Newspapers as tools to promote national agenda: How Chinese Communist Party newspapers frame images of the South China Sea disputes for national and international audiences

Using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis, this study investigates how two Chinese Communist Party newspapers frame the same story to international and national audiences. The empirical findings illustrate how propaganda techniques originally developed and applied in Western and democratic countries have been adopted and refined by newspapers in a state-run Communist press environment to create frames that best align with the cultural and political predispositions of domestic and international readers. The findings suggest Chinese authorities understand Western communication theory and appreciate how that theory can be applied to disseminate messages to both foreign and domestic audiences.