| Sumario: | East Asia has rarely been an object of media framing studies, despite its coherent cultural heritage and political importance. Seizing upon the media's intensive attention on the Pivot to Asia Strategy of the Obama administration, this study looked into the U.S. media's framing of East Asia and how it has changed over time. A mixed-method analysis of editorials and op-ed articles of U.S. national newspapers between 1997 and 2013 identified two contrasting macro frames. The ideological frame that reflects U.S. hegemonic interest has been gradually replaced by the transactional frame as the dominant frame of East Asia. Under the transactional frame, the media were less likely than under the ideological frame to highlight the values such as democracy, human rights, and free economic market. In each issue-specific frame, focus shifted from maintaining global status quo to regional balance of power, from global free market to bilateral economic competition. Implications on the recent foreign policy developments are discussed.
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