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

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.