Journal of Disability Policy Studies, Volume 31, Issue 1, Page 26-34, June 2020.
Examining 788 news articles in the People’s Daily from 2003 to 2013, this study explores basic trends in the representation of people with disabilities in an official newspaper in China. The study proposes that the portrayal of people with disabilities has increased because the living standards of people with disabilities in China have improved substantially and several significant events affecting people with disabilities took place during the decade under consideration. However, the results of content analysis did not support the general assumption of this study and show that the quantity of news coverage and the usages of the top three dominant news models and the top three major news sources did not increase significantly from year to year. The quantity of news articles and the usages of the top three dominant news models and the top three major news sources in 2009–2013 did not increase significantly compared with 2003–2007. The implications of the findings are discussed.