Constructing “China Data Valley”: Computational Text Mining Reveals the Media Framing of an Inland City’s Reinvention

Abstract

This study examines how an inland city constructs a cutting-edge technological identity through media framing, thereby addressing a critical gap in urban image research. Focusing on Guiyang’s reinvention as “China Data Valley”, we analyzed a comprehensive corpus of news articles (January 2018–September 2025) using an integrated computational framework that incorporates descriptive statistics, LDA topic modeling, and co-word network analysis. This study investigated three dimensions: the distribution of discourse power among media actors, the narrative architecture of the urban image, and the distinct framing strategies employed by different media types. The results reveal that national official media are the primary drivers of image construction. The narrative is structured around a three-layer architecture. Furthermore, media types exhibit distinct framing strategies. This study provides practical insights for urban branding and contributes to media framing theory by extending its geographical focus to inland technology hubs and elucidating image construction within China’s unique media ecosystem. Finally, it proposes a replicable analytical model for latecomer regions seeking a discursive breakthrough in the digital era.