Universities and colleges in the U.S. are constantly mentioned in lists such as The Princeton Review's Top Party School list or similar rankings that can potentially impact the institution, as well as local news coverage regarding the institution's ranking and the drinking and partying habits of its student body. This study explores media coverage of party schools through a lens of framing and relationship management theories. Through a quantitative content analysis of news frames used in local news coverage of universities or colleges with noted "party school" reputations in the 2016 to 2017 academic school year, as well as frames represented in the official university responses, this study uncovers how universities with these noted reputations are framed by the local news media. In addition, the study explores the ways in which university responses to media coverage impact the potentially mutually-beneficial relationship between higher education institutions and its stakeholders, as it is a primary function of public relations (Kim et al., 2007). In order to examine the predominant frames used by local news media in college towns and "party school" university responses, frames of negative emotional appeal, morality, human interest and harm reduction were explored to determine their salience in written messages found in news headlines and university responses. The results of this study provide explanations to a phenomenon that largely impacts the reputation of a higher education institution in the U.S., as well as implications for the management of relationships between the media and universities. / Master of Arts / Universities and colleges in the U.S. are constantly mentioned in lists such as The Princeton Review’s Top Party School list or similar rankings that can potentially impact the institution, as well as local news coverage regarding the institution’s ranking and the drinking and partying habits of its student body. This study explores media coverage of party schools, pertaining to how they are portrayed in the media as well as how they manage relationships with stakeholders. This study analyzes news frames used in local news coverage of universities or colleges with noted “party school” reputations in the 2016 to 2017 academic school year, as well as frames represented in the official university responses, to uncover how universities with these noted reputations are portrayed by the local news media. In addition, the study explores the ways in which university responses to media coverage impact the potentially mutually-beneficial relationship between higher education institutions and its stakeholders, as it is a primary function of public relations (Kim et al., 2007). Frames were explored to determine their prevalence in messages found in news headlines and university responses. The results of this study provide explanations to a phenomenon that largely impacts the reputation of a higher education institution in the U.S., as well as implications for the management of relationships between the media and universities.

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.

Recent calls in environmental communication literature suggest researchers should understand the relationships between media message content, message construction, and audience effects. This thesis analyzed environmental advertising frames over time to inform strategic environmental communication research and practice. The study was a media content analysis guided by framing theory. Framing theory asserts the construction of media messages involves the selection and salience of particular message characteristics (Entman, 1993). Thus, the analysis examined the characteristics of environmental advertisements (N=449) published in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World Report in 1990, 2000, and 2010. Advertisements were classified based on whether the environmental appeal was issue-specific (e.g., pollution, species/habitat protection) or generic. Findings indicate that responsibility frames were overwhelmingly dominant as the strategy used to advertise products, goods and services. The responsibility frame was also prevalent in issue-specific ads. Macro-frames, which attempt to identify organizing lenses through which environmental advertising appeals are advanced, were not present in advertisements at significant levels during the time periods analyzed. The species/habitat protection issue was the dominant issue in 1990, while energy efficiency was the prevalent issue in 2000 and 2010. Advertisements appearing in the newsmagazine pages primarily were sponsored by for-profit organizations. Environmental advertisements had an overwhelmingly positive valence over time. Results have implications for future environmental communication research exploring media content and effects, public opinion and persuasion, and strategic communication practice. / Master of Arts

This study is a diachronic comparative analysis of russophobic discourse and enemy images in Helsingin Sanomat's (HS) editorials before and after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the beginning of a full-scale War in Ukraine in 2022. The aim of the research is investigating shifts in discourse and opinions within Helsingin Sanomat's editorials regarding the Russian actions. This study uses editorials by HS as its data. Utilizing the analytical framework of framing theory by Robert Entman, the study focuses on how Russia is framed in the editorials and by employing a diachronic comparison method, the research explores shifts in the frames over time, in this case the before and after of the two major geopolitical events. The study found that there has been a significant change in frames, especially between the two events, most notably after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there is a drastic change to the former.

In a democratic world, newspapers serve the role of one of the biggest and most important contributions about knowledge of events and conflicts. This is why this thesis analyzes how Palestine-Israel conflict is framed in three major Swedish newspapers, Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter. Using key search terms 22 editorials have been identified during the month of October 2023 and analyzed using the framing theory to identify differences in their framing. In the analysis it was found that while there were some. Conflicts have for a long time been a focal point of newspapers reporting which is why it has been studied on many occasions. Research suggests that they report on different topics with different amounts of bias, as it has been deemed impossible to completely avoid it, however, differences come in how they decide to frame and discuss these differences. The study concludes that the different newspapers do have different ways of framing the conflict, with each having a strong focus on different parts of it. However, they all share a strong anti-Hamas and anti-suffering angle, no matter the ideology of the paper.

In recent years, research has focused more on the importance of language in crisis communication instead of just developing frameworks and strategies. A phenomenon that has recently become a relevant part of this is Framing theory and how this tool can change individual behaviors in situations that require such input. This paper aims to investigate the use of framing within a swedish region’s, Region Västerbotten, crisis communication during covid-19. This in order to underline the importance of language in communication for crises with uncertain time courses. This study examines the region’s press conferences and press releases in order to crystallize important themes related to framing. The method used for this purpose is qualitative content analysis. The results of this study show that the region has used framing to a large extent in terms of measures and facts. This communication has changed over time from being more individual-oriented and rational during the pre-crisis stage, to focus more on measures and used emotional stories during the acute and chronic phases of the crisis. In resolving the crisis, the region has hardly used this type of framing at all. This can be explained by the fact that the communication followed the development of the crisis and used more measures when the individuals in society needed to change their behavior.

The purpose of this study is to examine Donald Trump's political communication regarding COVID-19 on Twitter during the time period 01-01-2020 to 30-09-2020. This study is motivated by the importance of analyzing Trump's power of definition regarding the situation surrounding the national crisis caused by COVID-19. The research questions include aspects of identifying frequent problem definitions, who is responsible for various crisis and whether Trump is motivating it, all provided through Trump’s tweets during the time period of the study.  The theoretical framework is constructed based on Entman (1993) as well as Matthes and Kohring (2008) to fulfill the purpose of the study and answer the research questions. The method is based on quantitative content analysis with qualitative elements. The method provided the ability to focus on the most frequent themes and topics. The analytical categories that have been used are: problem identification, problem definition, treatment recommendation, distribution of responsibility and whether it is motivated or not.  Findings of the most frequent societal crises were: Health crisis, Invisible Enemy-crisis and Information-crisis. Based on these three frames were identified: China is responsible for causing a Health crisis in the USA, China is responsible for causing the Invisible enemy-crisis in the USA and The spreading of disinformation by certain actors is harmful for the USA. With support of previous research of Donald Trump's political communication and usage of Twitter, this study highlights the importance of critically analyzing Trump, belonging to the political elite, how he uses his power to define COVID-19.

Grönområden i urbana miljöer bidrar med många centrala funktioner vilka är livsviktiga för både djur och människor, exempelvis biologisk mångfald, ekosystemtjänster och positiva hälsoeffekter. Förekomsten av grönområden och dess funktioner hotas däremot av den snabba globala urbaniseringen som ger upphov till förändrad markanvändning. Enligt Göteborgs Stads lokala miljömål ämnar staden att bli ekologiskt hållbar till år 2030 och detta ska uppnås genom en ökad biologisk mångfald och bevarande av grönområden. Göteborg har blivit utnämnd till Sveriges grönaste stad, men samtidigt har grönområdena minskat mellan åren 1986-2019 och fortsätter att minska på grund av exploatering. Syftet med examensarbetet var därmed att öka kunskapen om vad som ger upphov till att det tas beslut som orsakar reducering av urbana grönområden trots uppsatta mål för bevarande av dessa, vilket var ett eftersatt forskningsområde. För att uppnå syftet användes en induktiv kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet analyserades genom miljöpsykologiska, miljöetiska och policyteorier, nämligen värden, goal-framing theory, värdepluralism och lömska problem. Studien kom fram till att Göteborgs stadsplanering innefattade flera lömska problem och värdekonflikter vilka uttrycktes genom målkonflikter, som tillsammans med starka hedonistiska och egoistiska värden samt vinstdrivande mål hade en negativ inverkan på förekomsten av Göteborgs grönområden. / Green spaces in urban areas contribute with many key functions that are vital for both animals and humans, such as biodiversity, ecosystem services and positive health effects. However, the existence of green spaces and their functions are threatened by the rapid global urbanization that is causing land use changes. According to the City of Gothenburg’s local environmental goals, the city aims to become ecologically sustainable by the year of 2030 through increased biodiversity and nature conservation. Gothenburg has been named as Sweden's greenest city, although the green spaces in Gothenburg have decreased between the years 1986–2019 and will continue to decline due to exploitation. The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis was thus to increase knowledge about what stimulates decisions that cause a reduction of green spaces in Gothenburg despite set conservation goals, which was a neglected research area. To achieve the purpose, an inductive qualitative method was used with semi-structured interviews. The results were analyzed through theories of environmental psychology, environmental ethics and policy, namely values, goal-framing theory, value pluralism and wicked problems. The study concluded that Gothenburg's urban planning included several wicked problems and value conflicts that were expressed through goal conflicts, which negatively affected Gothenburg’s green spaces. Furthermore, strong hedonistic and egoistic values as well as gain goals, also had a negative impact on the existence of Gothenburg's green spaces.

Den här undersökningen gjordes för att ta reda på om svensk flyktingrapportering ändrades efter det att Sverige införde gränskontroller den 12 november 2015. Syftet var att se om rapporteringen ändrades när det politiska läget och opinionen ändrades, men även att generellt se hur flyktingrapporteringen ser ut. Både kvantitativ och kvalitativ undersökning gjordes. I den kvantitativa undersökningen jämfördes 50 artiklar från september 2015 med 50 artiklar från januari 2015. Variablerna togs fram bland annat med hjälp av gestaltningsteorin och orientalism, som båda är delar av undersökningens teoretiska ramverk. Sedan undersöktes artiklarna kvalitativt genom en kombinerad diskurs- och framinganalys för att på ett djupare plan ta reda på hur flyktingfrågan och flyktingar beskrivs. Resultaten ger en indikation på att det skett en förändring mellan september 2015 och januari 2016. Flyktingarna beskrevs bland annat mer frekvent som passiva, och mer sällan som individer. Mer generellt visar resultaten att flyktingarna oftast beskrevs som en grupp utan någon identitet. Adjektiv som kan väcka identifikation användes sällan för att beskriva flyktingarna. De beskrevs istället med adjektiv som ensamkommande och asylsökande. Den mest förekommande benämningen på flyktingar var just ordet flyktingar, följt av flyktingbarn och asylsökande. Flyktingarna beskrivs ofta som passiva i artiklarna, och de citeras sällan. De som citeras mest i artiklarna är myndighetspersoner och politiker. Dessa resultat pekar på att svenska journalister, omedvetet eller medvetet, skapar en bild av verkligheten där orientalismens mönster av världen finns kvar. Det skapas en gräns mellan ”vi svenskar” och ”de där flyktingarna”. Denna gräns förstärktes efter gränskontrollernas införande. / The aim of this study was to find out whether Swedish news reports on refugees changed after border controls were enforced on the 12th of November 2015, and thereby investigate if the changed political policies had any effect in the news reporting. Another aim was to study the general patterns in the news. Both qualitative and quantitative researches were made. Regarding the quantitative research, 50 articles from September 2015 were compared with 50 articles from January 2016. The variables were designed by means of framing theory and orientalism, both being parts of the theory framework of this study. Then the articles were analyzed qualitatively with a combined discourse and framing analysis to find out on a deeper level how refugees and the refugee situation in Sweden were described. The results indicate that there has been a change in the reporting between September 2015 and January 2016. The refugees were more frequently described as passive, and more seldom as individuals. More general, the results illustrated that, in most cases, refugees are described as a group without an identity. Identity-generating adjectives were sporadically used to describe them. Instead, they were associated to adjectives like ensamkommande (unaccompanied) and asylsökande (~asylum seeker). The most common word to describe refugees was flyktingar (refugees), followed by flyktingbarn (refugee children) and asylsökande (asylum seekers). Most frequently quoted people in the articles were government officials as well as politicians. These results indicate that Swedish journalists, consciously or not, are creating a picture of the world were the lines of orientalism still persist. A demarcation line between “us swedes” and “those refugees” is created. This line became more distinct after border controls were enforced.

The aim of this piece of research is to analyze how Martin Luther King Jr. was portrayed in three U.S newspapers based on framing theory. Through the use of qualitative frame analysis, ten newspaper articles are studied from the period 20/04/1967-11/05/1967. The dates were selected in relation to King’s public opposition to the Vietnam war. The results show that the articles are in most cases characterized by a focus on difference of opinion, polemic responses, and appeals to MLK to stop opposing the war. When understood from the lens of framing theory, this way of writing has been termed the conflict frame. Furthermore, three classroom tasks related to the newspaper articles are suggested. These activities are based on the Swedish curriculum for teaching English as a second language, schema theory, and framing theory.