Problem definition and purpose: How do young men view the image of masculinity that is presented in the media, and what men or masculine characteristics do they look up to? Description: As men of a relatively young generation, most likely less influenced by the traditional alpha male ideal than our fathers were - while still being part of the male species at a time when it can be held responsible for many of the modern world’s problems, we have decided to peek into the world of male ideals and role models presented by the media, and try to understand what shape these ideals might take, how a coming generation of young men are affected by them and how they view them. Thus, this qualitative study aims to deepen understanding of correlations between young men’s view of their own masculinity and the way men are portrayed in culture and entertainment media. In order to investigate the matter, we have reached out to three schools at gymnasium level and conducted interviews with students in ages 15 to 19. From the interviews we have gathered information which has later on been used to distinguish four ideal types of masculinity; the Alpha Male, the Beta Male, the Humorist and the Activist. On the basis of these ideal types we have been able to make an analysis of the current media landscape, and more specifically what the young men perceive affects them in their own masculinity, what they believe affects young men in negative and damaging ways, and what kind of masculinities they feel are missing in today’s media outlet. In summary, we feel that the work might be able to help us and others understand something about what the next generation of men will be like - and why. Method and materials: Qualitative study conducted through interviews with men aged 15-19, analyzed in accordance to the ideal-type method. Main results: The interviewed young men identify different kinds of male characteristics given space in the media, which we have categorized into four ideal types - The Alpha Man, The Beta Man, The Humorist and The Activist. That these four types are visible indicates that the form of masculinity which has been the most common in the media, the hegemonic (Alpha) masculinity, characterized by dominant behavior, assertiveness and can be likened to a kind of macho masculinity - now face competition over the medial space. The competitors consist of men who are sensitive and intellectual (Beta Man) , funny and resourceful (Humorist), and a driving force in changing society and spreading goodness (Activist).

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Rhodes / Historically, the narrative frame tale boasts a long and varied trajectory that originated in ancient India and includes texts such as the Panchatantra and the Arabian Nights. Eventually, many Eastern fables and the frame-tale structure that accompanied them entered the Western literary tradition through the cultural bridge that was medieval Spain. Considering the frame tale’s popularity in medieval texts, especially in fourteenth century Italian novella collections, it is curious to observe a decline in its use during the early-modern period in Europe. This study examines how the traditional framed novella collection dissolves into more fluid narrative forms. Novel, more structurally subtle types of framing devices, including the character-as-frame and the place-as-frame, maintain several consistent narratological functions with their historical counterparts. The frame tale’s form may have changed, but its function remains. The first chapter of this dissertation focuses on Boccaccio’s Decameron as the model for how a traditional frame tale functions. Four narratological framing functions – the aesthetic, the perspectivist, the metaleptic frame break, and the self-reflexive – work in concert to organize the text and engage readers in actively interpreting it. The remaining three chapters examine three exemplary moments in literary history when authors redesign and deploy the narrative frame: Lazarillo de Tormes, Part I of Don Quijote, and Cien años de soledad. These texts each create a paradigm shift by utilizing a well-known, well-established formal device in innovative ways. This dissertation argues that by understanding these works in a new light as framed texts, and by exposing the consistent functions at work within them, readers can better understand both the world of the text and the world outside it. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures.

The research topic of this dissertation is the use of astroturf lobbying in democratic societies. This tactic consists in creating fake grassroots movements for political purposes while keeping the real identity of the instigator secret. By lying about its true identity and by simulating citizen support for or against a political issue, this unethical strategy represents a threat to the well-being of democracy. For this reason, this study aims to shed light on astroturfing with two research objectives.The first objective aims to design a method to detect astroturf groups that are taking part in political debates. The method used for this purpose is a framing analysis. The underlying assumption is that astroturf groups frame an issue differently than genuine grassroots movements. The research design includes a quantitative text analysis of documents published by 72 interest groups active on the hydraulic fracturing debate in the United States. The method has successfully led to the identification of 12 astroturf groups.The second objective aims to assess the influence that astroturf groups have on public policy. For this purpose, the position papers of 31 interest groups active on the issue of hydraulic fracturing in the European Union have been analyzed with a similar quantitative method. One astroturf group has been identified from that analysis. To measure its influence, the evolution of the frames used in two reports voted by the European Parliament in 2012 have been studied with a correspondence analysis. The results show that the coalition of which the astroturf group is part was successful in influencing one of the two reports.The two case studies are insightful in understanding the role that astroturfing plays within broader lobbying strategies. Indeed, the findings of this study show that astroturf groups are spreading in the public sphere with the aim to deceive policymakers and public opinion in order to influence public policy. / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Syftet med denna uppsats var att studera mediebilden som stora svenska dags- och kvällstidningar förmedlar av den neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningen ADHD. Under ett år publicerades de 132 texter i tidningarna Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter som ingått i min undersökning. En hypotes är att medierna, medvetet eller omedvetet, bidrar till att förstärka myterna om ADHD. För att se hur ADHD framställs i dessa medier har jag använt mig av en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och kompletterat den med en mindre kvalitativ textanalys. Den kvantitativa undersökningen har dels använts till att undersöka i vilken utsträckning och omfattning ADHD förekommer i de aktuella medierna samt i vilka sammanhang funktionsnedsättningen figurerar. I och med detta har jag kunnat urskilja vilka teman som är vanliga i rapporteringen samt om det förekommer någon över respektive underrepresentation kopplat till  kön eller åldersgrupp. Till den kvalitativa undersökningen genomfördes ett strategiskt urval utifrån de teman som visade sig vara vanligast förekommande i den kvalitativa studien. Artiklarna valdes ut för att exemplifiera typiska texter i det aktuella temat. I den kvalitativa undersökningen tittade jag på framställningen av ADHD i artiklarna med utgångspunkt i gestaltningsteorin. Med resultaten från de båda undersökningarna har jag sedan dragit generaliserande slutsatser om mediebilden av ADHD. ADHD figurerar främst i artiklar som handlar om ADHD-medicinering, brott eller en kändis som på något sätt talar om sin diagnos. Sammanhangen i dessa teman är övervägande negativa. Temat kändisar med ADHD-diagnos är dock ett positivt tema. Om man ser till det totala antalet artiklar så var nära hälften i ett negativt sammanhang medan de positiva motsvarade en fjärdedel.  I medierna är det oftast en man som porträtteras med ADHD. Denna man har i 1/3 av fallen någon form av brottslig bakgrund i form av kriminalitet eller missbruk. Att den med ADHD är en kvinna förekommer mycket sällan.  Flest artiklar publicerades det i Aftonbladet. Kvällspressen var inriktad på teman som kändisar, ADHD-medicinering och diagnosen generellt. I dagstidningarna förekom ADHD i nyheter om forskning och nya rön samt reportage och personporträtt.

The following thesis describes and analyses the representation of lung cancer in the Canadian print media. The thesis employs a theoretical framework comprised of Giddens’ theory of reflexivity and Goffman’s theory of framing, to understand the social dynamics of negotiation behind the disease’s portrayal in the media, in a late modern context. Late modernity was defined by institutional reflexivity and a focus on understanding and mitigating risk. The research was conducted through a content analysis and examined quantitative trends that contributed to a subsequent qualitative interpretation. The results show that the coverage of lung cancer decreased over time. The analysis shows a discourse of a biomedical institution that has unsuccessfully controlled the disease, a lack of patient advocacy, particularly among celebrities, and a continued conflation of smoking behaviour and lung cancer, all of which contributed to the decreasing coverage. The framing processes point to a society focused on understanding risk through studying the disease’s causes, as well as one concerned with legislative debate and behavioural prevention. The emergence of a frame focused on the patient’s lived experience might contribute to an improved representation of the disease.

AIM This thesis purpose is to fill a knowledge gap of research into football-related violence and media. The objective is to create an understanding of how football-related violence is portrayed in the Swedish tabloids Aftonbladet and Expressen. METHOD To reach the desideratum we used a qualitative content analysis of 198 articles concerning football-related violence. To analyse the results we used theories regarding ‘Framing’, ‘the three ‘I’s and the ‘Stigma-theory’. MAIN RESULTS The result from the initial analysis showed a heavy reliance on ‘frames’ by media outlets. This tended to make the news seem more sensational, dramatized and subsequently more readable than it otherwise would have been. When the articles are framed, the journalists’ use various keywords and metaphors to make an ordinary event into an exciting sports story that attracts readers.

In recent years, living wage movements have developed around the United States. In addition to advocating for living wage ordinances and laws in cities, living wage movements have developed to advocate for living wage policies at universities across the country. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine living wage movements at two universities to understand how they use communication to frame the wage issue and to push for the implementation of living wage policies. To develop an understanding of these living wage movements, two cases, Texas A&M University and Georgetown University, were selected for this study to examine through the lens of the social movement framing perspective. Data for the cases included interviews with activists and administrators, media reports, video documentaries, and internal documents. Results showed that the living wage campaign in each case prioritized the components of collective action frames, diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing, differently. The Texas A&M living wage campaign focused heavily on developing the problem at an emotional level and offering a clear solution to the problem. The Georgetown living wage campaign focused heavily on laying blame for the problem. Each case also exhibited elements of master framing which linked its campaign to preexisting values. Most notably, in both cases, the existing university values and culture were used as a basis for master framing. The results also showed that the campaign targeted different constituencies, with the Texas A&M campaign attempting to gain popular support and the Georgetown campaign focusing on the university?s administration. This, along with the degree to which each campaign was willing to accept compromise, had a large impact on the campaigns? overall strategies. Overall, the results of this study show how communication related to an issue affects the course of a social movement and how a social movement approach can be used to create organizational change.

With limited information processing capacity, people often rely on heuristics, or rule of thumb, to make decisions. In most situations, these heuristics are useful, however, it is possible to result in systematic biases. One of the biases is framing effect, which refers to the phenomenon that the framing message significantly affects how decision maker infer meaning and hence understand the situation. When a specific attribute is framed in positive or negative terms and result in different decision outome, the attribute framing effect occurs. Although a large amount of studies on framing effect has been cumulated, related works on debiasing the framing effect is limited. Based on past literatures, this study proposed a comprehensive framework to suggest and investigate the effect of debiasing strategies, which were developed in terms of sources of bias including individual difference, imcomplete external information and insufficient cognitive effort of decision makers. Four experitmts were conducted in this study. First, the subjective knowledge, objective knowledge and need for cognition are considered as the possible moderator of attribute framing effect. The second experiment aimed to understand that whether the completeness of decision problem and amounts of attributes affect the phemenon of attribute framing effect. The debiasing effect of warning and elaboration were examind in the third and fourth experiments respectively. The results suggested that both subjective and objective knowledge as well as participants¡¦ need for cognition did not moderate the attribute framing effect. Specifically, the attribute framing effect is observed in all groups regardless of the individual differences. Second, the attribute framing effect disappeared when subjects were provided with positive and negative messages simultaneously. Third, attribute framing effect occurred for subjects in one attribute, three and five attribute conditions. That is, one attribute is sufficient for the framing effect to be observed. Moreover, there is an inverted U relationship between subjects¡¦ attitude and the amount of negative attributes. The framing effect was weakened but is not eliminated when the participants were provided with warnings. In addition, weak warning can prevent subjects of high level need for cognition from framing effect, whereas strong warning can eliminate subjects¡¦ framing effect successfully for group of low level need for cognition. Finally, elaboration is the most effective debiasing strategy in this study to eliminate the framing effect.

Denna kandidatuppsats har till syfte att undersöka kvällspressens framställning av de fyra ministrarna Anders Borg, Tobias Billström, Maria Borelius och Cecilia Stegö Chilòs politiska övertramp i ministerskandalerna 2006. Alla fyra ministrar stod anklagade för mindre skattefusk och blev utsatta för en drevjakt i medierna. Skandalerna resulterade dock i att männen satt kvar på sina poster medan kvinnorna fick avgå. Denna studie undersöker hur och på vilket sätt kvinnorna respektive männen skildras i kvällspressen under skandalen. För att ta reda på detta har en fördjupad analys gjorts utifrån 16 stycken artiklar i Aftonbladet och Expressen studerats under tidsperioden 6-18 oktober 2006 med hjälp av en kvalitativ textanalys. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien är framing theory, även känd som gestaltningsteori på svenska, en ledande teori när det kommer till den journalistiska bevakningen av politik. Studiens analys visade att det fanns skillnader mellan hur kvinnorna och männen framställs i denna skandal. Kvinnorna ges mindre utrymme att uttala sig, rapporteringen kring deras snedsteg är mer negativ och de skildras främst utifrån sitt privatliv. Männen skildras från sin yrkesroll som politiker, får mer internt stöd från partiet och tillskrivs kompetenta och pålitliga karaktärsdrag.

News frames represent the way an issue is processed and presented by the media. As such, news frames have great influence over public opinion and could therefore be useful in controlling a country’s image abroad. This study builds upon existing literature and theories in an attempt to bring scholarship closer to an understanding of what frames are most likely to be effective for use in public diplomacy by identifying what frames and frame types currently influence audiences internationally. Specifically, The study examines what structures are commonly used to frame international issues, what frame content may not be accepted by a foreign audience and the extent to which elites control the local framing competition. This thesis uses both a framing discourse analysis and a content analysis to evaluate news stories from American, Chinese and Vietnamese outlets as well as American elites. The results found that while elites appear to control the general direction of framing in a country, American journalists are willing to suggest other frames as long as they enhance the drama of the narrative. However, this storytelling imperative is not likely to cross a line into questioning the legitimacy of the media’s home country, indicating that such challenging messages should be avoided in public diplomacy. Frequency of frame structure (conflict, responsibility and consequence) use was also identified, and a positive correlation found between privately owned media and use of consequence frame types. Given the less antagonistic nature of these frame structures, they may be extremely effective in public diplomacy communications - as long as the right consequence is emphasised. It is hoped that these findings will aid scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy in identifying effective ways to communicate messages across countries, and that it will strengthen the argument for the role of ‘listening’ in public diplomacy.