In the spring 2014 the disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight MH370 dominated the news agenda across many countries. Di Cui, of Fudan University, and Fang Wu, of Shangai Jiao Tong University, explore the inter-media agenda-setting effects in the coverage of the MH370 incident in 3 newspapers in the United States, China, and Hong Kong. 255 media articles were analyzed.

Results show that news media outlets in the U.S. possess more resources when covering global news events and that they are also highly motivated. It seems that news media outlets in more powerful countries may play an important role in shaping the news agenda in other countries.

The authors write that there are significant correlations among the issue agendas of the 3 newspapers, suggesting the existence of reciprocal, though asymmetrical, influence among the news media.

The article “Inter-media agenda setting in global news production: examining agenda attributes in newspaper coverage of the MH370 incident in the U.S., China, and Hong Kong” was published online by Asian Journal of Communication. It is available online (abstract free).

Picture: Good Night MH370 DDC_0057 by thierry ehrmann, licence: CC BY 2.0

Edited on 18.4.2017: A link to the research article on the publisher’s website was added.