This thesis evaluates the ways media frames influence attitude towards brands when the brand endorses a controversial celebrity spokesperson. This research was created with the intent to fill a current gap in communication research, providing original data and addressing the influence that external factors, specifically media frames and political orientations, hold over an audience's perception of spokespeople and the brands they later endorse. This was accomplished through an original, cross-sectional experiment that measured how celebrity athletes, who speak out about partisan issues, function as agents for messaging in brand advertisements. This thesis draws upon the communication theories of agenda setting, and primarily framing, in order to evaluate how impactful media frames of an athlete can become to consumers once the media highlights the spokesperson through a polarizing frame. This experiment attempts to replicate 'the Kaepernick effect,' inspired by the polarizing media coverage of Colin Kaepernick over his 2016-NFL season with the 49-ers, leading up to his partnership with Nike for its 2018 "Dream Crazy" advertisement. The findings from this study reveal that media frames, though carrying some impact, are not the most influential factor in shaping audiences' attitudes towards spokespeople or the brands they advertised. This study contributes new data to the discipline of media effects research, extending the conversation about celebrity athlete endorsers, the influence of media frames on consumer response, and implications for future studies. / Master of Arts / This thesis looks at the effects that media frames, within news stories, have on audiences' attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, this thesis examines audiences' developed attitudes towards controversial celebrity spokespeople, who speak out about partisan issues, and later endorse or align themselves with a brand. This thesis utilizes an original experiment that measures how controversial celebrity figures, athletes specifically, function as agents for messaging in brand advertisements. This thesis draws upon the communication theories of agenda setting, and primarily framing, in order to evaluate how impactful media frames of an athlete can become to consumers once the media highlights the spokesperson through a polarizing frame. This experiment attempts to replicate 'the Kaepernick effect,' inspired by the polarizing media coverage of Colin Kaepernick over his 2016-NFL season with the 49-ers, leading up to his partnership with Nike for its 2018 "Dream Crazy" advertisement. The findings from this study reveal that media frames, though carrying some impact, are not the most influential factor in shaping audiences' attitudes towards spokespeople or the brands they advertised. This study contributes new data to the discipline of media effects research, extending the conversation about celebrity athlete endorsers, the influence of media frames on consumer response, and implications for future studies.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Angela Powers / The country of Myanmar started political reforms in 2010. Along with the process of becoming more democratic, peace and reconciliation have become very important due to the decades-long civil wars that continue to rage between ethnic minority groups and Myanmar Army. The Myanmar media have the potential to play a huge role in national reconciliation. One conflict between the Muslim and the Buddhist of Rakhine State of Myanmar has gained international attention. Research shows that media play a destructive or constructive role in conflict resolution depending on which news frames they adopt in reporting. This uses the theoretic peace journalism perspective, in which media take a careful, consistent and conscientious approach to report stories that create opportunities for society at large and emphasizes non-violent responses to conflict (Lynch, 2008). Using mass media framing theory and existing peace journalism literature, this study investigates the prominence of war and peace journalism framing in the media coverage of an ongoing conflict in the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar between a group of Muslims and Buddhists who inhabit the region. This study employed a comparative analysis to examine war and peace journalism frames from stories published in four newspapers; two from Myanmar, one from Bangladesh, and one from the U.S. The analysis was guided by Galtung’s (1986) classifications of peace and war journalism and operational definitions derived by Lee and Maslog (2005). Findings suggest that war journalism frames are dominant in the coverage of the Rakhine conflict regardless of media origin. Even though not statistically significant, the government-run newspaper from Myanmar was revealed to produce more peace journalism stories than the other three newspapers. There was a slight difference in coverage of the conflict between English-language and Burmese-language newspapers in terms of peace/war journalism framing. English news stories were more likely to be framed as war journalism than peace journalism. In addition, news stories produced by U.S. journalists and foreign news wire services such as the Associated Press and Reuters were more war-dominant than stories produced by local/regional journalists of Myanmar and Bangladesh. This study calls for international and local journalists to reevaluate their current conflict reporting practices to promote their positive roles in peace processes.

This study offers the framing analysis of local and foreign-based media on the coverage of "Rohingya: Gambia files case against Myanmar at ICJ" for over nine months period and examines the bias in their new contents and attention to the case. Evaluation of the number of coverage published by each media shows that local media do not pay as much attention as foreign-based media, and undermines the seriousness of the issue. Moreover, the finding highlights that the news representation of local media is evidently in favor of the Myanmar government in support of iconic national leader - Aung San Suu Kyi while abetting in covering up the violent action of the Myanmar military. Findings also suggest that foreign- based media covered the case most with genocide frame whereas self-defense frame was the most popular one in the coverage of local media. This study employed comparative content analysis to detect the bias and observe the different framings of media. Keywords: Bias, Frames, media frames, Framing theory, Myanmar, Rakhine, Bangladesh.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 14, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In order to determine how female athletes and women’s sports are framed in sports magazines, a textual analysis was conducted on three popular sports magazines (ESPN Magazine, Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated). The researcher analyzed the texts within these three magazines and found four emergent themes commonly applied to women in sports: mental weakness, male reference, motherhood and sisterhood, and celebrity. The research found both consistencies and inconsistencies in the thematic framing utilized among the three publications. The textual analysis also revealed a tendency for the sports media to reference individual sports more than team sports. Knowing the exact frames utilized in these magazines, allows the researcher to suggest solutions that may alleviate the negative portrayals of female athletes and women's sports in sports magazines. The results from this study also provide a foundation for those who wish to further explore and raise awareness on this issue.

Climate change is an issue surrounded by risk and uncertainty. The public oftentimes receive most of its general knowledge regarding science on the issue from the mass media. This can mean that the public receive mixed messages, those of apocalyptic narrative, those of narratives claiming no such thing exists, for example, which can lead to misconceptions of what the actual status is, and in extension lead to fear and anxiety. The aim of this study was to explore how individuals experience alarmistic media frames, through conducting a survey asking the respondents to react to visual examples in an alarmistic demeanor. Findings showed that while respondents felt worry, hopelessness and compassion in relation to the examples presented, they also responded with indifference on some levels. Contexts of the respondents also showed existing knowledge about what can be done to help the environmental issues, as well as altruistic values about other living organisms both in the present and the future. Conclusively, alarmistic media frames effect individuals directly on an emotional level, whether it can be feelings of worry, hopelessness, compassion or indifference. However it is not as simple in evaluating a totality of effect on individuals. This study implies a deeper process of experience, as respondents implied possessed knowledge and values as a base for what the initial experience lead to. / Klimatförändringar är ett problem omringat av hög osäkerhet och risk. Information om klimatförändringar och dess konsekvenser tar ofta vägen genom massmedia innan den når allmänheten, vilket gör att det ofta är där den generella kunskapen angående problemet och forskning runt det skapas. Det kan innebära att allmänheten får ta emot mixade budskap, som till exempel de som talar om apokalyptiska framtidsvisioner, de som talar om klimatförändringar som ett påhittat problem och så vidare, vilket kan leda till förvirring och misstolkningar av problemets egentliga natur och status och kan i förlängning leda till ohälsosamma psykiska tillstånd så som ångest och djuprotad rädsla. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur individer upplever alarmistiska mediagestaltningar av klimatförändringar genom en enkätundersökning där respondenterna ombads att reagera på visuella exempel av alarmistisk natur. Resultaten visar på att även om respondenterna upplevde oro, hjälplöshet och medkänsla i relation till de exempel som presenterades, svarade de också med likgiltighet och att inte känna något till vissa exempel. Respondenternas egen kontext visade också på redan innehavd kunskap om vad som kan göras för att påverka miljöproblemen i positiv riktning, vidare även altruistiska värden gentemot andra levande organismer både i nutid och framtid. Slutsatserna var att alarmistiska mediagestaltningar påverkar individer direkt på en känslomässig nivå, så som oroskänslor, hjälplöshet, medkänsla eller likgiltighet. Emellertid är det inte lika enkelt och direkt att värdera totaliteten av effekter hos individer. Studien implicerar en djupare process av upplevelser, då respondenterna implicerade en innehavd kunskap och värderingar som en grund för vad den initiala upplevelsen kan leda till.

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This study is a content analysis of news frames used in the coverage of Proposition 8 by newspapers in Utah and California, spanning the three months prior to its passage in November 2008, to the three months after its passage. A total of 401 news stories from five newspapers were analyzed to examine which of five news frames (attribution of responsibility, human interest, conflict, morality, and economic consequence) were used most predominantly and if the use of those frames varied by newspaper. Conflict was the most predominantly used frame, followed by attribution of responsibility, morality, economic consequence and human interest. The use of news frames did vary by newspaper. The newspapers in Utah used the morality frame more often in their coverage of Proposition 8 than the newspapers in California. Framing choices by the newspapers also changed over time. The use of the human interest frame decreased sharply after the November ballot vote, while the use of the responsibility frame and conflict frame showed a meaningful increase.

This content analysis of mainstream and alternative news narratives interprets the use of the crisis media frame, and describes the relationship between local policy initiatives, media discourse and public opinion on tent cities, organized by people experiencing homelessness in Portland, Oregon. Framing homelessness and housing as a crisis intensified the public debate, attested by an increase in mainstream media reports on tent cities, and by controversial policy changes that addressed the individually-experienced traumatic impacts of the City's anti-camping ordinance, as well as the systemic lack of affordable housing and emergency shelter. Media discourse related to city-sanctioned tent cities blurs the lines between Shanto Iyengar's episodic and thematic media frames because of the simultaneous acknowledgement of individual and systemic circumstances. The crisis frame is a discursive mechanism in the production of knowledge on homelessness and housing, and is considered as an integral characteristic of Henri Lefebvre's conceptual model of socio-spatial production, which describes the interdependency between discourse, practice and meaning in the material and symbolic production of space.

The thesis provides an analysis of the different ways the Occupy Wall Street was presented by OccupyWallSt.org ( the movement’s own media source), and The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today from July 2011 up to the end of June 2012. This was done by using Entman’ theory of media framing together with Castells’ network theory of power. The former provided a way of addressing the different types of frames that mainstream media utilize, while the latter offered an understanding of how power is built through the media processes. Additionally, Castells’ theory described another type of media frame which is mostly used by alternative media, the counter frame, which could successfully be applied to study the content that the social movement decided to provide about itself.The study first employs a quantitative approach by using Crawdad, a centering resonance analysis (CRA) software. This provides a reliable pool of data that was then analyzed by using the above theories. Additionally, in order to check the reliability of the qualitative conclusions, a statistical test was done for the overall top centers resulting from the CRA.