Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Western Media Narratives on the Rise of the Global South: A Comparative Study of China's 5G and India's UPI

Xiaohe MoFudan University*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

The accelerated growth of countries in the Global South, as well as the dramatic change of the global technological and power balance, has also brought up a very interesting research question about how it is reported and interpreted by the western mainstream media outlets. This research uses the framework theory of international communication, takes China’s 5G and India’s digital public infrastructure (such as the UPI payment system) for example, and analyzes the relevant reporting of two big western media houses, BBC/NPR and their news interpretation perspective (long-term). This research adopts a rigorous qualitative content analysis approach to make their main news interpretation perspective. The study will establish a codebook which contains the following types: "development opportunity Interpretation", "security threats", "technological nationalism". This study aims to challenge the dominant Western-centred story in international communication, and to offer a critical communication studies lens for interpreting the new power play in an age of “technological geopolitics”.

Keywords: Western mainstream media; Global South; framing analysis; international communication
Published: January 26, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.HT31408
Volume: CHR Vol.102
pp. 16-21
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