In 2020, the corona virus was officially classified as a pandemic. Most countries’ economywas badly affected, and many companies were in need of state aid to survive. However, due to the European single market and its competition policy, the European commission has strict state aid rules. Hence, because of the circumstances, the commission implemented a temporary framework for state aid, which enabled for economic assistance that would normally not be in accordance with the competition policy. Because some countries had expressed concern for more generous state aid rules to threaten the single market, the commission needed to be strategic with their communication, in order for the member states to see it as necessary and legitimate. The aim of this study is to illustrate and analyze how the commission framed the temporary state aid rules to legitimize it. The method of use isframing analysis. The main results are that the two frames the commission used to legitimize the temporary state aid rules were that the crisis needed to be solved mutually, and the fact that it was an economic crisis. In conclusion, the commission framed the temporary state aidrules by alluding to common interests among the member states, such as the importance of European cooperation and the single market. They did this to legitimize the temporary state aid rules.

The master thesis "Czech presidency through the eyes of the member and non- member country" considers with the confrontation of articles from the time period of the EU-Czech Presidency which were published in the Czech newspaper Hospodarske noviny a in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The work concerns with that point how both newspapers constructed the reality of the Czech Republic during its EU-Presidency. The analysis will proceed through the framing method and semiotic analysis. From the framing analysis will result the quantitative data and in the semiotic analysis is included the critical discoursive analysis. The CDA will be discussed in the thesis. Media shows to the audience the secondary reality and they have impact to that what the people think about and what attitude they contain to which event. At this process participates the language. In the master thesis we would like to prove that the Swiss media Show another reality than the Czech one.

Global research shows that media owners tend to influence the editorial direction of their newspapers. Such influence generally tends to be in line with the media owner’s economic and / or political interests. Naturally, this is a challenge because media is regarded as the fourth estate and is supposed to be an objective yet effective channel for the citizenry to make informed decisions about their world. The study seeks to find out if the owners of four daily newspapers in South Africa, based on their political proximity; may have influenced their newspapers to be biased in favour or against any of the three biggest political parties contesting the 2016 Local Government Elections. This study is an exploratory and descriptive content analysis based on an Agenda Setting theoretic framework – supported by framing analysis and game framing. Findings reveal the correlation between the media owner’s interests and the biased reporting within their respective newspaper. This suggests that although media may not be directly or explicitly forced to adopt a specific ideology, it can be argued that political relations with media owners can influence editorial decisions. Therefore, it can be inferred that media owners of The New Age, The Citizen and The Star influenced editorial content of their newspapers during the 2016 local government elections. Given the findings of this study and the elections scheduled for 2019 in South Africa, it is important for more political communication studies to be conducted in order to establish guidelines for unbiased news reporting across all media – including newspapers. Alternatively, to compel media owners to declare their bias towards and against specific political parties in each news content, upfront. Particularly important during election period, is the need for each media (including newspapers) to have an independent editor – potentially one from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to ensure that each piece of content produced is validated as bias or impartial. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Science)

Historically, the USA and Russian Federation have been two world powers that used to compete for a dominant power position in the bipolar world and spread influence on less developed countries. Relationships between the USA and Russia have mostly been complex and tense,with several escalation periods during the Cold War. Relationships between the USA and Russia in the 21st century can also be characterized by complexity and ambiguousness. The issues emerged in the process of power struggle created more tension between countries. This study aims to research framing Russia in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America issued from 2002 to 2022. The thesis also includes a history of USA-Russia relationships, and a historical review of the National Security Strategy issued since 1986. The theory that is chosen for the research is social constructivism. Within a single case-study design,I use the framing analysis method to apply to data gathered from the empirical materials –original texts of the National Security Strategy of the United States of America that are total seven within the mentioned period. Along with other conclusions, I found a tendency of negative framing after 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and the persuasive presence of such positive frames as partnership and development, and negative frames – threat, regress, economic impact and competitive nature of relationships between countries. The degree of attention of the USA towards Russia switched periodically from being reasonably even in four issues of the National Security Strategy to bringing Russia in focus. The USA brought Russia to the most attention in 2022 and was least concentrated on Russia in the 2021 report.

Des dels Estudis Culturals Consensuals on la televisió s'entén com a fòrum aquesta tesi doctoral estudia l'aportació del serial de Televisió de Catalunya a la construcció social de la realitat i el seu potencial com a institució intermèdia per a la negociació i objectivació social del sentit. L'objectiu de la investigació consisteix en entendre quines són les estratègies sobre les que el serial estudi de cas, El cor de la ciutat (2000-2009), proposa l'organització de l'experiència de la vida quotidiana en relació a qüestions que prèviament defineix com a temes i problemes socials rellevants per a l'individu al que adreça la seva acció comunicativa. La combinació de tècniques d'anàlisi textual i de contingut per l'estudi de l'agenda permet detectar les lògiques d'introducció i plantejament de determinats temes d'interès social i analitzar comparativament els marcs interpretatius i les estratègies discursives emprades segons es tracti de valors socials compartits, transgredits o contraposats. / Desde los Estudios Culturales Consensuales donde se define la televisión como foro esta tesis doctoral estudia la aportación del serial de Televisió de Catalunya a la construcción social de la realidad y su potencial como institución intermedia para la negociación y objetivación social del sentido. El objetivo de la investigación consiste en entender cuáles son las estrategias del serial estudio de caso, El cor de la ciutat (2000-2009), para proponer la organización de la experiencia de la vida cotidiana en relación a las cuestiones que previamente define como temas y problemas sociales relevantes para el individuo al que dirige su acción comunicativa. La combinación de técnicas de análisis textual y de contenido para estudiar la agenda permite detectar las lógicas de introducción y planteamiento de determinados temas de interés social, y analizar comparativamente los marcos interpretativos y las estrategias discursivas desarrolladas según se planteen valores sociales compartidos, transgredidos o contrapuestos. / From consensual perspective of Cultural Studies, considering television as a forum, this doctoral dissertation analyses the contribution of the longest serial of Televisió de Catalunya to the social construction of reality and its potential as intermediate institution for the social negotiation and objectivation of sense. The main objective of this research is to understand which are the strategies developed by El cor de la ciutat (2000-2009) to propose the organization of everyday experience in relation to questions that previously has defined as social issues and social problems, as part of the communicative action that Catalan television addressed to their viewers. A methodology combining textual analysis and content analysis techniques for studying agenda enables us to identify the logics for the introduction and approach of certain social issues and to examine, in a comparative framing and discourse analysis, which are the strategies implemented depending on values' dynamics (shared, transgressed or confronted).