Framing distance: local vs. non-local news in Hong Kong press

Geographical location as a “natural” attribute of news has always been a source of news manipulation. This research investigates how different community newspapers select, interpret, and package events originating in places of varying distances. Contextualized in Hong Kong, three media frames (authority, conflict, and attribution) are closely examined and theoretically connected to three types of newspapers (mass appeal, elite, and pro-establishment) across four locales (local, mainland China, Asian, and international). To test the hypotheses, a large-scale content analysis of 14 daily newspapers in Hong Kong was conducted. On the whole, findings supported the three hypotheses, showing that local news was systematically differentiated from non-local news in terms of the frequency of political authorities cited, presence of diversified opinions, and the likelihood of either individuals or institutions being blamed for social wrongs. Considerable variations were detected across different types of newspapers as well. Theoretical and social implications of the empirical findings are discussed.     

The representation of the Chinese product crisis in national and local newspapers in the United States

This paper examines how national and local newspapers in the United States frame Chinese product recalls in 2007. First, it reviews literature on international communication and framing. Second, it content analyzes the presentations of the Chinese product recalls in two leading national newspapers, including the New York Times and the USA today, and six major newspapers from five Southern states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Third, it compares media representations of Chinese products in the two national newspapers with those in Southern newspapers. We argue that American media are still dominated by stories from the U.S. perspectives and Chinese sources are less likely to be cited. Even though Southern newspapers play an important role in constructing local knowledge, their limited scope of coverage and perspectives constrain their role in reporting international news.     

Women and mass media: a critical and analytical study of the portrayal of Sudanese women in printed media

This study examines how Sudanese women are portrayed in the mass media. Data are obtained from a content analysis of historical records of Sudanese daily newspapers and women's magazines and from surveys among female editors in print media. The following types of newspapers are reviewed: independent newspapers; papers for the Al-Umma Party, a communist party, a Bathist party, a Muslim Nationalist Islamic Front Party, and a National Union Democratic Party; and a current military government paper. Women's magazines are published by women. Articles focus on women as the main newsmakers, women's life issues, female authors, a female focus but a male author, and famous Sudanese women. 16 content themes are identified. Women were not extensively featured or photographed in either newspapers or magazines. The Al-Umma Party paper and Al-Sudan Al-Hadith paper (an independent paper) were the only two newspapers with at least 10 photos of women. Women were pictured as professionals, educated persons, and leaders. There were 17 female editors. These editors preferred an image of women as leaders, followed by productive workers. Only 11.76% believed that women's dual roles as producers and reproducers should be portrayed. Female editors did not want a special women's page. 52.94% (the largest percentage) preferred targeting women with substantial leadership abilities. 17.65% desired the portrayal of women as workers and housewives. 58.82% did not think that the mass media image changed behavior or attitudes, because most Sudanese women are illiterate. Women's issues in both newspapers and women's magazines were devoted to women's work, achievements, and needs. The authors recommend removal of obstacles to women's equal participation in the mass media and press and research on the effect of media images on women's self-perception and behavior.     

Textual network analysis: Detecting prevailing themes and biases in international news and social media

The growing volumes of information available today provide opportunities but also challenges for social scientists. This paper presents textual network analysis—a network analysis procedure that transforms any given text into a visual map of words co‐occurring together. It aims at scholars and students who are not familiar with network analysis, showing step‐by‐step how to use this approach and highlighting its advantages and applications. It demonstrates how to identify the main themes appearing in the text as well as to detect its biases and frames. Researchers can use this procedure as a grounded content analysis to formulate theories or as a basis to test existing hypotheses. The second part of the paper presents two studies that applied textual network analysis: (a) to identify the main themes raised by elite newspapers on the “fake news” discourse and (b) to map the topics related to China on Twitter. Both examples show how textual network analysis can be relevant for communication, international relations, and political science scholars as well as for practitioners, wishing to understand the prevailing discourses and tailor their messages more effectively.     

Consumer Responses to Mattel Product Recalls Posted on Online Bulletin Boards: Exploring Two Types of Emotion

Drawn from attribution theory, this article introduces two types of emotion (i.e., attribution independent and attribution dependent emotion) and explores their role in the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) model. A content analysis of consumer responses to the Mattel product recalls posted on online bulletin boards revealed that consumers experience a range of emotions from a crisis. A regression analysis suggests that crisis responsibility is a significant predictor of anger, fear, surprise, worry, contempt, and relief, and indicates that these are attribution dependent emotions. Alert and confusion were the most frequently expressed attribution independent emotions identified in this study. In testing a revised SCCT model, a significant negative relationship was found between alert, anger, and organizational reputation. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Product recalls and organizational learning: ConAgra's responses to the peanut butter and pot pie crises

This study focused on ConAgra's communication strategies utilized during its peanut butter and pot pie product recalls. A content analysis revealed that ConAgra handled each recall differently, with little evidence of organizational learning. The use of strategic ambiguity during the peanut butter recall enabled ConAgra to respond more successfully to consumers than during the pot pie recall.     

The press and Alitalia's 2008 crisis: Issues, tones, and frames

Given that public opinion about a company's performance during a crisis is highly influenced by the way news media cover crisis events, studies that look at news media's choice of crisis issues, tones and frames are extremely valuable. This paper presents the main findings of a study on how the Italian and international press framed the Italian national airline Alitalia and its crisis in 2008 before its privatization. This study is based on content analysis of news articles published in 2008 in two Italian and two international newspapers. Comparisons of crisis issues, tones and frames between the Italian and international press are made. Implications and recommendations for crisis managers are discussed as well as directions for further research.     

Framing inter-religious dispute: a comparative analysis of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers in Peninsular Malaysia

Religious and ethnicity issues in multicultural societies have always been difficult to report. This study aims to conduct a framing analysis of the coverage of the biggest inter-religious dispute in Malaysia to date – the “Allah” dispute. Specifically, the study compares the coverage of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers and assesses the factors that lead to differences in frame building. The findings showed that these newspapers reported the dispute with different degrees of intensity and prominence, and they employed different news sources. Although conflict appeared to be the salient frame used by the dailies, the aspects highlighted by them varied. Sin Chew (Chinese-language daily) was the most vocal in its coverage, which reflected a counter-hegemonic discourse. The Star (English-language daily) used a moderate approach, while Utusan (Malay-language daily) strongly supported the status quo. The frames built by The Star and Utusan could be attributed to the fact that these two newspapers were inclined to serve the politically vested interests of their owners.     

Distinguishing how elite newspapers and A-list blogs cover crises: Insights for managing crises online

Through a content analysis of 887 blog posts and online newspaper articles about five political crises, this study helps crisis managers negotiate the blogosphere by answering a fundamental question: How, if at all, do blogs and newspapers cover crises differently? Significantly, the study extends existing knowledge by examining both structural and content attributes that distinguish how blogs and newspapers cover crises.     

Press and TV as Opinion Resources in Presidential Campaigns

A comparison of campaign news in two successive presidentialelections reveals major deficiencies in information supply.Newspaper audiences, even more than television viewers, receiveconfusing, heavily negative information which makes candidateappraisal difficult. Incumbency of one candidate does not leadto substantially greater emphasis on public policy issues andprofessional qualifications. A pattern of heavy stress on personalcharacteristics and daily campaign events prevails in all sources.Data come from content analysis of nearly 10,000 campaign storiesfrom network television news and 20 U.S. daily newspapers.     

Portraying heroes and villains: Moldovan and Transnistrian print media during the 1992 war in the Dniester Valley

This article explores how the post-socialist media discussed and propagated one of the first separatist conflicts after the collapse of the USSR. It focuses on the 1992 Transnistrian war and explores two conflicting perspectives: Moldovan and Transnistrian perceptions of those involved in the war. The chronological frame is limited to the period of direct combat. The analysis centres on newspapers published at the time by both rival camps. Transnistria’s war for independence represents a good case in point for how pro-Russian separatism challenges sovereignty and impedes nation-building in post-Soviet states. The author examines the discourse of local newspapers, focusing on the portrayal of domestic and foreign “heroes” and “villains.” He argues that although the newspapers of both sides used a similar lexicon to dehumanize the adversary, in doing so, they relied on different ideological clichés. Transnistrians employed the Soviet paradigm of the “friendship of peoples” and exploited the collective memory of the past. Moldovans relied on emerging Moldovan patriotism and appealed to pan-Romanian nationalism. This study enhances our understanding of the media war and demonstrates how both old and new ideological clichés shaped its discourses during a confrontation where one side resisted separatism, while the other fought for self-determination.     

THE EFFECTS OF AUTOMOBILE RECALLS ON THE SEVERITY OF ACCIDENTS

The number of automobile recalls in the United States has substantially increased over the last two decades, and after a record of over 30 million cars recalled in 2004, in the last few years it has consistently reached between 15 and 17 million, and in 2010 alone 20 million cars were recalled. Toyota's recall crisis in 2010 illustrates how recalls can affect a large number of American drivers and the defects connected to them can result in loss of life and serious accidents. However, in spite of the increase in public concern over recalls and the loss of property and life attached to them, there is no empirical evidence of the effect of vehicle recalls on safety. This paper investigates whether vehicle recalls reduce accidental harm measured by the severity of injuries in vehicle accidents. The results of our analysis show that if a recall for a new‐year model is issued, then the severity of injuries of accidents continuously diminishes during the first year after the recall, something we do not find among cars not subject to recalls. This is because defects are repaired over time but also because drivers react by driving more carefully until the defects are fixed. To minimize the losses attached to having dangerously defective cars on our roads, both quick and timely recall issuance are needed and more detailed information on defects should be delivered to owners of defective vehicles. The latter can be made possible through simple but important policy changes by the U.S. government regarding recall information sharing with drivers and insurance companies. (JEL L51, L62)     

The Press As Metropolitan Monitor

An analysis of the coverage by two St. Louis newspapers of localcrime occurrences between 1969 and 1972 finds that (1) how muchvarious types of crime increase or decrease from year to yearis unrelated to how much more or less attention is given themby the press; and (2) the type of crime and its location withinthe city affect the amount of coverage it receives.     

Discourse on Shanzhai cultural production in Chinese newspapers: authenticity and legitimacy

Emerging from the early Shanzhaiji, or bandit cell phones, the notion of Shanzhai has developed into a prominent cultural phenomenon in China since 2008. This paper examines the discourse on Shanzhai cultural production in Chinese metropolitan newspapers and those of the Communist Party. The research questions pertain to how a grassroots cultural phenomenon is discursively constructed and how social and media structures manifest themselves in this process of discourse construction. Within the framework of discourse analysis, the dimensions of authenticity and legitimacy cut across all discursive categories regarding Shanzhai cultural production. Depending on the relationships between the two dimensions, a rival discourse and a harmony discourse were found in the archived news reports and editorials. The author argues that authenticity is oriented toward power relationships or content and themes of the cultural productions in the two discourses, respectively. The discourses reflect contesting efforts to construct cultural hegemony in Chinese society.     

What Makes Gambling News?

This paper examines print media coverage of casino and electronic gambling in one Canadian province from 1992 to 1997. It provides a theme analysis of content of 234 gambling stories printed in the top two daily newspapers in Nova Scotia. The findings of our content analysis indicate that pro-gambling corporate and political newspaper sources waged a successful media campaign and constructed a powerful public rhetoric in support of new gambling products, services, and institutions. The media, for their part, gave visibility and form to these structured messages. They helped create expectations about gambling and economics and gambling and government. Law and order, and moral and medical discourses about gambling, we discovered, were minor representations in the news coverage, although moral narratives were a pervasive secondary theme in much of the reporting. At bottom, the press produced a politics of truth about gambling that was both an external exercise of power and an internal organizational production.     

Newsroom convergence models of China's Beijing Youth Daily and Denmark's Nordjyske

In the digital era, most media organizations are exploring their own models to introduce news convergence and to make it work and profitable. This paper makes a comparative analysis between two local/regional newspapers, China's Beijing Youth Daily (BYD) and Denmark's Nordjyske, on their newsroom convergence models. The author finds that BYD focuses on the newspaper-based model with a strategy of integrating the content of BYD and its subsidiary newspapers, and it promotes interactivity between newspapers and the web (internet and mobile phone). It maintains the traditional separate and cascade newsrooms with newspapers mainly supplying content to websites. By contrast, Nordjyske has applied a multimedia-based model implementing resource sharing, content sharing and cross-promotion via multiple platforms including TV, radio, print, and website. It uses matrix-organization in its newsrooms with reporters organized around news beats. At present, BYD is blocked by policy barriers that prohibit newspapers from running broadcasting services in China. When the market is further deregulated, there is possibility that BYD will follow Nordjyske's practice.     

Newspaper Construction of a Moral Farmer

Abstract This study examines how six national newspapers balanced supporting agriculture (a morally good occupation) with supporting environ‐mentalism (nature as a moral value), in an area in which agricultural and environmental interests conflict—farm use of pesticides. The study showed that, contrary to expectations, newspapers supported social change (were largely critical of pesticide use and sympathetic to organic agriculture). Farmers were portrayed positively as quiet social movement participants, and newspapers suggested that government and universities were blocking infrastructural change that should be supported. The study contradicts earlier theories of the press and social movements that suggest that newspapers contain, rather than promote, social change.     

The joy of victory,the agony of defeat: Stereotypes in newspaper sports feature photographs 1

Newspaper sports feature photographs are highly conventionalized images made with a limited visual vocabulary to tell a limited number of “stories” in a way that fits into the work confines of daily newspapers. The resulting images, though made by many different people, look the same. The same organizational constraints result in similar conventionalizing of all journalistic imagery.     

Constructing deservingness: federal welfare reform,supplemental security income,and elderly immigrants

On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the welfare reform law that ended eligibility for all immigrants to federal means tested entitlements. Poor elderly immigrants on Supplemental Security Income were specifically targeted. This article documents how the print media responded to these policy changes. The following are the major research questions: (1) How were older immigrants on Supplemental Security Income portrayed in the print media before and after federal welfare reform? (2) Who was involved in the print media coverage of older immigrants on Supplemental Security Income before and after federal welfare reform? (3) What types of statements were made by those involved in the print media coverage of older immigrants on Supplemental Security Income, before and after federal welfare reform? The approach used was an in-depth content analysis of newspaper articles from major U.S. newspapers. The findings demonstrate that older immigrants were constructed as "undeserving" in news articles prior to the passage of the federal welfare reform bill. However, after the passage of the federal welfare reform bill the coverage of older immigrants on Supplemental Security Income started to change, and older immigrants were portrayed as "deserving." In advancing aging policy for poor, vulnerable elderly, such as elderly immigrants, advocates, health and social service providers can play an influential role in bringing their voices to the print media.     

Myth versus Reality: Comparing the Depiction of Juvenile Delinquency in Metropolitan Newspapers with Arrest Data*

While the extant literature on the social construction of crime in the media is extensive, little literature exists on the media's construction of juvenile delinquency in newspapers, particularly in small cities. Even though smaller metropolitan areas have lower crime rates, how these newspapers construct delinquency undoubtedly impacts the attitudes, behaviors, and fears of residents, perhaps more so than in larger metropolitan areas. The purpose of this research is to assess how newspapers from five of the smallest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) socially construct juvenile delinquency, offenders and victims, and to assess whether or not these images perpetuate myths related to juvenile delinquency. An analysis of 231 articles indicates that small‐MSA newspapers construct an inaccurate image of juvenile offenders that significantly promotes the myth of juveniles as violent predators. Specifically, juvenile offenders are constructed as violent predators with innocent, random victims. In contrast, newspapers construct a more accurate picture of victims, with females represented as the most common juvenile victim, and sexual assault victimization as the most common of all juvenile violent crime victimization.