Embedded journalism: constructing romanticized images of China by US journalists in the 1970s

This case study examines the memoirs of American correspondents who were "embedded" within official delegations during the course of the US-China rapprochement in the early and mid-1970s. We seek to analyze how short-term visiting journalists arrived at their romanticized portrayals of Maoist China - when it was going through the chaos of the Cultural Revolution - and how the embedding journalistic practice served to facilitate foreign policy ventures orchestrated by both governments. We conclude that this romantic wave of media portrayal was entwined with journalistic preconceptions and a high level of dependency upon local fixers. Furthermore, we use discourse analysis to identify three "ideological packages" in their interpretation of the "new China" and its Cultural Revolution: material progress through self-reliance; a sense of purpose and morality; and equality. © 2013 The Centre for Chinese Media and Comparative Communication Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.