| dc.description.abstract | The public often relies on the mass media as the source of information in their daily life. However, the mass media is often led by an ideology that its editorial line wants to transmit to the readers. In this situation, the mass media, though reliable in the reader’s eyes, doesn’t seem to be unbiased. This thesis takes the three major national newspapers in France during the Cold War – l’Humanité, Le Monde, Le Figaro – as the research object and materials, focusing on representations generated in France in 1964; the year when the country established diplomatic relation with the People’s Republic of China, and in 1971; the time when the dispute of China’s representation in the United Nations was being resolved and settled. Our research aims to find out how these different newspapers, with different ideologies, interpreted the international events in that era, and how they told the stories to their readers.
In order to clarify the contemporary geopolitical situation, the first chapter is devoted to the discussion of China’s role and French diplomatic policy during the Cold War. With the rise of People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong’s direction, China’s international forces became a significant factor during the Cold War. Her interactions with the two superpowers of the Cold War – the United States of America and the Soviet Union marked the change of status of the Cold War. As for France, during the reign of Charles de Gaulle, French diplomatic policy focused mainly on building a ‘‘Great France’’ that is independent of the Cold War’s bipolar framework. As the successor, Georges Pompidou’s government followed this principle of international policy. Whether in 1964, on the decision to establish diplomatic relations with People’s Republic of China or in 1971, on taking the side of People’s Republic of China in the debate of China′s representation in the United Nations, the Gaullism dominated largely the China policy of France at that time.
In Chapter II, the interpretation of press toward the issue of China’s representation will be analyzed based on the nomination of government in Taiwan and on the corresponding reports’ titles. l’Humanité rests in communism, leading it to support the government of People’s Republic of China and therefore, denied the existence and the sovereignty of the Kuomintang’s government (led by Chiang Kai-shek) in Taiwan. Le Monde remained relatively objective when it comes to politics and managed to avoid direct comments most of the time. In contrast, Le Figaro, affirmed and maximized the sovereignty of Taiwan’s government.
As a result of our research, the writing strategies of the three newspapers mentioned above can be categorized into two types: one is the “interpretative writing”, in which the writer assertively defined a situation (though in a trustworthy manner) in the news article, leaving the readers little room for discussion; the other one is the “informative writing”, providing the readers with less comments and analysis but more facts. With various writing strategies depending on different ideologies, diverse positions on international issue are brought out. The influence of mass media on the public’s political view should not be underestimated.
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