The pandemic resulting from the spread of COVID-19 is an ongoing event. What started as a public health crisis, has triggered political, economic and social crises all over the world. In 2022, the term COVID-19 crisis (and its equivalents), in addition, of course, to the millions of lives lost to the disease, describes economic depression, personal economic hardship, lost livelihoods, psychotic fear of the disease, change of public order, loss of basic personal freedoms, educational crisis, and so much more. This study was designed to understand the role media reporting has had in the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, it will focus on how containment measures were established for the German society through their discussion in the media. The study is based on the analysis of German evening news programme Tagesschau from the periods 15 March to 15 April and 15 October to 15 November 2020. Containment measures dominated human lives and the media in 2020. This paper seeks to answer the following research questions: How was opposition to the containment measures framed in German public tv news? and Which frames to containment measures can be identified in public broadcast news media in Germany? Using a mixed method approach, this study is based on a deductive and an inductive frame analysis as well as public opinion data. Based on agenda-setting and framing theory as well as the spiral of silence theory, it comes to the conclusion that lopsided media coverage shaped public opinion to the extent that the public largely accepted and supported the government's containment strategy.

The 1980’s were troublesome years for the Nicaraguan Sandinist government and its citizens. After accomplishing the task of overthrowing the 43 years of Somoza rule in Nicaragua, a new challenge was waiting in the shape of the American war against communism. The former Somoza National Guard transformed into the notorious contras, also known as the CIA- and American government-backed freedom fighters who worked hard to recoup the nation and halter the socialist movement in the Central Americas. Today in 2007 the world knows what kind of interventions the Sandinist rule stood victims of; air-raids, sabotage, embargos and mining of the Nicaraguan harbour. Eventually the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the United States should immediately cease and refrain from any action restricting access to or from Nicaraguan ports, and, in particular, the laying of mines. But what did the American public know about its country’s silent war against Nicaragua? This is the core question of this paper. How did the media, and more specifically, how did one of the largest American newspapers the New York Times present the events in Nicaragua to its readers? This essay examines New York Times-headlines and articles covering the years between 1979-1990 in the Nicaraguan history, by means of using the agenda-setting theory, developed by Maxwell McCombs in cooperation with his colleagues Don Shaw and David Weaver. The results of this study will show confirmation of how the New York Times framed the nation of Nicaragua into a communist framework, describing the country as a authentic threat against the American society and its values. The information provided by the New York Times during this era played without doubt a key role in the construction of the American public’s visions of the Nicaraguan reality. By using attributes when mentioning Nicaragua such as “Cuba”, “the threat of nuclear war”, “Soviet” and “communism”, the American public opinion most certainly came to reflect and support the media agenda. To paraphrase McCombs, ‘The media set the agenda when they are successful in riveting attention on a problem. They build the public agenda when they supply the context that determines how people think about the issue and evaluates its merits.’

Hunger and food insecurity are lingering public health problems, made more challenging by their evolving definitions, broad landscapes of interest groups, and complex political solutions. There is an important role for public health professionals and congressional committees in shaping the discourse and fortifying their relevance in food security policymaking. In short, the what, when, and who of issue definition becomes a foundation for food security policymaking. This study used in-depth content analysis to examine the evolution of food security discourse and interest group mobilization between 1974 and 2009 in media coverage of the issue of food security. Additionally, over 200 congressional documents were analyzed to investigate the role of specialized congressional committees in sustaining political attention to the issues of hunger and food security. The findings of this three-paper dissertation indicated that the evolution of food security conceptualization is ongoing and less comprehensive than anticipated. The study also found public health groups' remained at the periphery of mobilization on the issue. Finally, results demonstrated that congressional attention to hunger was significantly sustained during periods when a select committee, along with prominent policy entrepreneurs, was dedicated to the issue. The chapters and conclusion of the dissertation discuss ways in which public health groups can refine their media presence and move from the margin of mobilization to more effectively drive food security discourse in both the informal media venue and more formal policymaking venue of Congress in order to positively influence public health policies and outcomes related to food security. / Public Health

This study aims to investigate how female and male murder victims are represented in two swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet. By analyzing articles about the murders of Lisa Holm, Ida Johnsson, Ahmed Obaid and Rami Amin this study seeks to understand how they differ depending on the gender of the victim. To answer this, three research questions have been included; 1) How is the murder victim represented depending on if it’s a man or a woman? 2) Which other aspects than the murder victim is given a focus in the articles and what realities is formed from it? 3) ​Are there any differences between the morning newspaper and the evening newspaper, if so, which? The theoretical framework that was used to answer these three questions are social constructivism, Stuart Halls encoding/decoding and representation, gender theory, agenda theory and attribute agenda, priming and framing. The material consists of articles from the two newspapers, and the chosen methods are both a quantitative and qualitative textual analysis. The results shows that the male murder victims are described by their future plans and careers in a way that the female victims were not. There were two other aspects which were given a focus in the articles, the location and the murderer. ​The location of the murders of Ahmed Obaid and Rami Amin, which in both cases were Malmö, was described as a dangerous place with a lot of criminal acts. Since none of the victims were involved in any criminal activity they were represented as innocent, who fell victims to the city. In the case of Ida Johansson, the exact location of the murder, a jogging track, was given focus. Since a jogging track normally is not seen as a dangerous place the murder of Ida was represented as an unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The murderer was only known in the two cases with the female victims, and were given almost as much focus in the articles as the victims. The main differences between the two newspapers were that Aftonbladet wrote more articles about the cases and also had a tendency to use more media dramaturgy than Svenska Dagbladet.

Historically, the federal government has been the institution responsible for setting the nation's drug policy. Since 1996, however, the federal government's authority and legitimacy in this issue area has increasingly been challenged through state ballot measures introduced via the initiative process. While only eight percent of ballot measures historically are approved by voters (Initiative and Referendum Institute 2004), half of the 28 state ballot measures on illegal drugs have been approved by voters over the past decade. The stated goal of those supporting legalization through ballot measures is to "build a political movement to end the war on drugs" (Nadelmann 2004). Nadelmann (2004) suggests that victories in the states show that the "nascent drug policy reform movement" can win in the "big leagues of American politics" and that the successful models presented through the ballot measures will increase "public confidence in the possibilities and virtue" of regulating the non-medical use of illicit drugs. To date there has been no detailed examination of the issue framing strategies in this venue; nor has there been an effort to link the problem definition and direct democracy literatures. This dissertation links the problem definition and direct democracy literatures, using drug policy as the vehicle and applying Stone's (2002) analytic framework of problem definition to make descriptive inferences about the issue framing devices employed in state ballot measures on illegal drugs. The research examines a range of materials related to the state ballot measures on illegal drugs including the language appearing on voter ballots; the full text of the ballot measures, including ballot titles and political preambles; and the voter information statements and their authors. In addition, the dissertation describes the elements of legalization proposed by the ballot measures that were approved by voters and examines three key legal challenges to Proposition 215, one of the first ballot measures on illegal drugs approved by voters in California in 1996, including two U.S. Supreme Court cases. / Ph. D.

This study content analyzed interest group and candidate tweets from the 2020 American presidential election to determine what issues and substantive attributes were most salient on interest group and candidate agendas during the "hot phase" of the campaign. Cross-lagged correlations were conducted during two time periods from Labor Day to Election Day 2020 to measure agenda building effects. These tests were conducted for Democratic nominee and eventual President Joe R. Biden, and Republican nominee and former President Donald J. Trump. These tests were also conducted for two issue-based interest groups: Everytown for Gun Safety and the National Rifle Association. Findings indicate that Biden influenced Trump's campaign agenda, but Trump did not influence Biden's. The interest groups showed reciprocal influence with each other. Given the unprecedented nature of the 2020 election, the candidates were largely talking about the same issues. However, substantive attributes reveal the candidates' true issue agenda. This study offers methodological innovation by utilizing NVivo for content analysis. / Master of Arts / This study examined tweets from 2020 presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden, as well as the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy organization, and Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization. These tweets were examined from September 7 to November 3, 2020, from Labor Day until Election Day. For the presidential candidates, it was found that although candidates were talking the same general campaign issues, they were using different substantive attributes when speaking of them. The findings also revealed that Biden was successful at influencing Trump's Twitter focus during the examined time period. Tweets from advocacy organizations were tested for presence of gun-related issues. The advocacy organizations spoke about the same issues as the other, but neither group was successful at influencing what the other said. This study highlights the importance of digital political public relations.

The 2006 Congressional elections included some of the closest elections in recent history. Party control was on the line in both houses of Congress. As a result, candidate message strategies were subject to intense scruntiny by media and voters alike since each election played a significant role in determining which party would control the Senate. This thesis employs a content analysis of ten candidate-controlled blogs from five 2006 U.S. Senate elections to evaluate candidate issues, incumbent and challenger strategies, and message tactics used by the candidate to reach a wide classification of voters. The entire population of posts from the ten candidate blogs (N = 474) was included in this analysis. The thesis assesses candidate blog strategies and candidate gender difference through the theoretical perspectives of the issue ownership framework, agenda setting, and incumbent and challenger strategies. Findings show little evidence of intercandidate agenda setting through blogs, general adherence to assumptions of the issue ownership framework, and offer foundations for future communication research focused on candidate blogs. Recommendations for future research include a more expansive study of all campaign blogs as well as an intermedia agenda setting study to measure systematically the influence of blogs on other media. / Master of Arts

This study content analyzed candidate press releases and newspaper articles from the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election in order to determine which issues, strategies, and audiences were most salient on candidate and media agendas during the campaign. Monthly cross-lagged correlations were used to measure agenda setting effects between the two major party candidates, among the four newspapers, and between candidates and newspapers. These correlations showed that the candidates maintained consistent issue agendas throughout the campaign but shifted their strategy and audience agendas frequently, while the newspapers generally maintained consistency for all three types of agenda. Many of the cross-lagged correlations indicated that the candidates shared reciprocal influence with the newspapers, but in some cases the candidates set the newspapers' issue agendas, while the newspapers set the candidates' audience agendas. The two candidates showed reciprocal influence between their agendas throughout much of the campaign, but Republican Jerry Kilgore set Democrat Tim Kaine's agenda during some months early in the campaign. The four newspapers studied showed a clear path of influence on issue agendas, with the Richmond Times-Dispatch influencing The Washington Post, which in turn influenced The Roanoke Times, followed by The Virginian-Pilot. Influence between the newspapers' audience and strategy agendas was mostly reciprocal. / Master of Arts

Social media is becoming an increasingly studied phenomenon in recent years, with a rise in users and the wide variety of content. Political socialization covers mass media and social media, though it only discusses the implications of how attitudes are developed from media forms. While politics and political content occur on different social media platforms, the literature and research of this subject is lacking. Life-altering events can work to change one's political outlook, where motherhood, traumatic experiences, and first-time experiences can affect political opinions. Converging the two together, with specific groups on social media platforms discussing politics, will help to expand the knowledge of how politics and social media work with one another. This study seeks to examine first-year teachers and teachers on social media platforms, the types of content they post, the types of political content they post, and how they work to discuss political topics. I scraped different first-year teacher posts on social media platforms, coded the posts into different categories, and analyzed the trends in these posts. Then I take these first-year teacher posts and compare them with Florida teachers in the same context. This will help to understand how each of these groups vary from another in discussions of political content. With these findings working to expand the previous knowledge of how political socialization is within social media, how different teachers discuss political content, and the types of possible interactions work to socialize children in schools.

The role of media in society is significant, and what the media reports influences people. The agenda-setting theory suggests that the issues covered by the media become important topics in society, and through descriptions and attributes, the media can shape public opinions. Sweden's military non-alignment ended with its membership in Nato becoming a reality in 2024. Until 2012, public opinion in Sweden strongly opposed joining Nato. However, a shift occurred, and the gap between supporters and opponents narrowed. This study, through a qualitative content analysis, examined how the editorial pages of three Swedish newspapers described Swedish Nato membership from 2008 to 2015, and how the relationship between these descriptions and public opinion evolved. The results clearly show that, over time, the editorials increasingly portrayed Swedish Nato membership positively rather than negatively. There is a correlation between these descriptions and public opinion. However, it is not possible to conclude whetherthe editorials influenced public opinion or if the reverse is true.