In late March 2005, three Romanian journalists were kidnapped by an obscure group of Iraqi militants near Baghdad. Several unusual details about the circumstances of the kidnapping prompted the Romanian media to investigate the speculation regarding the authenticity and motives of this high profile case. This thesis project extends framing theory to incorporate macro-level frames such as cynicism, speculation and metacommunication as dominant reporting styles in this evolving democracy. A systematic content analysis was performed on 255 news stories spanning 75 days from Evenimentul Zilei and Jurnalul National. Additionally, 2,941 of their subsequent online reader discussion posts were content analyzed using the same categories as the news stories to serve as a point of comparison between media reports and public discussion about this bizarre case. Results support evidence of generic media framing and extend the theory to demonstrate media's reliance on speculation and metacommunication as overarching reporting styles. Online deliberation between readers in this evolving democracy demonstrates difficulties in citizens' abilities to emerge from the spiral of cynicism characteristic of the post-communist Romania. While media establish the issues for public dialogue, they do not appear responsible for setting the tone. / Master of Arts

On February 17, 2008 Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and the event spurred significant media attention. Countries like Spain, Romania, and Russia feared that the event would engender separatism on their own territories, while the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, and UK regarded it as a democratic step. This thesis uses the framing theory to content analyze newspaper articles in seven languages (N=191) that appeared between November 17, 2007 and May 17, 2008, three months before and three months after Kosovo became an independent state. The thesis uses the five generic frames (responsibility, human interest, consequences, morality, and conflict) developed by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) as well as the three 'macro-frames' (cynicism, speculation, and metacommunication) established by Constantinescu and Tedesco (2007). Results revealed that media from the countries that supported the Kosovo independence framed the event from the perspective of democracy and were almost twice more likely to discuss the position of the U.S., a key decision- maker in the Kosovo issue, than media from the countries that opposed it. Furthermore, newspaper articles from countries that did not support the event were nearly three times more inclined to present the Kosovo independence from the perspective of a precedent for separatism in Europe and the world. By applying the framing theory in an international study, this thesis sheds light on the discrepancies in media coverage from these different democratic systems. / Master of Arts

The popular cable show South Park has steadily entertained audiences since its debut in 1997. Much of the show's humor and entertainment value comes from its satirical treatment of public figures, institutions, and timely trends. One of the institutions often lampooned on the show is that of television news broadcasting. This thesis project seeks to shed light on entertainment media portrayals of television news journalists and television news journalism as a whole by examining the issues covered, how those issues are framed, and how the journalist is used as a figure on the border of entertainment and information in one show. A content analysis was performed on all news broadcasts contained within all 181 episodes of South Park through its twelfth season. Results indicate that Semetko and Valkenburg's (2000) five generic frames penetrate well into the entertainment realm; a broadcast's "relationship to reality" is framed significantly differently when Conflict and Speculation frames are employed; news broadcasters are not portrayed as exemplars of the media's "liberal bias;" and that South Park has used significantly more reality-based storylines in recent years than in its early years. / Master of Arts

This study extends notions of framing theory by drawing from research analyzing the framing of Pope Francis within coverage from The New York Times. The mass media has, since the election of Pope Francis in 2013, provided him extensive coverage on a myriad of issues. Previous studies have noted Pope Francis' propensity to draw massive amounts of media attention towards his actions and statements, even noting the potential for Pope Francis to control the media narrative through his own implementation of frames. Drawing on framing theory, this study examines the ways in which coverage of Pope Francis is defined by The New York Times by finding relationships between the issues addressed in Papal coverage, the frames implemented within this coverage, the valence of the messages, and the presentation of Pope Francis himself. This thesis yields that coverage of Pope Francis within The New York Times has shifted from positive valence to primarily neutral valence when comparing the first three years of his papacy to second three years. The findings of this thesis could potentially inform future studies which may wish to determine potential for frame transfer due to the content of articles or for studies which may wish to delve deeper into the issue with a much larger sample. / Master of Arts / Since Pope Francis’ election, the mass media has focused heavily on his statements and actions. Previous literature attests to the notion that Pope Francis is unique among his predecessors when it comes to media coverage, primarily due to his propensity to make statements or moral recommendations that seemingly oppose or deviate from traditional Catholic values. This thesis explores the relationship between Pope Francis and the American mass media by analyzing 226 articles published by The New York Times within the first six years of his Papacy. The findings of this thesis point to notions related to the valence of Papal coverage, which began as primarily positive but have shifted in nature from the beginning of Francis’ Papacy. The findings of this thesis also point towards the religious nature of Papal coverage and also the potential for sexscandal coverage to shift representation of the Pope.

In October 2020 Peter Wolodarski, the editor-in-chief of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN), announced that he wanted to improve the news coverage of the climate crisis. The aim of this study is to investigate whether DN has changed their way of reporting on the climate crisis through text and pictures within six months, and if so what those changes are. Framing theory is central in this study as it identifies the usage of generic and theme specific frames in DN’s articles. This is done by comparing all articles in September 2020 and March 2021 that contain the topic “climate crisis” published on their online service. The usage of pictures was also studied for additional context. In order to study this the methods qualitative text analysis and semiotic image analysis were used. To provide results the data then underwent a quantitative analysis as well as qualitative analysis.The findings of the study show that DN has shifted their usage of generic frames, meaning a change in which scale the climate crisis is portrayed, and an increased and widened usage of specific frames in their articles. However, the usage of pictures has not changed notably. In conclusion, does DN in fact seem to have changed their overall reporting on the climate crisis within the studied period. The study contribution is an added understanding of papers reporting on the clime crisis online as well as media’s usage of frames and how those can change in a relatively short period of time.

No description available.

A content analysis and post hoc content analysis of 362 news articles in national newspapers, regional newspapers, and Internet news Web sites investigated the prevalence of issue-specific and generic frames, frame valence, and the personalization of media coverage of the steroid scandal in Major League Baseball. Research guided by framing theory found 2,353 frames present in the initial analysis and 2,834 frames present after the post hoc analysis. Generic frames were more prevalent than issue-specific frames in coverage in initial analysis. The post hoc analysis, however, indicates that issue-specific frames were more prevalent than generic frames in terms of times present. Frames are valenced negatively more frequently than neutrally or positively in coverage. Media coverage was focused on the individuals more often than on the organization, however, both the individuals and organization were treated similarly in terms of valence of frames. The findings of the analyses supported scholarship calling for more analysis of generic and issue-specific frames, the presence of valence in frames, and the personalization of media coverage in the political communication context that in this case is present in the sports media context as well. Findings merit further scholarship on broader source comparison in coverage of this scandal, agenda-setting in various forms, and further frame analysis in the sports media contexts and other contexts outside of the political communication context as well. / Master of Arts

It has been more than ten years since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but the events related to the attacks are still a focus for the whole world. This study examined the news coverage of the 9/11 tenth anniversary from Phoenix TV and CNN, which are among the most influential news media in China and the U.S., respectively. A systematic content analysis was performed using latest news, opinion articles, photographs, and videos as classified by CNN and Phoenix TV on their commemorative 9/11 tenth anniversary websites. Framing theory guided this thesis project. The results offer some evidence regarding differences in the selection and use of frames in the U.S. and Chinese media. Results also suggest that global media share news resources for global events. / Master of Arts

How are the two superpowers of the world using Twitter as a platform for gathering global support for their policies when tweeting about an ongoing international conflict? That is the question that is answered in this thesis through a small-N case study. A mixed-method content analysis, based on security branding and generic framing, was applied to the data to determine how security branding is used by the actors to acquire social power. The findings suggest that China is using the situation to throw mud at, and question the morality of, the US and its behavior in international relations. The US is tweeting on a broader spectrum of topics. These topics include how the US and its allies and partners have supported Ukraine and taken action to weaken Russia. Another vital topic found is that the US uses Twitter to display its disagreement with the actions taken by Russia and Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

[pt] A pesquisa tem como objetivo estudar a variação temporal de enquadramentos genéricos e específicos sobre saúde no contexto da pandemia de covid-19 no Brasil. Se trata de um estudo de caso realizado no Twitter sobre o tema da saúde (n = 31.339.922) entre 15 de março e 15 junho de 2020. Como categorias analíticas, se estudaram 3 frames genéricos e 3 específicos sobre saúde em contextos de epidemias. Os frames genéricos foram operacionalizados de forma dedutiva: conflito, atribuição de responsabilidade e moralidade (SEMETKO; VALKENBURG, 2000). Os frames específicos foram operacionalizados com o método indutivo (DE VREESE, 2005): consequências da pandemia, medidas de contenção e métodos de tratamento. Os tweets foram classificados automaticamente mediante um método computacional dictionary based, garantindo a confiabilidade, a validez e a reprodutibilidade (KRIPPENDORFF, 2011; SAMPAIO; LYCARIÃO, 2018). Foi realizada uma série temporal para observar a variação diária da evocação de cada quadro nos 93 dias estudados. Foi construída também uma rede temporal de usuários conectados mediante menções, retweets e respostas, sobre a qual foi calculada a métrica PageRank para medir a sua influência diária sobre a rede. Foram selecionados os dez atores mais proeminentes segundo o seu PageRank na data de maior pico de cada frame da série temporal. Finalmente, foram sistematizadas as informações sobre o contexto de análise e sobre o clima de opinião no Brasil mediante surveys representativos da população brasileira com frequência diária (n = 1.800, ME = mais ou menos 2 por cento, IC = 95 por cento). Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que a ordem de evocação dos frames, do mais ao menos proeminente, foi: conflito, atribuição de responsabilidade, consequências da pandemia, moralidade, medidas de contenção e métodos de tratamento. Em especial, os quadros do conflito, da atribuição de responsabilidade e das consequências da pandemia estiveram fortemente relacionados a um enquadramento negativo, episódico e de interesse humano dos tweets. Por outro lado, os demais frames (moralidade, medidas de contenção e métodos de tratamento) priorizaram enquadramentos temáticos, cujas implicações eram preponderantemente de natureza mais social e menos individual. Se destaca também a significativa presença de perfis anônimos entre os Top10 usuários de cada frame, assim como militantes, especialistas em saúde, influenciadores digitais, jornalistas, órgãos de mídia, políticos e perfis de outra natureza. Por fim, no que se refere ao estudo das condições que estão associadas aos picos mais altos de evocação dos frames genéricos e específicos da série temporal, foi observado um fenômeno que se definiu como sincronização do enquadramento. Se define a sincronização do enquadramento como um fenômeno de ajuste coletivo da frequência ativação em rede de um determinado frame por meio da interação entre os indivíduos e influenciado por quatro fatores: contexto, sucessão de eventos associados, clima de opinião e combinação entre frames e temas. / [en] The research aims to study the temporal variation of generic and specific frames about health in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil. It is a case study conducted on Twitter about health (n = 31,339,922) between March 15 and June 15, 2020. As analytical categories, 3 generic and 3 specific frames about health in epidemic contexts were studied. The generic frames were operationalized deductively: conflict, attribution of responsibility and morality (SEMETKO; VALKENBURG, 2000). The specific frames were operationalized with the inductive method (DE VREESE, 2005): consequences of the pandemic, containment measures, and treatment methods. The tweets were automatically classified using a dictionary-based computational method, ensuring reliability, validity, and reproducibility (KRIPPENDORFF, 2011; SAMPAIO; LYCARIÃO, 2018). A time series was performed to observe the daily variation of the evocation of each frame in the 93 days studied. A temporal network of users connected through mentions, retweets, and replies was also performed, on which the PageRank metric was calculated to measure their daily influence on the network. The ten most prominent actors were selected according to their PageRank on the peak date of each frame of the time series. Finally, information on the context of analysis and on the climate of opinion in Brazil was systematized through representative surveys of the Brazilian population with daily frequency (n = 1,800, ME = plus–minus 2 percent, CI = 95 percent). The results indicate that the order of evocation of the frames, from most to least prominent, was conflict, attribution of responsibility, consequences of the pandemic, morality, containment measures, and treatment methods. In particular, the frames of conflict, attribution of responsibility, and consequences of the pandemic were strongly related to a negative, episodic, and human interest framing of the tweets. On the other hand, the other frames (morality, containment measures and treatment methods), prioritized thematic framings, whose implications were preponderantly of a more social and less individual nature. Also noteworthy is the significant presence of anonymous profiles among the Top10 users of each frame, as well as activists, health experts, digital influencers, journalists, media organizations, politicians, and profiles of another nature, such as fandoms and satirical. Finally, regarding the study of the conditions that explain the highest peaks of evocation of the generic and specific frames in the time series, a phenomenon that was defined in this thesis as framing synchronization was observed. Framing synchronization is defined as the phenomenon of collective adjustment of the frequency of network activation of a given frame through interaction between individuals and influenced by five factors: context, succession of associated events, climate of opinion, and the combination of frames, and issues.