Framing analysis of activist rhetoric: How the Sierra Club succeeds or fails at creating salient messages

Master and sub frames used by the Sierra Club to communicate with its members and the public were identified in Sierra Club chapter newsletters, regional and national newspapers via content analysis to identify the occurrence of message frames and sources.Frames in three areas – drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), coal-fired power plants (CFPP), and sprawl – were analyzed. Sprawl was the most mentioned subject in all three media. Sierra Club themes were found infrequently, suggesting the need to focus frames. But, Sierra Club frames appeared with greater frequency than competing frames. Environmental sources were the majority in the sampled articles, suggesting the opportunity for powerful framing of public opinion, with focused message frames and trained environmental spokespeople at all levels, i.e., national, regional, local.New theoretical ground for public relations scholarship is opened and findings could influence message strategies of activist and corporate or government organizations.     

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.     

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.     

Nation speaking unto nation? Newspapers and national identity in the devolved UK

There are two problems with the existing account of the relationship between newspapers and national identity in the UK. The first is that although it is widely assumed that the mass media are central to the reproduction and evolution of national identity this has never been empirically demonstrated. The second is that exactly what comprises the relevant ‘national’ context in the UK is unclear. Content analysis of 2,500 sampled articles, together with qualitative comparison of different editions of the same newspaper titles and interviews with editors and journalists are used to show the extent and nature of ‘national’ frames of reference in newspapers in England and Scotland. Paradoxically, devolution may have reduced the spatial diversity of news stories in the press in England and Scotland.     

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.     

Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers

This paper critically examines discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers in 2007. In setting parameters for what can and cannot easily be discussed, dominant discourses also help frame understanding. Discourses relating to veganism are therefore presented as contravening commonsense, because they fall outside readily understood meat-eating discourses. Newspapers tend to discredit veganism through ridicule, or as being difficult or impossible to maintain in practice. Vegans are variously stereotyped as ascetics, faddists, sentimentalists, or in some cases, hostile extremists. The overall effect is of a derogatory portrayal of vegans and veganism that we interpret as 'vegaphobia'. We interpret derogatory discourses of veganism in UK national newspapers as evidence of the cultural reproduction of speciesism, through which veganism is dissociated from its connection with debates concerning nonhuman animals' rights or liberation. This is problematic in three, interrelated, respects. First, it empirically misrepresents the experience of veganism, and thereby marginalizes vegans. Second, it perpetuates a moral injury to omnivorous readers who are not presented with the opportunity to understand veganism and the challenge to speciesism that it contains. Third, and most seriously, it obscures and thereby reproduces exploitative and violent relations between human and nonhuman animals.     

The representation of North Korean national image in national newspapers in the United States

This study examines how two major U.S. newspapers (The New York Times and The Washington Post) represented North Korea's national image during the two-year period (from 2001 to 2002). According to the findings, The New York Times and Washington Post showed a similar trend in their portrayal of North Korea. An anti-North Korea frame dominated the news coverage of North Korea in both newspapers. Furthermore, this study reveals that most news articles related to North Korea were classified into negative images instead of positive images.     

Alcohol advertising in college newspapers: a 7-year follow-up

The authors report on the frequency and nature of alcohol advertisements in a representative sample of college newspapers from 1984/85 and compare these with results of a similar study conducted 7 years earlier, in 1977/78. On average, nearly 24 column inches of space per issue were devoted to national alcohol advertisements in 1984/85. This represents a significant decrease from an earlier period. The space devoted to national alcohol advertisements, however, still far exceeded that for comparison products (books, soft drinks). Local alcohol advertisements averaged 20 column inches per issue and were somewhat more frequent than in the previous study. The content of the advertisements differed markedly from the messages presented 7 years earlier. Although national alcohol advertisements in 1977/78 frequently ridiculed education and study, none did so in 1984/85, when appeals were to taste and product quality instead. Fantasy themes also were relatively common. Very few national alcohol advertisements featured athletes or group drinking. Sponsorship of campus activities by the alcohol industry, however, had increased since the earlier study. In contrast to national advertisements, many local advertisements consisted of inducements to drink through special offers and happy hours. Some encouraged irresponsible and heavy drinking. Interestingly, alcohol advertisements were just as frequent in papers from states with higher minimum drinking ages and were more frequent in papers from campuses with higher proportions of women students.     

Immigrants and refugees: two sides of the same problem. A linguistic analysis through newspapers and social network in Spain 2006 and 2015

ABSTRACT

The phenomenon of immigration has been studied from diverse perspectives. It is important to note that immigration is common during times of crisis. The reason for the avalanche of immigrants to the Canary Islands (Spain) is because it is the gateway to Europe, and therefore, immigrants wanted to enter from this point. This research is based on the need to linguistically determine the treatment of the phenomenon of immigration in the Spanish press. This analysis is relevant given the arrival of thousands of foreign citizens to the coast of the Canary Islands, first in 2006 and almost a decade later, in 2015 to the south of Europe in another great population movement. This research attempts to study four Spanish newspapers, two from the Canary Islands (El Día and Canarias 7) and two Spanish mainland national newspapers (El País and ABC), the online version of the newspapers and their websites were analyzed beside one of the most important social networks, Twitter. The role of incorporating social networks to immigration discourse is also analyzed. To support the data analysis of this research, the Iramuteq software was used.     

Social and Political Convergence on Environmental Events: The Roles of Simplicity and Visuality in the BP Oil Spill

Cet article étudie de quelle façon et à quel moment les journaux, les ONG environnementales, les entreprises privées et le gouvernement convergent autour des événements environnementaux. En utilisant les données sur le déversement de pétrole BP en 2010 tirées des journaux aux États‐Unis, au Canada et en Grande‐Bretagne et des communiqués de presses de Greenpeace, du Club Sierra, de Halliburton, de Transocean, d’Exxon/Mobil et les annonce de presse de la secrétaire de presse pour le Maison Blanche, nous étudions la capacité d'un événement à faire converger des actions sociales et politiques. En concevant les événements comme des actants, nous vérifions les arguments tirés des publications sur les mouvements sociaux et sur la définition de l'agenda politique à propos du timing, de la simplicité et de la visualité afin de comprendre comment les acteurs politiques convergent. Nous observons que l'effet de convergence est lié au timing, mais pas à la simplicité ou à la visualité. This paper examines how and when newspapers, environmental nongovernmental organizations, businesses, and the government converge on environmental events. Using data on the 2010 BP Oil Spill from newspaper articles in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, press releases by Greenpeace and Sierra Club, press releases by BP, Halliburton, Transocean, ExxonMobil, and Shell, and press statements by the White House Press Secretary, we examine an event's potential to trigger convergence of social and political action. By treating events as political actants, we examine arguments from the agenda‐setting and social movement literatures on timing, simplicity, and visuality to understand when political actors converge. We find that convergence is related to temporal cycles but not simplicity or visuality.     

British newspapers privilege health and medicine topics over other science news

This study examines coverage of science, health and medicine in five UK national newspapers: three broadsheets, a mid-sheet and a tabloid. The content analysis is compared with a quantitative survey of members of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW). The study confirms earlier reports that medicine and health topics are privileged over science in newspaper reporting. Unlike studies of medical research news, which have found medical journals to be the main source of news stories, this study found that general science and medical news is drawn from a wide range of sources. Although respondents were generally positive about press materials, targeting and news value were highlighted as areas for improvement. Briefing scientists to use less jargon and training scientists to better understand the needs of journalists were also highlighted by respondents as areas to improve.     

Elder abuse coverage in newspapers: regional differences and its comparison to child-abuse coverage

Dozens of studies have examined how the press portrays crime. Most of these studies focus on some aspect of the criminal or the response to the event. Few have considered the portrayal of victims and even fewer have examined the way the media portrays older victims. To fill this void, this study examines (1) whether elder abuse coverage varies across newspapers and (2) how the extent of elder abuse coverage compares to child-abuse coverage. Results indicate that regional differences appear to exist and child abuse receives far more coverage than elder abuse. Implications are provided.     

Framing Immigration News in Spanish Regional Press

In this paper, an exploratory content analysis has been developed for a case study on the topic of immigration reported in the regional newspapers of the largest Spanish autonomous community, Castilla and Leon. This study based its research conceptualization on the framing theory in mass communication. In addition to usual issue frames and issue images, two framing devices were established for analytic variables ‐‐ the index of importance and the index of affective attribute. They formed a frame package capable of making latent frames evident by their linkage to manifest frames. Comparing to the general assumption of relevant‐bad‐news production, results obtained in this study proved that, on occasion, negative news stories could be reported as less relevant than the positive ones. The outcomes also show how concept mapping of frames was applicable to immigration issues and immigrants’ visual aspects of immigrant communities that were systematically articulated and disseminated by the press in this regional society of Spain.     

Der mediale Attraktivitätsbonus

The study analyses the coverage of six regional newspapers on 25 local candidates during the last six weeks of the 2005 German national election by using quantitative content analysis. In an earlier study the physical attractiveness of the 25 candidates has been examined. The study shows that newspapers covered physically attractive candidates much more often and much more positive than unattractive candidates. This held also true when other relevant candidate characteristics (party membership, role as incumbent or challenger etc.) are controlled. The results show that journalists are victims of the same attractiveness stereotypes as other people. But in the case of journalists there may occur more impotent consequences the amount and tone of media coverage on political candidates may affect the results of election campaigns. Causes and consequences of these findings are discussed.     

The death of bin Laden: How Russian and U.S. media frame counterterrorism

This study explored how Russian and U.S. newspapers covered the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 through the lens of framing theory. Results reflect significant disparity in how media in different countries covered the same event, suggesting that terrorism events were framed as national concerns rather than global issues, thus potentially limiting governments and the media from building a shared understanding with international audiences. The findings also indicate that more robust media relations efforts are needed to counter simplistic media counterterrorism frames. Finally, the study identified new frames for counterterrorism including secrecy and humanizing terrorists. These new frames suggest the need to expand the framing literature to provide a better understanding of how the media cover counterterrorism, which may impact the U.S. government's public diplomacy and counterterrorism efforts.     

Influence of advertising on acceptance of press releases

To analyze the influence of advertising on the acceptance of press releases, this study examined two national and two local newspapers. The results of this study show that journalists and editors partially consider advertisers while selecting press releases. Specifically, local newspapers give more consideration to advertisers than national newspapers. However, when journalists and editors select press releases, they consider not only advertisers but the newsworthiness of the press releases.     

‘It’s so scary how common this is now:’ frames in media coverage of the opioid epidemic by Ohio newspapers and themes in Facebook user reactions

ABSTRACT

Deaths from opioid overdose in the US have increased five-fold since 1999. Ohio ranks second among states in drug overdose deaths, with more than 39 deaths for every 100,000 people. In light of this, opioid addiction and related issues have garnered substantial media attention. However, few studies have examined the content and framing of opioid-related media coverage or explored ways that audiences react to coverage of the crisis within their communities. This study attempts to fill this gap through an analysis of opioid-related posts and comments on the public-facing Facebook pages of 42 Ohio newspapers between 2013 and 2017 (N?=?397). Content analysis was used to identify frames in posted newspaper content and themes in comments. Four frames were identified in posted stories: (1) Awareness of the Opioid Epidemic and Affected Populations (34.0% of all posted content; n?=?135); (2) Programs, Policies, and Interventions (29.5%; n?=?117); (3) Crime, Punishment, Legal Cases, and Law Enforcement (28.2%; n?=?112); and (4) Narratives of Addiction and the Long Road to Recovery (8.3%; n?=?33). Analyses of Facebook user comments on posted newspaper content revealed five themes: Emotion and Support, Choice and Responsibility, Disease and Treatment, Worthiness, and Attention and Action. Findings indicate both the intensive and diverse efforts of newspapers to cover the epidemic as well as the varied reactions of community members to opioid use and addiction.     

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.     

Third gatekeeping in Korea: the screening of first-edition newspapers by public relations practitioners

This study introduces the concept of “third gatekeeping,” a process where Korean public relations practitioners review the early editions of the country’s main daily newspapers and provide feedback to journalists about possible revisions to coverage of their organizations. Data came from 21 depth interviews with Korean public relations practitioners in the corporate and government sectors. Fifteen case studies published in Korea’s Media Today were also analyzed to add context to the practice. First-edition screening was found to have three distinct dimensions based on practitioners’ level of concern about a news item. An earlier version of this study was presented at the 2003 International Communication Association convention.     

Scale shift in international tax justice: comparing the UK and Australia from 2008 to 2016

ABSTRACT

International tax justice issues, such as corporate tax avoidance, have gained particular salience over the past decade in an environment of financial instability and government austerity. Civil society involvement has ranged from trade unions and NGOs calling for parliamentary inquiries to civil disobedience by less established actors. Since the international financial crisis, how have levels of contentious collective action around these issues waxed and waned? Is contentiousness associated most with domestic politics or global media events like the Panama Papers? This paper uses an original hand-coded dataset from five national newspapers in the United Kingdom and Australia between 2008 and 2016. Political claims analysis (PCA) was used to collect all instances of claims around international tax justice and compare the types of actions and the different frames used by civil society actors. In both countries, mobilising grievances are generated most strongly in the period after domestic austerity policies are introduced. The qualitative coding provides evidence of accompanying frame alignment in these periods, as international taxation is problematized in terms of national revenue, demonstrating scale shift from the global to the national political stage.