Examining how different media news outlets frame the same situation is an important step towards understanding how the world’s media systems behave. This study examines how four influential news media outlets, belonging to different media systems, have framed Sweden's management of the Covid-19 pandemic during two time-periods when the Covid-19 virus surged. These two media systems are state owned news outlets, consisting of RT (previously Russia Today) and Xinhua, and commercial news outlets, through BBC News and the New York Times.ThestudyusesadeductiveFramingTheorymethod,asdefinedbySemetkoand Valkenburg (2000), to understand how the framing of this case differs between the two media systems. Beyond Framing Theory, the theoretical framework is extended by including the Propaganda Model (Durham and Kellner 2012; Fuchs 2018) and Nation Branding (Potter 2009), to further understand the contextual forces that influence the news outlets. The results of the study determines that there are differences in the use of framing between the two media systems as well as where they stem from. This implies that the context in which the outlet finds itself impacts the framing of the produced articles. Overall, Attribution of Responsibility proved to be the most common frame, followed by Conflict framing. The first one wasmostcommoninthestateownedoutlets,whereasConflictwasmostcommonforthe commercial news outlets.

In the information age, media has come to be recognized as a credible mean and foreign policy tool to pursue soft power. Authoritarian states like Russia are competing in the realm of ideas through state-funded news outlets such as Russia Today (RT). This by reaching out to global and foreign public spheres and by reporting on an alternative reality of events, issues and problems. This thesis studies the role of the media news outlet RT as a mean to promote Russian soft power. This with a focus on how the channel attempts to persuade and attract an international audience based on the construction of a compelling narrative. To approach this theme empirically, a media frame analysis is conducted utilizing five news frames including; morality, human interest, responsibility, conflict and economic consequences. The overall results suggest that RT attracts and persuades largely by providing an alternative Russian perspective on events, issues or problems. It attracts by appealing both in the direction of the western- and eastern world. It appeals to the west by emphasizing how the West needs Russia to find answers to the pressing issues in global politics. It appeals to the east by suggesting an alternative model of development. RT attempts to persuade are made through the construction of counter-narratives which delegitimizes the Western approach in international affairs. The channel devotes efforts to boost these narratives by selective news porting and handpicking statements made by intellectuals from the perceived “other” western camp.