Government-led or Public-led? Chinese Policy Agenda Setting during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This paper explores Chinese agenda setting during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate
whether or not the pandemic enhances the government’s role in agenda setting, and to clarify the
relationship between government-led and public-led agendas. Combining big data analysis and a
case study, this paper finds an overall public-led agenda pattern in China, and a mixture of
government-led and public-led agenda setting during the pandemic. In addition, it is also found
that Chinese government bodies pay attention to, and are responsive to citizens’ emotions
expressed through social media.

Keywords: Agenda setting, social emotion, government-led agenda, public-led agenda, social media