The AI Regulation Agenda in Traditional Mass Media: Insights from France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA

Recent technological advancements, most notably the release of large language models (LLMs), have transformed AI into a daily reality for citizens and public administrations alike. Against this background, questions surrounding the regulation of AI have gained increasing importance, leading to the adoption of regulatory frameworks, for instance at the EU level and within several US states. However, AI governance remains a dynamic process, and new rules and standards are likely to emerge. Consequently, a key challenge is to understand the evolving regulatory agenda. The popularisation of AI has heightened the role of mass media in framing issues surrounding its use and in steering public discourse on AI regulation. Although initial steps have been taken to examine issue prioritisation and agenda-setting in mass media coverage of AI regulation, existing research remains largely limited to specific policy domains or single-country perspectives. This paper aims to complement existing research by exploring the agenda-setting role of traditional mass media with respect to the regulation of AI. To achieve this goal, we examine the the media coverage of the regulation of AI in major news outlets from France, Germany, Switzerland and USA. The dataset covers 8608 news articles on artificial intelligence between the period of January 2020 to July 2025. Using automated content analysis, we classify and categorize different framings and issues conveyed in the news articles. The results reveal different positions on regulation that are specifically shaped by the underlying narrative emphases along the innovation-risk mitigation dichotomy. News articles focused on the questions of innovation and growth tend to promote self-regulatory instruments, framing the role of the state primarily as a user or promoter of AI technologies. Conversely, news articles adopting risk-based and ethical perspectives tend to advocate more stringent regulation, emphasising clear and prescriptive boundaries for the use of AI systems. Whilst the primary narratives aligned with the innovation-risk mitigation dichotomy, the findings also indicate a growing prominence of news content seeking to reconcile innovation with risk mitigation, such as through regulation promoting responsible AI innovation.