Past research has shown that official actors have an advantagewhen it comes to accessing and framing political issues in thenews media. This study examines the dynamics of official dominanceand event-driven news from a comparative perspective, focusingon the Muhammad cartoons controversy. A model of official dominanceand event-driven news, taking media system factors into account,is developed and tested using a quantitative and qualitativeresearch design. The results show that an intolerance framedominated over a freedom-of-speech frame in both the Swedishand the American elite press. Furthermore, although dramaticevents opened windows of opportunity for unofficial actors,the consequences of intensified coverage for the ratio betweenunofficial and official voices were more profound in the UnitedStates. Finally, there is some evidence of more active journalisticframing in the Swedish papers.