During the epidemic, Wuhan has become the focus of attention of the world’s media as
COVID-19’s outbreak. The shaping of Wuhan city image by Western media is not only a reflection of
the objective reality, but also a statement between different cultures 《The Los Angeles Times’ attitude
towards Wuhan is mainly negative. American cultural values are the core reason for this phenomenon.
The practice of journalism is the result of American news values》 The Los Angeles Times always
takes its usual Western news values as the judgment perspective of news events, and hides it behind the
seemingly objective reports through the setting of topics. By analyzing all the reports about Wuhan, we
can find that the news values that lead to the formation of Wuhan’s negative image include not only the
subjective desire of cold war thinking, but also the inevitable misreading caused by individualism and
original sin consciousness.