A Comparative Study on the Aggressiveness of Journalists' Questionsat COVID-19 News Briefings in China and the US

Using the data collected from the press briefings held by Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of State Council of China and Center for Disease Controlof the US in 2021, and applying a modified version of Claymanet al.’s question analysis system which quantifies questioning aggressiveness into four dimensions, eight indicators, and various design features, this study aims to explore whether there is significant difference in the level of questioning aggressiveness between Chinese and American journalists. The results reveal that there is significant difference between Chinese and American journalists in the dimension of initiative, directness and in two of the indicators of the dimension of adversarialness—“preface adversarialness” and “global adversarialness”. However, there is no significant difference between Chinese and American journalists in the dimension of assertiveness and in one of the indicators of the dimension adversarialness. Finally, potential factors for such differences are discussed from the perspectives of Face Theory and journalistic norms.

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