关键词: 电子竞技, 电子游戏, 主流媒体, 报道倾向

Abstract: The rise of video games is a prominent cultural phenomenon since the beginning of the 21st century. Esports is the crown jewel of the video game industry. Through the analysis of 515 articles published in People's Daily over the past four decades, we examine the "mirror image" of esports and video games in the mainstream media. The study shows most reports on esports and games in "People's Daily" involve cultural and educational contents, followed by reports on esports events and electronic game industry; in reports involving video games, the proportion of negative attitude is higher than that of positive attitude; reports on esports are mainly positive. Before 1989, the proportion of positive attitude was higher than that of negative attitude; between 1989 and 2008, the proportion of negative attitude was higher than that of positive attitude; after 2009, the proportion of positive attitude was once again higher than that of negative attitude, but both positive and negative attitudes had a greater degree of disparity than the previous two phases. People's Daily's attitude towards video games and esports were roughly in synchronic with the public opinion ecology of the same period, which, in a sense, serves as a barometer of ideology and social opinion.

Key words: Esports, video games, mainstream media, reporting bias