Framing government during COVID-19 pandemic: comparing Sino-US newspapers in issue attention cycle and hierarchical government representation

Abstract Despite growing cross-national studies on pandemic news and government representation, less is known about government news framing with longitudinal, cross-national, and hierarchical government (national vs. local) comparisons. Based on a content analysis of 647 government news in four newspapers in China and the U.S., this study found that during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the government was framed quite differently in issue attention phases, government measures, news sources, news topics, news frames, and news attitudes. Firstly, longitudinal comparisons showed event-based media attention and flow of government measures, which indicated common news value and different governance legitimacy in two countries. Secondly, cross-national and hierarchical comparisons of news framing found that the Chinese government was more positively and uniformly represented, while American news media framed a negative and diverse government comparatively. Hierarchies of power structure led to differentiated framing of national and local governments. Party-controlled news and authoritarian regime of China, as well as market-orientated news and the federal regime of U.S., were also discussed. The findings not only expanded the research contexts of political news framing, but also provided deep insights on cross-national, dynamic, and hierarchical comparisons in government news. Empirically, it enriched practical guidelines for journalism and government in future emergencies.