Frames and Journalistic Roles in Chinese Reporting on HIV: Insights from a Content Analysis and Interviews Focused on Verbal and Visual Modalities*

Journalists use both words and visuals to convey interpret information, the public is exposed when attending news. Yet, extant work largely neglects visuals’ contributions news framing how journalists perform their professional roles. We address this research gap in two integrative studies HIV reporting China as a test case. Study 1 content analysis of seven newspapers (2000–2015) that sheds light on suggest different frames journalistic 2 uses in-depth interviews with affiliated where coverage was analyzed contextualize content-analytical findings. The results paint nuanced picture health journalism, suggesting frame role multiplicity. Two forms modality interplay were predominant—namely, redundancy congruence—while third, mismatch, virtually absent. Such findings can be interpreted positively, indicative high-quality negatively, fear repercussions. This among first analyze words’ contribution performance through visuals.