Governments and policy-makers are currently dealing with some key issues as energy security in countries dependent on oil imports; global economic development, including increased food production; and controlling global climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. The perception that biofuel could solve these challenges simultaneously has led to the implementation of policy and regulatory mechanisms on the mandatory use of biofuels, resulting in a sharp increase in biofuel production and consumption. Serious concerns about large-scale ethanol production have been raised regarding loss of biodiversity and competition for land between food and ethanol production. It is also suggested that sugarcane-based ethanol increases GHG emissions due to indirect land use change. Furthermore, sugarcane harvesting has been criticised for causing air pollution and bad working conditions for cutters. These criticisms have mostly been denied by Brazilian actors. This thesis seeks to clarify these divergent views and conflicts concerning Brazilian ethanol. It was carried out within a KTH research programme that uses frames in the analysis of conflicts emerging from the development and implementation of new technologies. Frame analysis can help improve understanding of such conflicts, which derive from differences in values, world views and beliefs and can be difficult to resolve. Frame analysis seeks to identify the particular factors determining the actions taken by different stakeholders, giving equal treatment to all actors. The results showed that the international views expressed in the media captured the attention of the public and policy-makers, and led them to frame ethanol as a destructive for nature fuel. The analysis identified that the ethanol as a threat to food security frame combined with the ethanol as a destructive for nature frame led the public and policy-makers to frame ethanol as a brown fuel. However, Brazilian actors frame ethanol differently: as a green and safe fuel. These differences have raised the conflicts that are analysed in this thesis. Furthermore, the analysis identified that the changes in the harvesting system, from manual to mechanised –besides decreasing air pollution- will cost the job of hundreds of thousands of cane cutters. Values and beliefs orientating such changes are analysed in the thesis. / QC 20110912

This study examines the framing of Syria fighters in Swedish newspapers during selected time periods of 2016 and 2017. Syria Fighters refer to individuals who travel to Syria to join the ongoing conflict, an occurrence commonly known as Foreign Fighters. Using framing analysis and framing theory the study finds that Syria fighters and their actions are framed mainly as problematic and as a negative social phenomenon. The study also makes a comparison to similar, previous research of Dutch and Flemish newspapers and finds clear similarities as well as differences.

Language education policy and its implementation have been controversial and ongoing issues throughout the United States, especially in the border state of Texas, with its large population of students who are learning English. This dissertation reports two studies, the first of which was a frame analysis of problems and solutions as represented by the five bills amending the Texas Education Code with regard to bilingual education and English as a second language programs. These laws, passed in 1969, 1973, 1975, 1981, and 2001, have been enacted since 1968, the year the Bilingual Education Act (BEA) was passed. The problem framed consistently by these state policy documents was inadequate instruction for children who come to school speaking languages other than English. More variability was seen in the framing of solutions, with approaches changing from the authorization of instruction in languages other than English, to the establishment of mandated bilingual programs, to the extension of special language programs, and to the establishment of dual language immersion programs. The primary ideology influencing the policy documents was the monolingual English ideology; however, alternative ideologies are apparent in the policies that allow for dual language immersion programs. Geographic information systems (GIS) analysis was used in the second study to investigate the geographic locations of particular programs and the demographics of students they served. Choropleth maps showed variability in program distribution across the state with distinct patterns apparent in only two programs. The maps indicated that districts with high percentages of student enrollment in one-way dual language programs tended to be located in and near the major metropolitan areas, whereas many districts offering early exit transitional bilingual programs tended to be located along the Texas-Mexico border. Despite the literature on bilingual/ESL program effectiveness, the predominant program in the border region of Texas is among those considered least beneficial to students learning English. This pair of studies illustrates the influence of monolingual English ideology on educational practice and policy through the implementation of programs by districts as well as the framing of bilingual education in legislation.

The aim of this work is to find specific preferences of Czech film consumers. By these specific preferences it is meant the type of stories, heroes or genres which does Czech film audience prefer. The analysis is made on the most popular films (i.e. with the biggest attendance) in last twenty years using the theory of Erving Goffman, especially his concept of frame analysis. By using the terms of frame analysis the content of the selected films is compared with the same amount of the most popular films in USA. This comparison is then used to find the differences or similarities among these two different areas, but in particular it is done to underline the specifics of Czech film audience. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The diploma thesis deals with the relationship between humans and animals in contemporary society. Formerly animals were a part of everyday human life but with the advent of modern society, the relationship between man and animal weakens. Today the situation is such that people increasingly form the relationship with animals only through the media. Therefore, the aim of practical research was to determine how and in what context animals are represented in the Czech media, specifically in two selected newspapers - Blesk and MF Dnes. To achieve a comprehensive view on the subject, the work combined two basic approaches to research - qualitative and quantitative. Main method is a qualitative frame analysis during which frames of representing animals that occur in these two newspapers were formulated, described and interpreted. To complement and quantify the information gathered in qualitative analysis, quantitative content analysis was also made. Among others, the results offer us a reflection how we currently think about animals and what role they play in our lives and in life of the whole society.

In the information age, media has come to be recognized as a credible mean and foreign policy tool to pursue soft power. Authoritarian states like Russia are competing in the realm of ideas through state-funded news outlets such as Russia Today (RT). This by reaching out to global and foreign public spheres and by reporting on an alternative reality of events, issues and problems. This thesis studies the role of the media news outlet RT as a mean to promote Russian soft power. This with a focus on how the channel attempts to persuade and attract an international audience based on the construction of a compelling narrative. To approach this theme empirically, a media frame analysis is conducted utilizing five news frames including; morality, human interest, responsibility, conflict and economic consequences. The overall results suggest that RT attracts and persuades largely by providing an alternative Russian perspective on events, issues or problems. It attracts by appealing both in the direction of the western- and eastern world. It appeals to the west by emphasizing how the West needs Russia to find answers to the pressing issues in global politics. It appeals to the east by suggesting an alternative model of development. RT attempts to persuade are made through the construction of counter-narratives which delegitimizes the Western approach in international affairs. The channel devotes efforts to boost these narratives by selective news porting and handpicking statements made by intellectuals from the perceived “other” western camp.

The aim of this study is to analyze whether any media bias and framing can be observed in the U.S. news reporting surrounding the topic of the abortion debate. And if yes, how they are being presented to their respective audiences.For this, thirty articles have been analyzed in total; published respectively by Fox News and CNN in the timeframe of June 2021 until June 2023. This covers the time before, after, and during the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the law of Roe v. Wade. For the analysis I referred to Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, as well as the theories of framing and media bias. Additionally, the theory of hegemony was applied to the results. These theoretical concepts were accompanied by a combined paradigmatic approach of interpretivism and critical theory.The results of the analysis indicate that both news outlets present bias, framing, and hegemonic ideologies within their reporting. The content of Fox News showed a tendency of an anti-abortion stance in its rhetoric, utilizing frames concerning morality, freedom, politics, and the abortion industry. Meanwhile, CNN’s content tended to take an oppositional stance by utilizing pro-abortion rhetoric, as well as frames concerning harmful information, freedom, the danger of Conservatives, and politics. These findings led me to conclude that there are significant implications for media hegemony inherent in the reporting of both outlets.

From the start of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” in 2011 until November 2023, 78 foreign visits have been made by three U.S. Presidents and five Secretaries of State to Southeast Asia. To uncover the U.S. ambitions in Southeast Asia, this thesis uses frame analysis to study speeches, statements, and remarks published by the U.S. Department of State and the White House during the visits to categorize them as displaying predominantly soft, hard, or smart power. The frames identified during the visits show that each administration has displayed a different kind of power. While the Obama administration focused on soft power, the Trump administration displayed significantly more hard power. The Biden administration used almost exclusively smart power during their visits. The thesis contributes to the operationalization of Joseph Nye’s concepts of soft, hard, and smart power, while also attempting to understand the U.S. ambition in Southeast Asia, especially as relations with the PRC have become increasingly tense.

This dissertation examines emergent forms of digitally enabled boundary-spanning by considering the within- and cross-field interactions developed by LGBTQIA* organisations on social media. Within scholarship on collective actors characterised by strong collective identities, LGBTQIA* collective action fields have been conventionally found to be rather fragmented and polarised, as well as isolated from other fields. Nonetheless, recent studies have shown evidence of the emergence of cooperative and solidarity efforts by LGBTQIA* actors, suggesting that such LGBTQIA* organisations may actively engage in crossing categorical boundaries and overcoming differences in the attempt to achieve social change. Within this framework, information and communication technologies (ICTs) may provide LGBTQIA* communities with spaces to converge, share experiences, and articulate politicised identities also through the connection with other collective actors. Despite these findings, we currently lack a systematic understanding of the extent to which LGBTQIA* collective actors span field boundaries through the development of digitally enabled interactions, of how such ties evolve over time, and on the circumstances that may favour or inhibit their emergence and duration. Furthermore, the role of ICTs in supporting the emergence of boundary-spanning processes has so far been rather understudied. This dissertation addresses these concerns by conducting a mixed-method comparative research on LGBTQIA* actors based in Madrid and Milan. In particular, it focuses on different types of interactions (mentioning, sharing, and promoting collective action events) developed by such organisations on their Facebook public pages during the 2011-2020 decade. To examine the role of both cultural patterns (collective identities and framing strategies) and structural circumstances (political opportunities and threats), this study combines network and text data, analysed through social network and frame analysis. The findings provided by this research show that Spanish and Italian LGBTQIA* organisations increasingly crossed categorical boundaries through social media between 2011 and 2020, thus suggesting that ICTs do play a role in sustaining boundary-spanning processes. Moreover, they find that collective framing and networking are inextricably entangled, and hence contribute to shedding light on both symbolic and behavioural dimensions of digitally enabled boundary-spanning. To conclude, they show that actors embedded in different socio-political contexts engage in networking and framing, thus emphasising the role of contextual opportunities and threats in moderating the nexus between ICTs and boundary-spanning, as well as between framing and networking. This dissertation contributes to both social movement literature and gender studies. On the one hand, by shedding light on emergent forms of boundary-spanning processes enabled by ICTs, it not only contributes to examining the role of ICTs in empowering marginalised communities, but also further elaborates the entanglement between digital, hybrid, and on-the-ground collective actions. On the other hand, by systematically investigating an emerging phenomenon over time and across contexts, it contributes to generating knowledge on the circumstances encouraging collective actors to overcome differences and cooperate. Understanding this is of utmost importance, since cooperative relations provide collective actors with additional and diverse resources and experiences, as well as political legitimation, to resist processes of democratic erosion and achieve social change.

When the Danish government conducted a policy shift, calling for an overturn of the defence opt-out of the European common security and defence policy (CSDP) during the spring of 2022, it was not clear that the public would vote yes. It is not challenging for existing research to explain why the government changed its attitude towards the EU, a more interesting focus, however, is how a government in a pressured situation tries to conduct a credible policy change. This study explores how the Danish government conducted a policy shift, utilising a two-step analytical framework involving frame analysis and, more precisely, frame alignment strategies to study how the government changed their framing of the EU and NATO as solutions. This field of study is essential to comprehend how military policy is created in the public sphere towards the population. The results indicate a shift in the framing of the EU, moving from being framed as a non-military security provider towards being recognised by the Danish government as an individual military security actor. However, it is still vital for Denmark to highlight NATO's distinctive role in Danish military policy. The shift is conducted using the frame alignment strategies of; bridging, amplification and downplaying to essentially the same extent as previous studies predicted.