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Time Magazine Covers
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Presents a visual analysis on images of Chinese on the cover of Time magazine between 1923-2006.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Presents a visual analysis on images of Chinese people on the cover of Time magazine between 1923-2006. Overview of the magazine including its purpose and writing style. Conducts a quantitative research study on the topic.
Paper Introduction:
A Visual Analysis of the Image of Chinese Revealed on Time Magazine Covers Introduction and Background of the Study Time is a weekly American newsmagazine that has competitors in theform of Newsweek and U S News and World Report all three of these weeklypublications offer readers articles and analyses of national andinternational news events stories regarding newsmakers and human interestfeatures Time Time also publishes a European edition from London covering in greater depth the European Middle Eastern African and LatinAmerican markets A
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People was originally inspired by Time's People page. The third hypothesis is the Chinese icons to be found on the cover ofTime magazine are mainly presented by means of photography or illustrationin a serious manner with only rare representations via cartoon charactersor in a funny or sarcastic way.Research Questions Several research questions were asked in the present questionregarding the background and number of Chinese icons appearing on the coverof Time. This bringsto the response of the viewer/reader an entire host of prior impressionsand experiences that Friday (354) sees as evoked by photography itself andthe historia of a picture. Visual Theory holds that visualeloquence is far more persuasive and poignant than labored narratives,verbose logic, or empty promises. This in turn means that theseChinese icons appearing on Time for the American market were ofsignificance beyond their own sphere of influence.Theoretical Framework Three specific theories can be employed as lenses through which thesedata can be viewed. 7 Dec 1998. Such cultures tend as well to be collectivistrather than individualistic, to have limited tolerance for uncertainty anda reliance of authoritarians and extensive rules and regulation, and toview time in the long- rather than the short-term. Available at www.ciadvertising.org.Friday, Jonathan. Leo Burnett, as described byStuart Given (1) was obsessed with finding visual triggers that couldcircumvent consumers' critical thought. A separate Asian edition that is based in Hong Kong, aCanadian edition, and a South Pacific edition based in Sydney that coversAustralia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands complete the roster ofpublications under the general Time logo. A quantitative research study was conducted inorder to examine the 4,288 covers of the magazine which served as the solesource of statistical data for the research project. In the present instance, theobject of the visual culture being explored tends to be the individual -the individual as leader, as powerful figure, and as a symbol of aparticular country and culture. These questions are: 1a) what was the proportion of coverspresenting a Chinese person? The first issue of Time was published on March 3, 1923, featuring on its cover Joseph G. Astudy of the magazine's covers during this time period might well revealthat there were significantly more images of Soviet and post-Sovietfigures/leaders than of their Chinese equivalents. Interestingly, in terms of gender, the appearance of women was low ascompared to men. However, if one uses the yardstick of magazine covers alone, one isfaced with the conclusion that visually and from an advertising perspectivethe editors and publishers of Time have concluded for 83 years thatmagazines with a cover featuring a Chinese icon are less likely to resonatewith the American reading public than magazines with covers, for example,of American presidents. Visuals appeal to basic emotions andprimitive instincts and advertising is said to do its best work byimpression through the use of symbols or visual archetypes that leaveconsumers with a brand picture engaged on their consciousness (Given, 2). Of that number, only three covers represented Chinesewomen for a percentage of . 172-178.Manghani, Sunil. Other presidents rated multiple covers. From this, it was an easy task to simply count andidentify images of Chinese leaders/individuals/entities and those ofAmerican presidents.Research Hypotheses Three research hypotheses were addressed in the present study.Hypothesis 1 stated that: Chinese icons would be found on a very limitednumber of Time magazine covers. It is this feature of the magazine thatis at the focus of the present study.Purpose of the Study The purpose of the present study was to analyze the degree to whichChinese individuals or images that are related to China have been featuredon the cover of Time during the 83-year period from the founding of themagazine in 1923 to 2 6. In terms of the background of the appearances, the 56 coversincluded the following: Table I Years, Number of Covers and CircumstancesYears Number of Covers Circumstances1923-1929 3 Civil War193 -1939 7 Sino-Japanese War/ Civil War194 -1949 8 World War II/Civil War195 -1959 9 Mao's Early Years196 -1969 5 Cultural Revolution197 -1979 9 Cultural Revolution/ Economic Reform198 -1989 9 Modernization/Tiananmen Massacre199 -1999 1 Deng Xiaoping/Man of the Year, 19972 -2 6 3 SARS/Protest against Article 23 In terms of the circumstances of these covers, the 56 covers tendedto focus on China's leaders. London: Sage, 2 1.Wikipedia. For a magazine such as Time, what matters isthat potential subscribers either buy an initial subscription or renewtheir subscription and that non-subscribers choose this magazine at a pointof sale spot over its competitors. Secondly, formuch of the period from 1923 to 2 6, America's major rival in thesuperpower competition for global hegemony was the former Soviet Union. This was especially true in the military sector wheremen enjoyed more privilege than women in Chinese history. When gender is takeninto account, 355 of the 4,288 possible magazine covers depicted women(8.28 percent). merged ("Time," 3). As noted by the Center for Interactive Advertising(3), advertising is oriented toward fostering an action decision on thepart of a consumer. Advertising Theory as described by the Center for InteractiveAdvertising (1) asserts that the process by means of which consumers choosea particular brand or product is complex; advertising messages, whichlegitimately include the covers of popular press magazines such as Time,must be tailored to a target audience and relevant during each stage of aconsumer's buying or decisionmaking process. Consequently, cover images are ofenormous significance in capturing the awareness of potential buyers. Interestingly, Chiang Kai Shek appeared on 11or 19.6 percent of the covers, followed by Deng Xiaoping with 8 or 14.3percent of the covers. During that period, Bush oftenappeared on the cover in tandem with his rival for the presidency, Democratcandidate Al Gore. In1989, Warner Communications and Time, Inc. Similarly,with the accession to power of Deng Xiaoping after Mao's death, multiplereforms took place in China that also brought the two countries closertogether and which represented important economic news. With 26 covers, President Bill Clinton lags behind President RichardNixon by a single cover. Many individuals have appeared multiple times on the coverof this prestigious weekly magazine, generally indicating their ongoingsignificance in terms of the news. "Leo Burnett." Time. There are fourexceptions in issues of 1989 wherein ordinary Chinese citizens werephotographed during events at Tiananmen Square. If one assumes that the average American is morelikely to be interested in events taking place in the United States orindividuals who are affiliated with those events than with leadersrepresenting a foreign country, especially one that for so long was asremote and isolated as China, then one would further assume that Americanicons would predominate on this magazine's covers. A Visual Analysis of the Image of Chinese Revealed on Time Magazine Covers, 1923 - 2 6Introduction and Background of the Study Time is a weekly American newsmagazine that has competitors in theform of Newsweek and U.S. (2 ). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2 4.Center for Interactive Advertising. Nixon inthe 197 s, had a significantly closer relationship with General Chiang KaiShek and Taiwan that it did with the Peoples Republic of China. The next section ofthis study will offer an interpretation of the study's findings.Interpretation of Findings The purpose of the present study was to analyze how the image ofChina in general and, as it developed, of China's leaders, has beendepicted on the covers of Time magazine in the period from 1923 to 2 6.The data described above reveal that a relatively small number of magazinecovers (56) or 1.31 percent have contained images relevant to China. Harry Truman, John F.Kennedy, Franklin D. Generally, these events or storiesfocused on war (World War II or the Chinese civil war), the CulturalRevolution, the post-Mao era struggle for power, economic reform, theTiananmen Square protest, political conflicts or relations with the UnitedStates, and the SARS virus in Hong Kong. Visual Theory also holds, according to Theo Van Leeuwen and CareyJewitt (5), that images are sees as a record when they are regarded as areliable source of factual evidence. Achieving a presence on the cover of Time is a notableaccomplishment. The third independent variable was the relationship between thefeature story's headline and the Chinese icon appearing on the cover of themagazine.Research Findings A number of different research findings were generated by the contentanalysis of Time magazine covers. These three theoretical lenses offer some interesting ways of lookingat the research conducted herein. Finally, the thirdhypothesis asserts that the Chinese icons were mainly presented by means ofphotography or illustration in a serious manner. JonathanFriday (351) suggests that photography is an art form that is continuousand which has the distinctiveness of capturing a moment in time as well asa particular set of characteristics that are unique to an individual atthat moment in time. News and World Report; all three of these weeklypublications offer readers articles and analyses of national andinternational news events, stories regarding newsmakers, and human interestfeatures ("Time" 1). And 3) what was themedium or presentation method employed in depicting Chinese icons?Independent Variables There were three independent variables in the study. PresidentsHoover and Taft each had two covers during this time period (an amountequal to those of both Jefferson and Washington). 2b) what specificcircumstances were represented by these Chinese icons? Chinese icons appeared under a selected number of circumstancesinvolving major events or news items. Formuch of the twentieth century, the PRC was of secondary significance withrespect to the political and foreign relations of the United States thanwas Taiwan. These are Advertising Theory, Visual Theory, andHofstede's (172) theory of culture in which the concept of "Power Distance"as a dimension of culture is of significance. On Hadden's death in 1929, Luce became the dominant man at Time and a major figure in the history of 2 th-century media ("Time" 2)." Since the death of Henry Luce in 1967, the magazine has expandedsignificantly and has become a part of a company known as Time Warner. George Herbert Walker Bush had 11 covers, followed byGerald Ford with 15 covers and Jimmy Carter with 17 covers. It is, however, worth noting that Mao, despite his significance,received fewer covers than did Chiang Kai Shek and even his own successor,Deng Xiao Ping. The significance of the study is that it shows the relative significanceof key Chinese figures and leaders in the view of the editors of aninternational news magazine.Data Collection Methods The research was based on a straightforward data collectionmethodology known as content analysis. They are viewed as a construct, incontrast, when "analyzed as evidence of how their makers have re-constructed reality, as evidence of bias, ideologically coloredinterpretation, and so on (Van Leeuwen and Jewitt, 5)." In essence, images such as those appearing on the cover of popularpress magazines function simultaneously as a record and a construct. On the power distancedimension, Hofstede (172) rated China and most Asian countries in the topthird globally because of their entrenched belief that power is distributedunequally throughout society and because there are strict class systemsthat effectively discourage upward mobility. The cover often features an individual of significance inthe context of current news. "Adventures in Subsemiotics." Culture, Theory & Critique, 2 3, 44: 23-36.Tsui, Bonnie and Fine, Jon. First, of the 4,288 covers, only 56,between 1923 and 2 6 contained Chinese icons. Theyare meant to denote and connote some entity simultaneously. When one finds departures from theseapproaches in the depiction of individuals from China on the covers ofTime, there are other cultural phenomena at work. The three Chinese women appearing on the covers ascompared to the 355 women overall (percentages respectively of . This comparison serves to highlight the relative significanceof the two groups of images to the domestic American market and readership. It is also worth noting that these covers do not provide images ofthe masses of Chinese people to any extent. "Magazine Editors Cast Their Ballots for Bush." Advertising Age, 8 Jan 2 1, 72: p. (Editors). It is interesting thatwhereas Chinese icons appeared on only 1.31 percent of all the magazinecovers in this time frame, Asians other than Chinese were found on twopercent of those covers and 3.2 percent of the covers featured individualsfrom the Middle East, Central and South America, and Africa. Specifically, research should be conducted to analyze magazinearticle content in Time which may provide for a more comprehensive portraitof the ways in which this magazine has focused on stories about China.Such a study would be useful in helping to determine the actual level ofinterest on the part of Americans in news emanating from the PRC. "Photography and the Representation of Vision." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Fall 2 4, 59: pp. 1b) were there any Chinese women depictedalone or with male figures present on these covers and what was theimplication of their presence? To the extent that certain images become iconic, they take on ameaning and a value that may actually be far more extensive than that whichwas intended by the photographer or the artist who put together the imageor designed the cover of the magazine. This may reflect editorial interests as well as politicalconcerns. In addition, the fact that Time more often than not usesphotography to represent specific visions or images is another keycharacteristic of its cover which separates it from others. First, Time isprimarily intended for American readers and tends to focus on issues ofsignificance to this audience, among which the American presidency andAmerican individual presidents are certainly significant. In the context of Time magazine, Advertising Theory and Visual Theorymerge dramatically. Third, until relatively recently, China has not been regarded as amajor world power with which the United States has needed to reckon. "Cultural Constraints in Management Theories." In Leaders & the Leadership Process. The editors of Time ("Art and History," 1 8)have noted that the tradition of usually featuring an individual on themagazine's cover derives from Henry Luce's belief in the so-called greatman theory of history, a belief that individuals rather than the collectiveforces of society, are largely responsible for determining the course ofhuman events. Several research questions in the discussion titled "ResearchFindings." What emerges from the study is the realization that withslightly more than one percent of all possible magazine covers of Time overthe course of 83 years dedicated to China, China does not appear to havebeen a primary area of concern for this magazine and its readership. The social systems are tightly controlled andgroups tend to be mutually supportive. On the masculinity versus femininity dimension, Hofstede (178) ratedHong Kong high and Indonesia and China medium. All of thesecountries are collectivist in that family, kinship and class ties are ofenormous significance. They bring to this process severalalternatives for understanding why a select number of specific individualsand images were selected for the cover of Time magazine over a fairly longperiod of time and perhaps for even understanding why relatively few imagesof China and its leaders were chosen during this era. At the same time, thedivision of such covers between a small number of Chinese figures givescredence to the notion that power in China has tended for the last 8 oddyears to be concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people. Themagazine has its own writing style and a distinctive cover that contains asignature red border which has been changed only once in the magazine'shistory - with the use of a black border to symbolize mourning in the issuereleased shortly after the terrorist attacks on the United States onSeptember 11, 2 1. Eisenhower each had sevenmagazine covers. This could easily be due to the fact that in thistime frame, Time magazine began to publish an edition specifically for Asiaand other regions of the world ("Time," 1). The study providesfor analysis on several dimensions: proportion, background, gender, media(i.e., photography, illustration, or graphic image), the visual (e.g.,camera angles, facial expression, and so forth), and the overall degree towhich images of the Chinese have been a feature on the cover of this weeklymagazine. This represents a total of1.31 percent of the total number of possible covers. While it can legitimately beargued that Time is a known brand with established market appeal consistingprimarily of adult males, the fact of the matter is that it is incompetition with other publications, particularly when purchased on thenewsstand. There were no exceptionsto this statement and the hypothesis is accepted. Time also publishes a European edition from London,covering in greater depth the European, Middle Eastern African and LatinAmerican markets. As the Center for Interactive Advertising (1) notes, a basicawareness of a product or service is the initial and perhaps most crucialstep in the buying or decisionmaking process. Beginning in 1998, until 2 5, only three covers of Timecontained Chinese icons. This research, however, introduced more questions than it may in factanswer. The first is thecover of the magazine itself. 2a) what constituted the background,gender, and identity of the Chinese icons on the covers? Finally, a comparison ofTime's representation of Chinese individuals with the representation on themagazine's cover of U.S. The president with the greatest numberof magazine covers to date is Ronald Reagan with 28 covers. Also at 17covers is George W. Presidents A visit to www.time.com and the archives of the magazine's coversreveals that between 1923 and 2 6, there were a total of 192 coversfeaturing photographs or illustrations of presidents of the United States.This represents 4.48 percent of all the covers during this time period.Interestingly, covers during this time period featuring American presidentsincluded presidents who were no longer alive such as the single cover ofAbraham Lincoln, the two covers of George Washington, and the two coversof Thomas Jefferson. It set out to tell the news through people, and for many decades the magazine's cover was of a single person. China in particular is hometo many peasants. Each issue of the magazinehas but one cover but contains many feature articles. A secondary purpose was to draw upon a selected number of theories(visual theory, advertising theory, and power distribution theory) toassess the results of the quantitative research. Additionally, the annual "Person of the Year" cover isa much awaited event which recognizes either the individual, the group, orin some cases, even a business or a machine, as the entity having thebiggest effect on the year's news ("Time," 4). In the present study, accessingthe archives of Time via the Internet at www.time.com provided theresearcher with immediate access to images of each of the 4,288 Time coversfrom 1923 to 2 6. The United States, until the presidency of Richard M. 69 overall. In writing about visual culture, Sunil Manghani (23) suggests thatvisual cultures both reflect and create realities. If one includes covers featuring Nixon during hisvice presidency, he emerges as the single individual most often presentedon the cover of this publication. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. For thisreason, the leaders of China and not the ordinary people or the non-political "celebrities" tend to dominate the Time covers. Women in China,it is hypothesized, achieve notoriety and/or fame via their identity as thespouse of a military leader. In this context, it is important to recognize that Visual Theory isintimately linked to Advertising Theory. The second hypothesis which states thatpower is distributed unequally in China and that men enjoy higher statusand power than women is also accepted. Overall, these do tend tobe cultures in which men enjoy dominant roles in society and in whichgender inequality is not readily apparent. Atthe same time, it must be recognized that as these cover images are aging,a regular reader will recognize that he or she is also aging. In China, Hofstede (18 ) noted thatcollectivism supports a strong sense of great power distance between themasses and leaders, leading perhaps to the cult of personality that made itpossible for Mao Zedong to remain in power for so many decades. It is perhaps for this reason that General Chiang Kai Sheikand not Mao Zedong is the more prevalent on the magazine's covers. The early history of the publication has been described as follows: "Time was co-founded in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the United States. Cannon, the retired Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. The individuals depicted on the magazine covers were primarilymilitary leaders or their spouses, including Chiang Kai Shek and MadameChiang, Mao Zedong and his wife, Giangqing, Chou En Lai, Deng Xiaoping, LiuShao Chi, Lin Piao, and the last emperor of China, Pu Yi. Liu Shao Chi,Lin Pao, and Marshall Chen Y each appeared on one magazine cover or 1.8percent each. Works CitedAnonymous. "Art and History." Time, 9 Mar 1998, 151: 1 8-11 .Babbie, Earl. Advertising initiatives can be viewed as effective on many differentlevels within this pattern. Thepresent research focused solely on covers of the magazine and did not scancontent to determine how many articles or columns over the course of these83 years were dedicated to issues emanating from or related to China ortouching upon China in some significant manner. Bush, but given that the younger Bush has two moreyears in office, it is highly likely that his total number of covers willincrease over time. Consequently, when multiple images or photographsappear on the cover of a publication such as Time, the reader and theviewer is made aware that the object or icon is aging or changing.Certainly, this is evident when one examines the seven cover photographs ofMao Zedong, the eight of Deng Xiaoping and the 11 of Chiang Kai Shek. Itwould be, however, erroneous to jump to this conclusion prematurely. 351-362.Given, Stuart. Handbook of Visual Analysis. Power Distance, as described by Hofstede (172), refers to the degreeto which a culture and its people accept the notion that certainindividuals and/or groups will enjoy substantially more power than the vastmajority of individuals. Hadden was a rather carefree figure, who liked to tease Luce and saw Time as something important but also fun. 12.Van Leeuwen, Theo and Jewitt, Carey. Certainly, one can arguethat in the case of the photograph of individuals at Tiananmen Square,leaders are less significant than the masses of protesters (predominantlyyoung students) who came to symbolize the need for reform in modern China. "Time (Magazine)." 2 6. The second hypothesis was more complex.If one borrows the Power Distance from Geert Hofstede's (178) study onnational culture, one can see that the members of Chinese society exceptthat power is distributed unequally and that men enjoy higher privilege andexposure than women. Available at http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_magazine. The second is the background of themagazine. Babbie (86) notes that contentanalysis can be as simple as searching materials and/or documents for thepresence of an image or a keyword or as complex as coding textual materialsfor both abstract and concrete qualities. Ifone takes into account the fact that China has been a major political powerfor a number of years, this would appear to be a fairly limited number ofcovers representing this country and its leadership. They are meantto reflect reality albeit from some vantage point or with some degree ofbias. The object of visualculture can be read in many different ways. Yet another reason for the disparity between cover images of Chineseicons and those of American presidents is related to the fact that thepublishers of Time have for some years now published an edition of themagazine specifically targeting Asia as well as the Pacific region(including Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands) - regions ofthe world in which China may very well play a more significant andimmediate role than it does in the West. Available at www.time.com/time/time1 /builder/profile/burnett.html.Hofstede, Geert. presidents during the same time period was alsoundertaken. The first research hypothesisstating that Chinese icons were found on a limited number of magazinecovers is therefore accepted. Using the issue of Power Distancealone, it would appear that the picture of the Tiananmen Square protesterswas an exception in terms of the depiction of Chinese icons on themagazine's cover; the American editors and publishers seem to haverecognized that what has for so long "mattered" about China was itsleadership. That accounts for its tone, which many people still criticize as too light for serious news and more suited to its heavy coverage of celebrities (including politicians), the entertainment industry, and pop culture. The Time textual logo and the red border surroundingor framing every cover creates instant brand awareness on the part of thebuyer that this is a certain magazine not to be confused with others of asimilar nature. Tsui and Fine (12), in their discussion of magazine covers andAmerican presidents, suggested that the number of covers on a publicationsuch as Time that an individual president might receive is likely to berelated not solely to his perceived popularity, but rather to the majorpolitical issues occurring during that individual's tenure in office.During his 2 campaign for the presidency, these analysts note thatGeorge W. The Practice of Social Research. Bush had 27 cover stories appearing in Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, other newsweeklies, and the tabloids. A thirdwoman appearing in a 2 3 issue of Time held an HKSAR flag as a protestagainst the Hong Kong government. In the case of the Chineseicons on the Time covers, a limited number (3 of 56) were of women andwomen of significance were also shown with their more powerful husbands.These are the critical elements of Hofstede's (18 ) theory that areapplicable to the present research. A studyof this type would go beyond the relatively narrow limits of the presentstudy. The two had previously worked together as chairman and managing editor of the Yale Daily News. Boston: Irwin McGraw Hill, 2 , pp. Clearly, Time has dedicated substantially more space to Americanpresidents, living and dead, on its covers than it has to images of Chineseleaders. Hofstede (18 ) rated Hong Kong, Indonesia, and China as in the bottomthird on the individualism versus collectivism dimension. "Advertising Theory." Fall 2 2. Next was Mao Zedong with seven or 12.5 percent ofall covers followed by Chou En Lai with four or 7.1 percent. A study whichexamines the degree to which Time presented articles on issues related toChina or incorporated references to China in other articles would givegreater insight into the significance attached by the magazine's publishersand editors to this country.Comparison with U.S. The limited number of images ofChinese women strongly support this hypothesis. 4 percentand 8 percent) were Sung Mei and Jiang Qing (in 1943 and 1977), as well ason three other covers with their husbands in 1927, 1938, and 1977. There are certain obvious explanations for this.
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