When Ideology Meets National Interest: How Terrorist Attacks are Framed in China, Russia, and US

Two hundred and twenty-five news stories from CCTV, CNN, and RT on the three major terrorist attacks in China, US, and Russia were examined in this cross-nation, multi-event study to unveil how ideology and national interest come into play in influencing media coverage of terrorism. Framing analyses were conducted in terms of attitude towards local government and perpetrators, news origin and source, coverage theme, definition of the incident, and attribution of cause of the incident. Findings suggest that, in reporting these three significant terrorist attacks – the Kunming Attack in China, the Boston Bombing in the US and the Volgograd Bombing in Russia – media of the three countries employed varied framing strategies based on their ideological backgrounds and national interests. The framing strategies utilized by the three media outlets are interpreted and discussed.