Public Relations Review 30 (2004) 1124

Strategic public diplomacy and local press: how a high-profile

head-of-state visit was covered in Americas heartland
Jian Wang a, , Tsan-Kuo Chang b
b

a
Department of Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Received 19 May 2003; received in revised form 6 September 2003; accepted 1 November 2003

Abstract
Drawing upon the lines of research on public diplomacy and media communication, this study aims to use Chinese
President Jiang Zemins state visit to the US in 1997 as a case in point to examine the news values and judgment
of the US local press in covering a major public diplomacy event and to discuss the effectiveness of the use of
head-of-state visits as instruments of public diplomacy. The study focuses on two aspects of media image: visibility
and valence. Its main findings indicate that, despite the PR efforts, the image of China, as reflected in the local press
coverage, was not improved. This study highlights the critical role of the local press in managing the perception
and reputation of a country in the eyes of a foreign public, and argues that the local aspect is not only significant
in studying public diplomacy and the US media, but also relevant to US public diplomacy strategies and tactics
overseas.
2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Public diplomacy; Media image; US media

As strategic public diplomacy events, head-of-state visits are those rare platforms where one nations
leader has the opportunity to reach the public of another nations, through ceremonial events, improvisational moments and, most of all, press coverage of the visit, to influence and improve public perceptions of a countrys national image (Manheim, 1994). Such media-oriented events, if done effectively,
can transform a nations image, smooth differences, and dispel distrust between nations and peoples.
With the revolution in modern communication technologies and the rapid globalization of international
politics and economy, governments increasingly come to appreciate the important role such public relations events play in cultivating and mobilizing international public opinion support. As Gilboa (2000,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-765-494-3325.

E-mail address: jianwang@sla.purdue.edu (J. Wang).
0363-8111/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2003.11.002

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J. Wang, T.-K. Chang / Public Relations Review 30 (2004) 1124

p. 296) pointed out, media coverage of such diplomatic visits has in fact become a significant feature
of the visit and sometimes determines its success. One of the on-going challenges for practitioners and
scholars alike is to uncover the dynamic interactions between public diplomacy and media communication.
To effectively plan and manage such public diplomacy events, it is essential that we first have a sound
understanding of how these events are covered by the media. A plethora of studies have examined and
analyzed US national medias coverage of foreign affairs news, of which head-of-state visits are a part. It
is almost a clich now to say that such coverage is often neither adequate in volume nor positive in nature
(e.g., Fisher & Merrill, 1976; Martin & Hiebert, 1990; Richstad & Anderson, 1981; Stevenson & Shaw,
1984). But what hasnt been established is the nature and characteristics of coverage of diplomatic media
events in the US local press. Neither is much known about how the local press may cover these events
as compared with the national media. This is a significant gap because most Americans rely far more on
the local media than the national media for news and information. One survey of American newspaper
readers reported that only one-third of them read national newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal
and The New York Times (Liebeskind, 1997). Among the broadcast media, local TV news has continued
to be the leading source of information (The Pew Research Center, 2002).
Although covering foreign affairs news is not considered its priority, the local press does represent a
crucial window on the world for most Americans. The local media routinely select foreign affairs news
from wire services or other media, and decide what and how to use those stories. Occasionally, they
also try to gather foreign news stories themselves. The type and angle of foreign affairs news available
in the local media both reflects and shapes the politics of the media as well as the world view of the
communities they serve. As ABC News anchor Peter Jennings remarked, For while there is no substitute
for foreign correspondents, there is also no substitute for the powerful impression the local angle makes
in revealing the impact of foreign relations (quoted in Hamilton, 1988, p. xii). It is therefore all the
more important for both practitioners and scholars to develop a better understanding of how public
diplomatic events are reported in the local press and to what extent such media-oriented diplomatic
events are effective in achieving a countrys international public relations goals of improving its national
image.
In this study, we will use Chinese President Jiang Zemins state visit to the US in 1997 as a case in point
to examine the news values and judgment of the US local press in covering a major public diplomacy
event and to discuss the effectiveness of the use of head-of-state visits as instruments of public diplomacy.
Based on the case study, we will also seek to make suggestions to practitioners, especially those working
in the area of public diplomacy, on ways to improve local press coverage of the country represented by
the visiting heads of state.
The Jiang visit came at a critical time, as the Clinton administration described the visit as the renormalization of the USChina relations in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown (Platt, 1997). With
China now joining the World Trade Organization and scheduled to host the 2008 Olympic Games, few
would dispute its growing role in world politics and economy. How the US and China, including the
media and the local press in particular, see each other matters greatly in international as well as domestic
affairs.
To provide the necessary theoretical and historical background, we will begin our examination with a
discussion of the concept of public diplomacy and foreign affairs news coverage in the US media. We
will then review the evolution of the image of China in American society to place the Jiang visit in the
proper historical context.

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13

1. Public diplomacy and media coverage

As the worlds economy and politics are increasingly interlinked and intertwined, like corporations, governments have also started to pay more attention to the needs and desires of foreign publics in foreign policy
making and communication. The essence of diplomatic activities has always been to develop and cultivate favorable perceptions and attitudes between the involved countries. However, what has evolved and
changed is that diplomatic communication, historically based primarily on government-to-government
and diplomat-to-diplomat interactions, has expanded to include government-to-people contacts over
the last several decades (Manheim, 1994, p. 3). Public diplomacy is now an indispensable vehicle of
international relations.
Broadly defined, public diplomacy refers to a governments process of communicating with foreign
publics in an attempt to bring about understanding for its nations ideas and ideals, its institutions and culture, as well as its national goals and current policies (Tuch, 1990, p. 3). This type of open diplomacy
(i.e., carried out in full view of the media and the public) is in sharp contrast to the practices of secret
diplomacy and closed-door diplomacy (Gilboa, 2000). It encompasses a wide array of activities, ranging from media programs (e.g., Voice of America), to cultural and educational programs (e.g., Fulbright
scholarships). The goals of these programs are often twofold: achieving political advocacy and culture
communication, with the former aiming to build support for particular foreign policies and the latter
developing overall better understanding of peoples and cultures (Malone, 1988, pp. 34).
Among the various instruments of public diplomacy are visits by heads of state. This type of event
typically includes a series of high-profile, oftentimes newsworthy activities and photo opportunities
(e.g., welcoming ceremony, summit meeting, state dinner, departure ceremony). Head-of-state visits are
vehicles for governments to achieve both political advocacy and cultural communication objectives, and
are also quintessentially media events.
In many ways, public diplomacy is a form of international public relations. Signitzer and Coombs (1992)
argued that, with similar concepts, objectives and tools, these two areas of communication practice are
in a natural process of convergence (p. 146). As public relations may lack the strategic thinking for
foreign policy making, public diplomacy may also need to learn from public relations to develop tactical
excellence. All in all, as Signitzer and Timonthy (p. 145) stated, modern nation-states find themselves
more and more in the area of public relations as they attempt to influence the opinions of foreign publics.
Public relations intervention in foreign affairs is perhaps more likely to have effect than it is in the domestic sphere, due to the publics general lack of direct experience in foreign affairs, the limited foreign news
coverage because of greater production cost, and the inherent difficulty in gathering information about
foreign countries even by the government (Manheim, 1994, p. 127). Hence, media coverage of foreign
affairs is of special importance in framing public perceptions and policy actions (p. 131). Nonetheless,
achieving the desired media coverage of foreign affairs and, in this case, head-of-state visits, is not always
guaranteed, and the results are often mixed.
In his study of the rhetorical strategy carefully planned and executed for Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhuttos visit to the US in 1989 and of the public relations programs put in place for South
Korean President Roh Tae Woos visit in the same year, Manheim (1994) found that while a more favorable
image of Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan as partners in democracy was established in the media, the image
of Korea wasnt improved among the American media and public. This in some way corresponds to
research findings on the relationship between corporate public relations efforts and news coverage (e.g.,
Anderson, 2001; Hale, 1978; Turk, 1986). As Andersons (2001) study of pharmaceutical companies

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public relations campaigns and news coverage suggested, public relations may have more influence on
what the media covers than how reporters present the story (p. 458).
A closely related issue is the form and content of international and foreign affairs news coverage in the
US media in general. Much research has been done in this area as regards the US national media, and
the accepted knowledge appears to be well established. Studies have shown that, of the limited amount
of coverage, the content of foreign and international news tends to be negative or crisis oriented (the
so-called coups and earthquakes approach) (e.g., Larson, 1979; Lent, 1977; Mishra, 1979; Pratt, 1980;
Riffe, 1993; Riffe & Shaw, 1982; Rosenblum, 1981; Shoemaker, Chang, & Brendlinger, 1986). Although
the local media are the most utilized and accessible channels for news and information for the American
public, except for a very few studies, little research exists on local press coverage of international and
foreign affairs news. One study argued that local newspapers coverage of international and foreign affairs
news fit many of the traditional stereotypes of American international news coverage (Cassara, 1995,
p. 16), while another found that the local press seemed to present a kinder, gentler version of foreign
policy (Stone, 1997, p. 5).
The study of foreign affairs news coverage in the local media is both theoretically and practically
significant. Theoretically, international and foreign affairs news, particularly from the developing world,
represents the kind of news Americans need to know for a variety of reasons. Practically, not only do
the local media command a more sizable audience, but also news reporting between national and local
media has gradually become blurred. For public relations practitioners, the role of the local press in public
diplomacy communication cannot be ignored. In this study, we will expand our analysis of a strategic
public diplomacy event beyond the national media to include the local press.
To better understand the local press coverage of head-of-state visits, we need also to cast the discussion
in the broader context of the overall American image of the countries involved. For this case study of
Chinese President Jiang Zemins visit, let us first trace the historical evolution of the images and attitudes
concerning China in American society.

2. Conflicting images of China in the United States

American images and attitudes concerning China have always been divided and conflicting. Over the
years, the strikingly consistent feature of the American images of China is inconsistency. As Mosher
(1990) put it, [t]he most that can be conceded is that Americas intense and long-running emotional
involvement with Chinawhich some have described as a lovehate relationshiphas exaggerated the
swings between the good China and the evil China (p. 214).
Several chronologies have captured the changing American opinions about China over the years. One
such chronology was presented by Harold R. Isaacs (1958): The Age of Respect (Eighteenth Century);
The Age of Contempt (18401905); The Age of Benevolence (19051937); The Age of Admiration
(19371944); The Age of Disenchantment (19441949); and The Age of Hostility (1949[1958]). In
reviewing Americans perception of China after the Chinese Communist Party came into power in 1949
and up until the 1989 Tiananmen student demonstration, Mosher (1990) reproduced Isaacss chronology
in the new context and labeled them as such: The Age of Hostility (19491972); The Second Age of
Admiration (19721977); The Second Age of Disenchantment (19771980); and The Second Age of
Benevolence (19801989). To Americans, China is at the same time familiar and strange, peace-loving
and belligerent, civilized and barbarian . . . .

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15

These splitting images of China have been represented in the American mass media, from books and
press to movies and comic strips. Historically, Americans first got their impressions of China from the
Marco Polo tales of the East. In the 19th century, when American missionaries and merchants started to
go to China in search of wealth and believers and Chinese laborers began to land on the US west coast
for work, Americans came to form their images and ideas about China through their direct contacts with
the Chinese (McClellan, 1964). The rise of the penny press made it possible for the writings about China
in the popular press to reach a larger audience (Cohen, 1973). The mass media later brought the China
story to our living roomsfrom the Chinese plight in the face of Japanese aggression during WWII,
through Richard Nixons historic meeting with Mao Zedong, and to the massive student demonstrations
in Beijings Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Since the reforms in the late 1970s, China has made strides in economic development, while American
publics attitudes toward China seem to have become more divided and contentious. On the one hand,
the prospect of China as the worlds manufacturing center and consumer market is ever more enticing
to American businesses. On the other hand, the last great Communist power, China, and the indisputable world superpower, the US, are inching toward the clash between the two seemingly incompatible
civilizations (e.g., Bernstein & Munro, 1998).
As the bilateral relations between the two countries were severely strained in the aftermath of the
Chinese governments crackdown of student movement in 1989 and again in 1996 when China and the
US were drawn closer to potential military confrontations during the Chinese missile tests in the Taiwan
Straits, it goes without saying that Chinese President Jiang Zemins visit to the US in 1997 was a crucial
event in the midst of the stormy USChina relations and an important step toward the re-normalization
of bilateral relations.

3. The Jiang visit and research questions

The Jiang visit, the first such state visit to the US by the Chinese president since 1989, was touted as
a coming out party for the Chinese government as well as Mr. Jiang himself in hopes to banish the dark
shadow of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and to transform Chinas image on the international stage.
The visit was classified as a state visit, the most prestigious among all diplomatic visits according to
the protocol. The carefully-managed Jiangs journey to the West was laden with powerful symbols and
replete with photo-ops. Many compared this visit to the historic trip made by the late Deng Xiaoping to the
US in 1979 when the former Chinese leader helped transform Chinas image in the US during his 9-day
visit. It hence begs the question of how Mr. Jiangs tour actually fared in the American press, especially
the local press. Did the story receive much coverage in the local press, or did it elude the local press? As
all media events are not created equal, what events of Jiangs visit earned newsworthiness in the local
press, and what were discounted and denied attention? What were the salient issues concerning the Jiang
visit and China in general? One would assume that these issues were most relevant to the perception and
cognition of the American public and the media. Did the Jiang visit help to achieve the objectives of
improving the image of China among the American press and the public?
The study focuses on two aspects of media image: visibility and valence. Visibility refers to amount
and prominence of the coverage an event or a country receives; and valence refers to the extent to
which the coverage reflects favorably or unfavorably on the event or the country concerned (Manheim,
1994, p. 131). The study therefore addresses both the quantity and quality of the coverage of this public

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diplomatic event. The research questions include: How visible was the Jiang visit in the local press?
(RQ1) What were the salient events and issues concerning the Jiang visit in the local press? (RQ2) To
what extent, was the local press coverage critical of or favorable toward China? (RQ3)

4. Method
We selected three newspapers from Iowa (Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette and Iowa City
Press Citizen) to represent the local press coverage in the Heartland of America.1 Although Iowa is not,
in the strictly social scientific sense, a Magic State or an Everytown, USA for being representative
of the Heartland of America, it is geographically and, more importantly, politically in the middle of the
US. As Patterson (1984, p. 83) observed, Iowa represents a certain middleness, a kind of typicality
and manageability, . . . The state is perhaps best known for its presidential precinct caucuses every four
years as an early test of US presidential contenders. In this case study, we are using the same litmus test
to gauge Middle Americas image of China as reflected in the local press coverage.
The three newspapers under examination represent three tiers of market segments in Iowa. The Des
Moines Register has a wide coverage within the state of Iowa as well as in the region. The Cedar Rapids
Gazette is a prominent paper in eastern Iowa, and the Iowa City Press Citizen is a local city paper. Such
representation is necessary for achieving a more comprehensive understanding of local press coverage in
Iowa. To provide a point for comparative reference with the local press, we also analyzed the coverage
in one national newspaper: The New York Times.
In this study, local coverage refers to all non-advertising content related to the Jiang visit and China that
appeared in the local papers, including news stories, news photographs, cartoons, editorials, letters-to-editor,
and opinion columns. For news stories, they could be locally generated stories or stories selected from
wire services/other media. We are interested in finding out not only what the stories are about but also
how they are presented, editorially and visually. These two aspects of a news story are most often intertwined and inseparable. The US local press typically does not originate stories on foreign affairs and
replies heavily on other news media for their foreign affairs coverage. This does not, however, mean that
the local press always dutifully and mechanically transmits wire services stories. The local media are
actively engaged in selecting and presenting the types of foreign affairs events and issues considered most
relevant to their readership.
This study covers the entire period of Jiangs visit, from October 26, 1997 to November 3, 1997. Those
certainly were not typical news days regarding China in the US media, but were what Paul Chilton called
the critical discourse moments (quoted in Gamson & Modigliani, 1989, p. 11). A total of 34 issues
of the newspapers were selected for analysis (Iowa City Press Citizen did not publish on Sundays). The
unit of analysis is each item identified to be related to the Jiang visit and/or China. We use an individual
item as the unit of analysis because we believe that cartoons, opinion pieces, and even letters-to-editor
all form the information environment in the newspaper. We therefore take this more comprehensive
approach to the study of the press coverage as opposed to only studying news stories. A total of 84 items
in the four papers were identified. To address the three research questions, for each item, the coding
1

The Des Moines Register, under Gannetts ownership, has a fine reputation for being a quality regional newspaper. The
Cedar Rapids Gazette is the flagship publication of the Gazette Corp., based in Cedar Rapids (the second largest city in Iowa).
The Iowa City Press Citizen, acquired by Gannett Company, is the local city paper in Iowa City.

J. Wang, T.-K. Chang / Public Relations Review 30 (2004) 1124

17

procedure identified form of placement, visual presentation, event salience, issue salience, and tone of
coverage.2
About 18% of the total items (15) were coded by two independent coders. The inter-coder reliability
coefficient ranges from 0.80 to 1.00. For example, for the variables of event salience and issue salience,
the agreement is 0.96 and 0.87, respectively. The lowest inter-coder reliability is 0.80 for the variable of
coverage tone. The overall average coefficient is 0.94.

5. Covering the China story

5.1. Limited coverage but with strong visuals
Obviously, none of the local newspapers could match the depth and scope of China reporting in The
New York Times. This is hardly surprising, as the papers serve distinctly different readerships. There was
on the average at least one China-related item per day during the period in the three local papers (four
on the average for The New York Times). Among the local papers, the Des Moines Register carried the
most items related to the Jiang visit and other China stories (17), and the Iowa City Press Citizen came
in second with 11 such items. The Cedar Rapids Gazette had nine.
To determine the prominence China items were accorded in the local papers, we examined their placement and visual presentation. China coverage during this period received some prominence, but the degree
of prominence varied from paper to paper. Around half of the China-related items appeared on the front
page of the Iowa City Press Citizen (45.5%). The Des Moines Register carried nearly one-fourth of its
China coverage on the front page. Most of the items in the Cedar Rapids Gazette were presented in its
international/national section (77.8%), with only one item appearing on its front page. In comparison,
the placement in The New York Times was most similar to that in the Des Moines Register, with a little
over one-fifth of the items on the front page and a bit over half in its international/national section.
One striking feature of the local coverage of the Jiang visit is that the reporting in the Iowa papers was
more visually stimulating than that in The New York Times. Most of the China-related items in the local
papers were accompanied by photographs or graphics (see Table 1). In contrast, in the New York Times,
less than one-third of the items were presented with pictures or graphics. Since it is generally accepted
that visual elements in the newspapers grab readers attention, the prevalent use of visuals accentuated
the prominence of the story. For the local papers, this way of presenting a foreign affairs story might be
2

In form of presentation, we are interested in finding out the placement of the item (e.g., front page) and whether visual
tools, such as photographs and graphics, were used in the coverage. By event salience, we mean the degree of exposure of
a particular event of Jiangs visit in the papers. It is determined by whether the event is featured in the headline and/or body
copy. If the event is featured in both the headline and the body copy, it garners the highest degree of exposure (code 4), followed
by presence in the headline only (code 3) and then reported in the body copy only (code 2). If the event is only mentioned in
passing (mentioned once) in the body copy, it has the lowest degree of exposure (code 1). If the event is not mentioned in either
headline or body copy, it then does not have any exposure (code 0). The variable issue salience refers to the degree of exposure
of a particular issue pertinent to the story or item. If an issue is discussed or mentioned in both the headline and the body copy,
it receives the highest degree of exposure (code 3). An issue that appears only in the headline (code 2) has a higher degree of
exposure than that which appears in the body copy only (code 1). If an issue is not mentioned in either the headline or the body
copy, it has no exposure (code 0). The tone of coverage refers to the treatment of the China-related items in the papers. Are
they in general critical of or favorable toward China? The tone is determined by a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being the most
unfavorable and 10 the most favorable.

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J. Wang, T.-K. Chang / Public Relations Review 30 (2004) 1124

Table 1
Comparison of visual presentation between the local papers and The New York Times
Presentation

Des Moines
Register (n = 17)

Text w/picture(s) or graphic(s) (%)

Text w/o picture(s) or graphic(s)
Picture(s) only
Other

Cedar Rapids
Gazette (n = 9)

Iowa City Press

Citizen (n = 11)

New York Times

(n = 47)

58.8
29.4

11.8

55.6
44.4

72.7
27.3

30.0
66.0
4.3

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.3a

Due to rounding, percentage totals may not add up to 100.

a carry-over of tactics in their local and domestic coverage as the papers are vying to display a look in
their layout to entice readers.
5.2. Media events, media issues
Based on his itinerary, we compiled a complete list of Jiangs scheduled and unscheduled events
during his whirlwind nine days in the US. The events encompassed a wide range of activities, from the
formal and ritualistic (e.g., the summit meeting), to the casual and human interest-driven (e.g., swimming
at Wakiki); from the political (e.g., meetings with state governors en route), to the business (e.g., meetings
with business executives of major US blue-chip corporations); and from the cultural/historical (e.g.,
visits to Independence Hall, Pearl Harbor and Williamsburg), to the educational (e.g., visits to Harvard
University, University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University). Specifically, of the 38 events, 10 were
strictly diplomatic events; seven were related to meeting with local political leaders in several states Jiang
visited on the trip; seven events with the business community; five with the overseas Chinese community;
three visits to educational institutions and three to national cultural/historical monuments and landmarks.
The Des Moines Register was the most comprehensive among the local papers in covering or mentioning
events of Jiangs visit (58% of the total 38 events), followed by the Iowa City Press Citizen (34%) and
the Cedar Rapids Gazette (21%). The New York Times covered 74% of the events.
There seemed to be strong agreement among the local papers in terms of where the interest and
importance of the story lay. Among those that received the most coverage in the local papers, diplomatic
events were clearly the focal point. Of all the events, the meeting between Presidents Jiang Zemin and Bill
Clinton on the eve of the summit and the summit meeting itself were reported by all the local papers and
The New York Times. The diplomatic significance of these two events was unanimously acknowledged. In
Des Moines Register, the only non-diplomatic event in the top five most covered events was Jiangs visit
to Pearl Harbor. For the Cedar Rapids Gazette, four diplomatic events were among the top six most salient
events. In the Iowa City Press Citizen, among the top three most covered events, two were diplomatic
events. The emphasis on diplomatic events was also present in The New York Times, with three of the top
five most reported events were diplomatic events and the other two were cultural/historical events.
Other salient events in the local press included Jiangs visits to national and cultural monuments (i.e.,
visits to Pearl Harbor, Independence Hall and Williamsburg) and meetings with local state officials.
Surprisingly, events with the business community (e.g., Jiangs visits to several blue-chip corporations)
were either briefly mentioned or totally ignored, so were those events held with various overseas Chinese

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19

Table 2
Top three issues in the local papers and The New York Timesa
Des Moines Register

Cedar Rapids Gazette

Iowa City Press Citizen

New York Times

Diplomacy/bilateral
relations (1.18)
Human rights/civil
liberties/democracy (1.11)
Trade/business (0.77)

Human rights/civil
Human rights/civil
Human rights/civil
liberties/democracy (1.33)
liberties/democracy (1.34)
liberties/democracy (1.04)
Diplomacy/bilateral
Trade/business (0.91)
Trade/business (0.70)
relations (0.78)
Military/security/arms
Diplomacy/bilateral
Diplomacy/bilateral
sale (0.56)
relations (0.64)
relations (0.62)
a
Issue salience is determined by issue mentions/references. Mean scores in the brackets are calculated on the basis of the
presence or absence of the topics in body copy and/or headline (none0; body copy only1; headline only2; both body copy
and headline3).

groups. A couple of events received wide coverage in the Chinese domestic press (e.g., Mr. Jiangs swim
at Wakiki and his visit with his former teacher at Drexel University), but did not make any splash in the
local papers. Apparently, these human interest stories appealed to the Chinese audience but certainly did
not pique Americans interests.
Similarly, diplomacy and bilateral relations was the most salient issue in the local newspapers coverage. Other salient issues included human rights/civil liberties/democracy, trade/business, and military/security/arms sales (see Table 2). Such a pattern in the local press echoes that in the New York Times,
with diplomacy/bilateral relations, trade/business, and human rights/democracy/civil liberties as the top
three issues in its coverage.
5.3. A tale of two stories
The conflicting images of China continued in the coverage of the Jiang visit. This was most evident in
the newspapers choice of photographic images. The photographic images were basically of two types:
one focused on Jiang himself or his activities during the visit; the other on the organized anti-China protest
along Jiangs itinerary.
The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press Citizen saw eye to eye with each other on the quantity
and quality of photographic images. Most of the pictures in these two papers were about Jiang himself
and his activities during the trip (54.5% and 70.0% respectively), and around one-third of the pictures
were on the demonstration and protest scenes (36.4% and 30.0%, respectively). The general approach
of the use of photographic images in The New York Times is similar to that in these two Iowa papers,
with most of the pictures on Jiangs visit and a few on the protests (80% versus 20%). The Cedar Rapids
Gazette, however, did not use any protest photographs.
To photograph is to confer importance, as Songtag (1989, p. 28) argued. These two sets of photographic images suggest two storylines about the Jiang visit and China in general: Jiang/China as a
friend versus a foe. Among the photographic images of Jiangs visit, the picture of Jiang wearing a Paul
Revere-style tricorn hat in Williamsburg captured the most photographic attention. Various shots of the
same image appeared in the local papers as well as in The New York Times. Other popular images included
Jiangs visit to Pearl Harbor (paying tribute at the memorial) and his visit to Capitol Hill where he met
with Congressional leaders. Both these images appeared in two local newspapers (Des Moines Register
and Iowa City Press Citizen) and The New York Times.

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Table 3
Valence of coverage between the local papers and The New York Timesa
Tone of voice

Jiang visit
Overall China
a

Newspapers
Des Moines Register

Cedar Rapids Gazette

Iowa City Press Citizen

New York Times

3.92
4.12

4.88
4.89

4.00
4.18

4.22
4.40

Mean score on a 010 scale, with 0 being the most unfavorable and 10 the most favorable.

The photographic images also captured the anti-China protest during Jiangs tour. The most prominent
image was the pro-Tibet demonstration. The Des Moines Register carried two such photographs and the
Iowa City Press Citizen had one. The New York Times had two protest pictures with a clear focus on the
Tibet issue. There were also pictures of general protest scenes, two in the Iowa City Press Citizen and one
in the New York Times. The Des Moines Register used an Associated Press picture of a Chinese student
raising his arms and chanting, with a China Has No Human Rights banner in the background.
The dual representation of the Jiang visit and the anti-China protest is most clearly evident in the
presentation of the photos. There were five photographic presentations where a protest picture and a
Jiangs visit picture were juxtaposed within the same article (two each in the Des Moines Register, Iowa
City Press Citizen and one in The New York Times). While the photographs used in The New York Times
are of equal size, the protest picture is larger than the Jiang/Jiangs visit picture in the four presentations
in the two local papers.
Based on both editorial content and photographic images, we found that the net scores of the treatment
of China among the local papers show a somewhat negative result (4.3 on a 10-point scale) (see Table 3).
Most of the mean scores fall a little below the mid-point, five. If what and how an event is reported in
American newspapers, to a great extent, reflects the expectations of the reading public, the findings here
correspond well with public opinion polls results about China. Previous polls on Iowans attitudes toward
China, taken from 1990 to 1994, consistently showed that Iowans feelings toward China were somewhat
negative (rating points between 40 and 44 on a scale from 0 to 100 with 50 as the mid neutral point).3 The
Gallup poll of Americans perception of China in June 1997 indicated that 50% of Americans thought
unfavorably of China, while 33% held favorable views (The Gallup Poll, 2002).

6. Head-of-state visits in the eyes of the US local press

As discussed earlier, public diplomacy events are by design to manage and improve a nations image. Head-of-state visits are valuable instruments of public diplomacy. For national leaders, taking a
trip overseas is a communicative event to both domestic and foreign publics. Media coverage of these
events not only reflects but also reinforces public opinion. It is therefore critical that we examine media
representations to ascertain whether the events have achieved goals of galvanizing or maintaining public
opinion both at home and abroad. In this study, we focused on how the events were received in the media
3

The thermometer ratings were provided by the Institute of Social Science Research at the University of Iowa. This research
hasnt been conducted since 1994. The thermometer runs from 0 to 100 C, with the rating of 50 C as the neutral point, ratings
between 50 and 100 C as feeling warm towards China and ratings between 0 and 50 C as feeling cool towards China.

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21

in the host country. In particular, we were interested in exploring how the local press covered events like
head-of-state visits.
The study of the US local press in this regard is of special importance. It is the most accessible media
for the American public. Yet, past research has primarily focused on US national media and, as a result,
we dont know much about the practices of the local press in reporting foreign affairs events and issues.
This study of the Iowa newspapers coverage of the Chinese presidents visit affords us a good test case
of how the US local press presented a major public diplomacy event to its readers. From our findings on
the visibility and valence of the local coverage of the Jiang visit, we can draw at least three conclusions.
First, despite the efforts made by the Chinese government in carefully planning and executing the Jiang
visit, the image of China, as reflected in the local press coverage, was slightly negative and not improved.
Contrary to what Stone found in his study of foreign news coverage in a local paper in South Carolina,
in covering the China story the Iowa papers did not present a kinder, gentler version of foreign policy
(Stone, 1997, p. 5). The Iowa papers coverage (except for the coverage in the Cedar Rapids Gazette) was
in fact more critical of China than that of The New York Times. The Times was more even-handed in its use
of photographic images, whereas the local papers were more likely to use protest pictures in larger print
sizes. The somewhat negative tone of coverage corresponds with the somewhat negative results from both
polls on Iowans attitudes toward China from the previous years and the Gallup poll in that same year.
The American image of China in the local press largely remained conflicting. The Iowa papers coverage
of Mr. Jiangs visit reflected the continuing American ambivalence towards China. The critical voice of
Chinas human rights record and the favorable attitudes toward Chinas economic opening have become
the two intertwining themes in the contemporary US discourse of China.
Clearly, Mr. Jiang didnt transform Chinas image in the US, as his predecessor Deng Xiaoping did
during his historic trip to the US in 1979. The late Deng, with pithy statements like We came to the
US with a message of friendship, won over the American public and the media; and as one diplomat
commented, Dengs tour opened an unbelievably romantic period in USChina ties (Platt, 1997).
Deng himself even acknowledged and praised the American press on his trip, I wish to thank . . . our
American media friends. You made a great effort to enhance understanding between the Chinese and
American peoples (Platt, 1997). In comparison, Mr. Jiang couldnt possibly sing similar praises about
the American media.
Second, even though local papers can play a significant part in shaping the content of news coverage
by editing wire copies, writing headlines or adding local angles, the general uniformity of content and
tone between the coverage in The New York Times and the local papers seemed to suggest that in this
instance the local press only served as an extension of the national media. The events and issues covered
were primarily centered on diplomatic rituals.
While consumer and human interest-driven international events (e.g., the Olympic Games) and major,
dramatic international developments (e.g., the War with Iraq) enthrall very large audiences and hence
receive substantial media attention both at the national and local levels, the so-called hard news on foreign
affairs are non-thrilling and can hardly stimulate much interest among readers and viewers (Dayan &
Katz, 1994, p. 12). A 1997 survey reported that two-thirds of Americans say that China has little or no
relevance to their lives (reported in The Des Moines Register, October 29, 1997, p. 1A). Yet, on the other
hand, with its liberalization policies, China has already become an integral part of the world and the US
economy. The impact of economic and cultural globalization is felt at all levels of the US society. Among
the various approaches to make foreign affairs news products more user friendly, as noted by Hoge
(1997, p. 51), is that editors are also looking for local implications that would increase the relevance of

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foreign news for their audience. In this case study, the Iowa newspapers relied heavily on the Associated
Press and other US news organizations for their China coverage. There was only one article written by
the papers own staff in the Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press Citizen, respectively. The lack
of much local tie-in seemed to reflect the low interest in the story.
In short, in the case study the local press simply relayed the stories from the national media, and
basically followed their script. However, it is worth noting that, in repackaging stories from wire services
and other media, the local papers did use stronger visual components in presenting the events. This clearly
shows that the local papers do decide on their own as to how to use the wire stories.
Third, the non-diplomatic events of Jiangs visit with images and themes resonating with Middle
America received considerable coverage in the local papers. These events featured the rituals and symbolic
acts that represent the core values of society (Lukes, 1975). For instance, the most used photo images
were those of Mr. Jiang wearing a Paul Revere-style tri-corn hat in Williamsburg and his visit to Pearl
Harbor. The American association in these images represented a significant piece of US cultural and
historical heritage, hence easily striking a chord with American readers.
In general, no single framework is able to account for the complexity and subtlety of news coverage that
often involves a wide variety of factors, ranging from individual (e.g., idiosyncrasies of reporters and editors) through organizational (e.g., social control in the newsroom) to societal levels (e.g., enduring values),
not to mention the interplay among these various dimensions. This applies to media coverage of public
diplomacy events as well. Although it is beyond the scope of this study to look systematically into determinants of local media coverage of head-of-state visits, based on this case study, we would like to venture
to offer several observations and suggestions to public relations practitioners (and especially government
information officers) on planning such public diplomacy events and improving local press coverage.
At the strategic level, we need to think local in planning and executing public diplomacy events.
Tip ONeills now well-known adage that all politics is local is very much relevant to and applicable
in managing international public relations. Public relations events are communicative and the valence
of media coverage of them is largely dependent on the publics perception and expectation. It is not
difficult to note that, in this case study, most of the events planned for Mr. Jiangs tour took place on
the East and West coasts, and Hawaii. Mr. Jiang may have effectively reached the political, business
and educational elite on the two coasts, in addition to the overseas Chinese community, but not Middle
America (which was not a direct part of the tour and events). Yet, reaching out to Americas Heartland is
critical to improving mainstream Americans understanding and perception of China. While the US and
China have been engaged in substantive interchanges in both business and cultural realms, a 2001 Pew
Research Center survey revealed that more than half of the American public viewed China as a major
threat and most saw China as a serious problem, and such sentiment had been consistent over the past
several years (The Pew Research Center, 2001). Whether such opinions are based on facts or fear, they
should be dealt with in public diplomatic communication, whose basic goal and function is to build and
maintain mutual understanding between nations and cultures. One of the most effective ways to reach
Main Street is through the local media.
To think local means that practitioners need also to act local. At the tactical level, providing advance
backgrounders of head-of-state visits to local news editors will definitely be helpful as they determine
the significance and newsworthiness of these events. Moreover, it may also be instructive to highlight the
linkages between Americans everyday life and the developments of the country involved, especially at the
local level. In this case, for most Americans, being remote, geographically and culturally, China has been
on the periphery of their minds. The China story hence lacked personal relevance to the American public.

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23

It is therefore of utmost importance that efforts be made to better connect with Americas Heartland.
The connection should be based on personal relevance (e.g., business connection, cultural encounter) and
beyond the grand cultural symbols, such as Williamsburg and Independence Hall, as we saw in the Jiang
visit. In addition, it is probably also necessary to provide compelling visuals for possible use in the local
stories. As pointed out earlier, the visual presentation in the local papers is more stimulating than that in
the national papers. This may help to generate publics interest in the stories.
With the on-going development and dissemination of media technologies and the continuing political
and media liberalization in many parts of the world, the local aspect of international public relations
will be part and parcel of a nations effort in global reputation building. Therefore, the aforementioned
strategic and tactical suggestions not only apply to planning and managing public diplomacy events such
as head-of-state visits in the US but also should be important to US presidential visits overseas, especially
in the present time of the low public opinion of the US in many countries (The Pew Research Center, 2003).
In sum, this case study followed the lines of research on public diplomacy and media communication,
and highlighted the critical role of the local press, which had been mostly neglected in previous research.
Mr. Jiangs visit may have achieved its diplomatic objectives, but as a public diplomacy event it only
achieved limited success in the US. As Manheim (1994, p. 7) stated, strategic public diplomacy is
public diplomacy practiced less as an art than as an applied transnational science of human behavior.
For practitioners and scholars in international public relations and public diplomacy, it is imperative to
recognize the power of the local press for its reach and presence in the US and, for that matter, in many
other countries, and to harness its capacity in developing and shaping foreign affairs news to its readers
and audience.
This case study sets the stage for further research on managing a countrys reputation and perception
in the local media. We only used Iowa papers as a case in point to explore the role of the US local press
in the coverage of public diplomacy events. To further develop this concept, it is important to study
a larger and more representative group of local papers across the country to reflect possible regional
differences. Second, building on this study, further research should examine how local news editors and
reporters approach and plan foreign affairs stories. Will advance backgrounders, local tie-in suggestions,
and photo/graphic suggestions help to make these foreign affairs stories more user friendly? Finally,
the aspect of the local press is not just significant in studying public diplomacy and the US media, but
also relevant to US public diplomacy strategies and tactics overseas. More research is needed to look into
the transformation that has taken place in the local media in other countries as a result of the development
of modern communication technologies and the globalization movement, and to investigate and theorize
the role and function of the local media in public diplomacy and international public relations.
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