Through the eyes of US media: Banging the democracy drum in Hong Kong

In the shadow of globalization, international newsmaking remains inherently ethnocentric, nationalistic, and even state-centered Major U.S. media fram e the transfer of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty in terms of four dominant ideological packages, that is, the United States (a) is a "n ew guardian" of Hong Kong (b) in an emerging cold war between the West and China whereas Hong Kong (c) will suffer from the erosion of freedom and dem ocracy under Chinese rule on the one hand, and (d) will be a "Trojan horse" to spearhead China's political and economic change on the other. In sum, t he media rally around the "star-spangled banner" to bang the democracy drum in consonance with elite consensus and foreign policy. Their news net is n arrowly cast. To rescue the handover from being a dull media event the medi a seek to hype up, their stories. Even the lighthearted pieces flaunt ideol ogical messages.