From late 2019 to the first half of 2020, the world has been devastated by a deadly novel coronavirus which was first discovered in Wuhan, China. By late June, more than 9 million people have been infected by the virus, and the death toll caused by the virus is approaching 500,000. The news coverage about the virus is drastically different between China and the outside world. In China, information about the virus is tightly controlled by the Chinese government: only the government can publish information about the virus; no individuals or organizations can communicate about the virus and related topics without the government’s approval, and doing so will be punished by the government. In the rest of the world where freedom of expression is protected, the coverage on the pandemic freely flows and spreads. But even outside of China, the Chinese government has been making a great effort to shape the world’s view on the virus outbreak according to its ideology. This special issue compiles news coverage about the outbreak that cannot be accessed inside China and the effort by the Chinese Communist Party to shape the world’s view on the outbreak and the pandemic.