“Close to the Nature, Hand in Hand with Fuwa”: Framing Environmental Issues in Biding and Preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games

Abstract

Given China’s negligent environmental history and political battles regarding other issues, creating and disseminating a positive message surrounding the 2008 Olympic Games became a challenge for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympics Games (BOCOG). This study explores material published by BOCOG on its official website and examines how environmental issues were framed in the process of bidding and preparations for the Beijing Olympiad. We find that BOCOG used different framing strategies for external and internal publics. The dominant master frame targeted at the external public could be considered a “gain-versus-loss” frame promoting acceptance of the Games. For internal publics, in addition to a gain-versus-loss frame, BOCOG also adopted “identity and national pride” as master frames.