China Enters the Arctic : Icelandic Newspapers and Their Coverage on China’s Arctic Policy

Abstract: This thesis draws attention to China’s information management of its Arctic policy, and the way in which China has left out information in official English-language publications that could be deemed sensitive by Western actors. This thesis examines how the news media of Iceland has reported on China’s Arctic policy over two different periods, dating from 2012 - 2013 and 2018 - 2019, in order to measure whether the Chinese state has been successful in their efforts. For this study, two newspapers were chosen: Morgunblaðið and Fréttablaðið, which both have a large reader-base. The chosen methodology of qualitative content analysis along with quantitative elements was utilised in order to answer the research question. The results of this study show that the coverage of the two papers has been slightly more positive than negative over both periods, although the editorials showcase that Morgunblaðið remained significantly more wary of Chinese intentions throughout both periods, and only slightly more positive towards economic co-operation in the latter period. However, due to a decline in coverage of China’s Arctic policy during the latter period, especially in Fréttablaðið, it is difficult to say for sure whether there has been a change in media discourse.