Focusing on the media coverage of the Taiwan Strait Crisis 1996, this case study argues that national interest and foreign policy are the vital clue to evaluate the media performance of each country and region. Through content analyzing the coverage of CNN, TTV and CCTV, this study found that the ways they framed the event are significantly distinct from each other, which is consistent with the foreign policy of each government, yet they share commonalties in heavily relying on the official messages as their primary sources.