Content Analysis Of PRC And USA Government Websites: Comparison And Implications

The internet has made its presence almost everywhere in the world, and the government is no exception. This phenomenon is termed ’electronic government’(e-government). The core undertaking of e-government is the establishment and development of the government websites.This paper intends to compare and study how the Chinese ministerial government websites and their American counterparts fulfill their roles in communicating the governments’ images and providing services to the public, by exploring three groups of ministerial websites. As the websites of the government administrations that perform specific functions at the highest level, ministerial government websites play a leading role in guiding the establishment of government websites nationwide.Based on science of Public Administration and Communication theories, six dimensions were designed for comparison: website positioning, resource integration and classification, page layout, content practicality, transparency of government affairs, and interactive communication. Based on the comparison analysis, reasons behind the gap between Chinese government websites and their American counterparts were explored, and suggestions on how to improve the Chinese government websites would be given.