的报道。首先,指出“满洲问题”的报道不仅是阿班塑造“危机中国”形象的重要起点,同时也是阿班在美国外交关系视角下对近代中国做出的一种负面判断和陈述。第二,指出有关“西安事变”的报道是对中国社会冲突和无序状态的一种强化和凸显,是阿班建构“危机中国”过程中的典型范例。第三,指出有关日本侵占上海的报道是阿班在华工作中后期塑造“危机中国”形象的主要依据。认为阿班对日本侵华行为的揭露是说明美国利益在中国遭受挑战和侵害、敦促美国积极干预中国事务的意图表达。第四,指出有关新闻检查的报道是阿班籍以说明中国社会危险不安、有悖西方社会秩序的又一证据。第五章是对哈雷特·阿班“危机中国”国家形象塑造的历史逻辑、话语策略和社会意涵的讨论。认为美国的中国形象建构是一个深具历史关联和逻辑转圜的发展过程,包括传教士、商人、作家等多元力量都参与其中。阿班的“危机中国”形象是新的时代背景下对美国的中国形象塑造这一历史传统的继承。其次,通过五个方面的新闻话语分析,展示了阿班的报道文本建构近代中国媒介形象的路径和方式,认为报道内容的选择、主题的归纳、信息的相关性控制以及典型词汇的调用都是阿班塑造“危机中国”的重要手段和方式。最后,指出了“危机中国”这一国家形象是20世纪20、30年代美国社会特有的政治文化心理的反映和表现,它不仅是美国进步主义价值观和自由主义意识形态关照中国事务时的必然产物,而且也是西方功利主义外交理念的真实写照,因此,“危机中国”在很大程度上是当时美国有关自身利益的一场公开言说。美国的中国形象历经两百余年,《纽约时报》和阿班的近代中国报道构成了20世纪上半叶美国主流媒介建构中国形象上的重要一环。正如第六章所示,这一形象认知不仅受到美国传统意识形态的影响,而且受制于新闻组织惯例、其他利益集团以及记者自身经历等多重社会因素,是一个充满了复杂互动的话语建构过程。本研究认为,“危机中国”这一媒介形象并未超越西方知识传统上那种典型的“他者”立场,仍然是西方表现其主体的观念、价值、信仰和情感的一个与之对立的、负面的文化形象。“危机中国”实际上是20世纪20、30年代美国社会经历政治、经济、文化等历史转型时对自身恐惧和焦虑的一种公开化表达,它对中国的社会现实有所反映也有所疏离,是美国视角下的一种中国叙述。阿班的中国报道构成了20世纪30年代美国公众有关中国知识和想象的重要来源,而且也在某种程度上影响了20世纪40年代的美国对华政策,故不失为美国的中国形象演变史上值得珍视的一个研究对象。

【Abstract】 Since the Italian Marco Polo’s trip to China in the 13th Century, the image of China has been captured by and disseminated to the rest of the world. As the modern China increased her communication and interaction with other nations either voluntarily or involuntarily since the late Qing Dynasty, her image has been constructed and reconstructed by various social forces in a process of inheriting and subverting traditional cognitive approaches, In the meantime, foreign media organizations and journalists emerged as a very important force in building and spreading the image of modern China. Through their different professional practices, the image of modern China has assumed unprecedented coverage and dissemination around the world. Hallett E. Abend was one of the most prominent foreign journalists who participated in the construction of the modern China image. As the chief correspondent for The New York Times in China from 1927 to 1940, Abend had sent back to America and hence to the whole world news stories about China. He was a significant representative of American journalists in china, and his reporting was a key contributing text of how the mainstream America journalism in the 20th century how shaped and circulated the image of modern China. Therefore, a close examination of Abend and his journalistic creation concerning China is necessary and valuable.This dissertation, by examining Abend’s 15-year reporting experiences in China and over a thousand reporting pieces about China, aims at uncovering how Abend and The New York Times with their characteristic discourse scheme framed a typical and historical media image of modern China—“China of Crisis”how such an image was embedded in the western liberal ideology, progress valuing system and pragmatic philosophy about international relations, and how the international media broadcast since the 20th century has been a complicated process intertwined with western ideology acculturation, value judgment monopolization, international political interests restriction, journalistic professionalism regulation and individual values pursuit.The first chapter focuses on the value and the origin of researching question. Firstly,international news making has historical and cultural values for building and spreading the Chinese image. It was a mirror that helped China understand and reflect on herself in terms of the image building of modern China. Secondly, this chapter illustrates the current situation and problems in the field of the western Chinese reporting and the Chinese image, arguing that the China-based research prioritizes the western news of late 1990s over the rest periods and relies more heavily on quantitative than qualitative methods. They accounted for the importance and necessity of studying Abend and his news products. The final session of this chapter demonstrates the influential status of The New York Times and Abend in America journalism history and holds that Abend’s China reporting is an indispensable part of understanding how western media has framed a China image as well as a China concept for the United States.The second chapter discusses the general characteristics of Abend’s China reporting. A statistical analysis of the 1257 reporting copies resulted in three arguments: Firstly, the amount and frequency of Abend’s Chinese stories showed that they basically kept pace with the development of Chinese realities and comprehensively and timely reflected the important political, economic as well as social issues of China at that time. Secondly, most of Abend’s coverage proved to be hard news and the main news agenda focused on the internal political instability in China and the conflicts between China and Japan. Thirdly, the data showed that the interval between Abend’s reporting dispatching and publishing became shorter and shorter, the main locations of news making were Shanghai and other big cities, and the covering of the important pages shrinked All these changes illustrate that Abend’s China reporting was influenced by a variety of social factors at the international level. The third chapter probes the dominant reporting framework:“China of Crisis”, and argues that news framework is not only a direct reflection of the reporter’s intention but also effective methods to grasp the deeper social implications of international news making. Abend’s“China of Crisis”included two layers of meaning: one refers to the reality of China as dangerous and the other China as a big challenge and threat to the United States. The analysis of 132 pieces of news commentary of Abend reveals the presentation and expression ways of the“China of Crisis”news frame. It is believed that the“China of Crisis”was the basic guiding principle dominating the Abend’s perceptions of and judgments about all the China issues from 1927 to 1940. The fourth chapter examines four important cases in Abend’s China reporting, including“the Manchurian Issues”,“the Xi’an Incident”,“the Japanese Invasion of Shanghai”and“News Censorship”to reveal Abend’s construction of“China of Crisis”. Firstly,“The Manchurian Issues”reporting was the starting point of Abend’s framing of“China of Crisis”, which was negative account and judgment about modern China from the perspective of American foreign policies. Secondly,“the Xi’an Incident”reporting was a type of strengthening and highlighting of the conflicts and confusion in the Chinese society, which was a typical example of the“China of Crisis”image building process. Thirdly, the reports about“the Japanese Occupation of Shanghai in China”were the main evidence of Abend’s framing“China of Crisis”during his late professional period in China. The aim of exposing the Japanese invasion of China was to prove that the American interests were being challenged and infringed by Japan in China and hence to urge the United States to actively intervene in the Chinese affairs. Fourthly, the reporting of“News Censorship”was a forceful affirmation of Abend’s“China of Crisis”image by showing the danger of China and her violation of the Western social order.The fifth chapter explores the historical logic, discourse strategies and social significance of Abend’s framing a national image of“China of Crisis”, arguing that the China image building by America was a developing process full of historical and logical relations and involving missionaries, businessmen, writers and other various actors. Actually, Abend’s“China of Crisis”was both a reinforcement and an advancement of the American construction of the China image in the context of a new era. An ensuing news discourse analysis as to content choosing, theme extracting, information relevance controlling and reporting vocabulary selecting furthers illustrates the ways and methods Abend adopted to mold the media image of modern China. Finally, the chapter argues that the Chinese national image“China of Crisis”was a unique psychological reflection of American politics and cultures during 1920s and 1930s. It was not only an inevitable result of evaluating Chinese conditions with American ideologies of progressivism and liberalism but also a mirror of the western concept of utilitarian diplomacy. Actually, the“China of Crisis”was a pubic speech about America herself and her interests during that period.The history of the China image in the United State has been more than two hundred years. The China reporting of The New York Times and Abend was an important element of the USA mainstream media construction of the China image. Chapter Six illustrates that this image concept was influenced by the traditional ideology of the United States as well as limited by the rules of news organizations, other interest groups and reporters’own experiences, which was a complex and interactive discourse building process.This study suggests that the media image of“China of Crisis”did not go beyond the classical“the Other”viewpoint of the western intellectual tradition. It was still a negative and opposing cultural image through which the western concepts, values, beliefs and emotions could be communicated and reinforced.“China of Crisis”was virtually a public expression of American fears and anxieties during the 1920s and 1930s when the United States was undergoing a historical transformation of politics, economy and culture. It partly reflected and partly disengaged from the social reality of China, and it was only a statement about modern China from the angle of America. Abend’s China reporting not only provided key resources for American’s knowledge and imaginations about China in the 1930s but also to some extent affected the U.S policies concerning China in the 1940s. Therefore, Abend and his China reporting are valuable research areas in the history of the China image in America.

  • 【网络出版投稿人】 上海大学
  • 【网络出版年期】2012年 02期
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