Framing Edward Snowden: A comparative analysis of four newspapers in China, United Kingdom and United States

This article sheds light on the framing of Edward Snowden in four newspapers in three different countries. The authors analysed online editions of a major American daily (The New York Times), one prominent European newspaper (The Guardian), one mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (The People’s Daily) and The South China Morning Post. The study seeks to explore how the role of Edward Snowden was framed and how digital whistleblowing was descripted by newspapers with different levels of Internet control, perception and culture on whistleblowing. The research is based on the framework proposed by a recent study of the framing of Bradley Manning. The results of a content analysis will present to what extent the press supported or criticized the role of Edward Snowden and his revelations. This article used four out of its five categories (‘Hero’, ‘Victim’, ‘Villain’, ‘Whistle-Blower’) plus a new addition of ‘Mole’, proposed by the authors. The findings provide evidence of the differences in the framing of Edward Snowden and the rhetoric behind reporting about whistleblowers and Internet governance.