A Comparative Analysis of COVID-19 Coverage in the United States Mainstream Media—Based on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal

This study analyzes the news coverage of Covid-19 between 23rd Jan. to 29th Feb. in 2020 on The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Based on theories of news framing theory, this study employs the method of news discourse analysis to examine the virus news. The results of discourse analysis show that these two newspapers emphasize the criticism on China's political system and related policy through a western perspective of liberalism and democracy, rather than the epidemic itself. The major themes include the criticism on China's medical system, the Chinese government's media censorship, and the description of China as a threat to the world which could be seen as the macro-proposition behind all the other themes.During the one-month research period, there are very few coverage on the Chinese government's policy against the epidemic such as the official subsidy on virus test and treatment, nation-wide medical support to Wuhan, community isolation policy, or the mobile cabin hospitals. Furthermore, we seldom see the reporting of the cooperation between China and the World Health Organization. The exclusion of these themes in the reporting narrowly and negatively presents the country of China and further strengthens the negative image of the Chinese government as a dictator and global threat.