Diverging Narratives

The West Philippine Sea dispute has become a central issue in both Philippine and Chinese media. This study examined how Philippine-based (GMA Network, TV5 Information, and Philippine Daily Inquirer) and China-based (People’s Daily, Global Times, and China Daily) online news platforms frame the dispute through dominant frames, primary news sources, and indicators of peace and war journalism. The study utilized Framing Theory by Robert Entman, the Transnational Comparative Framing (TCFM) Model by Guo, Holton, and Jeong, the Agenda-Setting Theory by Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, and the Peace and War Journalism Model by Johan Galtung. Using descriptive quantitative content analysis of 240 online news articles, the study examined how framing practices vary across countries and how these differences reflect broader dynamics within the media system and ideological orientations. The Philippine and Chinese online news platforms frame the dispute through distinct national lenses, with the Philippine media emphasizing defense, sovereignty, and livelihood and the Chinese media highlighting peace, stability, and state legitimacy. These differences reflect contrasting media systems, with China demonstrating centralized framing and the Philippines exhibiting pluralistic yet advocacy-driven reporting. Both nations’ media remain elite-centered and state-oriented, showing limited integration of peace journalism as coverage continues to reinforce national interests.