Media Framing Research Articles

The misconstruction of enemy images in war reporting: The insight narratives on Israel-Hamas conflict

ABSTRACT The media plays a crucial role in shaping public perceptions during conflicts, particularly through the construction of enemy images. In the case of the Israel-Hamas conflict, war reporting has reinforced hostile narratives, contributing to the escalation of violence. With the use of secondary sources of data, this study explores how enemy images are constructed through selective media framing, biased language, and the portrayal of both Israel and Hamas in starkly oppositional terms. By comparing Western, Israeli, Palestinian, and regional media outlets, the study identifies key patterns in the use of emotionally charged narratives, political rhetoric, and imagery. It also highlights the implications of such representations, including the justification of military actions, dehumanisation of the adversary, and the manipulation of international perceptions. Furthermore, the analysis explains the long-term psychological, social, and political implications of these enemy images, emphasising the important need for responsible media reporting in fostering peace and understanding.

Framing Affects Support for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the United States

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to advance health care, industrial productivity, and environmental sustainability but also presents risks such as job loss and uncontrolled superintelligent machines. Understanding public opinion about AI is key for anticipating its governance. This study examines how media framing affects U.S. beliefs about AI and support for its development. A survey experiment involved respondents reading articles highlighting either AI’s benefits or risks, revealing how such information can influence opinion on AI’s societal impacts. The findings emphasize the crucial role of framing in shaping public views on AI, with implications for policymakers and stakeholders.

Effects of Framing Counter-Stereotypes as Surprising on Rethinking Prior Opinions About Outgroups: The Moderating Role of Political Ideology

ABSTRACT In this paper we address the unmet potential of counter-stereotypes (CS) by explicitly expressing feelings of surprise in media frames, to acknowledge the possible surprising effect attached to an encounter with a CS. Using a two-study survey-experiment (N study 1 = 475, N study 2 = 565) in the context of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, we demonstrate the moderating role of political ideology in the effect of exposure to surprise framing of CS on attitudes toward an outgroup. The results indicate that when the feeling of surprise is explicitly expressed in media articles (compared to control), right-leaning individuals expressed more liking toward Arabs, were less inclined to social distance from Arabs, and perceived Arabs as less homogeneous. Left-leaning participants, however, remained unaffected by this explicit expression. The cause of this difference between political-ideological groups is further discussed, along with implications of such findings for research on prejudice, stereotypes, and media effects, and practices of changing dynamics between groups in conflict.

Media Framing of the International Paralympic Committee’s WeThe15 Disability Inclusion Campaign During Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022: A Comparative Analysis

Media Framing of the International Paralympic Committee’s WeThe15 Disability Inclusion Campaign During Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022: A Comparative Analysis

Media Framing of Donald Trump's 2024 Election Victory: A Case Study on International Media

This article analyzes the framing differences in the coverage of Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election by two international media outlets, Xinhua News and The Washington Post. Using Robert N. Entman's framing analysis approach, the study explores how the two media define the problem, diagnose the cause, make moral judgments, and offer treatment recommendations regarding the political and social divisions in the United States. Xinhua News tends to emphasize optimism and solutions for the country's healing, stressing the importance of overcoming social and economic tensions. In contrast, The Washington Post is more critical, highlighting the growing political distrust and the potential impacts of Trump's policies on human rights, immigration, and the economy. These framing differences reflect the influence of media in shaping public perceptions of leadership and political policies, demonstrating how the ideological stance of media outlets can affect their portrayal of a significant political event. This research provides insights into the dynamics of media and politics in the context of elections.

Framing Childfree as a Choice: A Case Study of Magdalene.co

The discourse of childfree has received significant attention in Indonesia since 2021, especially after public figures voiced their decisions to live childfree. This study examines the framing of the issue of child-free in Magdalene.co, a progressive online media, using Media Framing Analysis (MFA) by Shaw & Giles (2009). This study explores how Magdalene.co frames the narrative around the discourse of childlessness. At the macro level, Magdalene.co frames the issue of childlessness as a human rights discussion centered on privacy, personal autonomy, and resistance to social pressure. At the micro level, the analysis reveals narratives that emphasize the psychological and social aspects of the decision to live child-free, but it notes the lack of empirical data to support these arguments. The findings suggest that Magdalene.co supports a neoliberal feminist perspective, which advocates for individual freedom, psychological well-being, and respect for privacy. However, this study also identifies a degree of homogeneity in the narrative and highlights the need for broader empirical studies to deepen the discussion on the social and economic impacts of the decision to be child-free.

Taboo and celebrity: a cross-linguistic case study on Woody Allen and incest

ABSTRACT This paper aims to critically analyse a case study of celebrity news involving a taboo topic. In a larger media discourse analysis of the incest taboo, Woody Allen’s name was the only celebrity’s name repeatedly mentioned in the French and British press between 2017 and 2022, as his seven-year-old adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of incestuous sexual abuse back in 1992. Informed on critical discourse analysis, this paper cross-linguistically investigates how the media frames a highly taboo topic when a celebrity is involved. The notions of celebrity news, rogue celebrity, tabloidisation, and sensationalism are addressed. The French and British press display an ambiguous coverage, being vague about the accusations while relishing their taboo nature, probably due to the involvement of a celebrity. Furthermore, the mixing of facts and fiction, characteristic of celebrity news, tends to distance the seriousness of the accusations. The media’s focus on either the accused or the accuser is not based on facts, but shifts according to trendy perceptions, embodied by other celebrities. Finally, the impact of the accusations in celebrity news is discussed, as the media seems to cover incest accusations for their sensationalism rather than promote an open debate on incest as child sexual abuse for society as a whole.

Emotionalization of the 2021–2022 Global Energy Crisis Coverage: Analyzing the Rhetorical Appeals as Manipulation Means in the Mainstream Media

As the issues of the world’s overreliance on fossil fuels still remain unresolved, mainstream media play a central role in influencing public attitudes towards energy sources. This article aimed to consider Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals as manipulation means in the news coverage of the 2021–2022 global energy crisis. Using computer-aided text analysis, media framing, discourse, and rhetorical analyses, this paper analyzes 600 news articles published on the websites of the four mainstream media sources from the key countries that were affected by the crisis. The results confirmed emotionalization of the news coverage that occurred through the use of similar rhetorical appeals and emotive language means aimed at inducing positive or negative feelings and shaping public opinion. The UK and US mainstream media appeared to rely more on the opinions of political, business, and energy authorities, highlighting a high level of politicization of their coverage. The findings also indicated polarization of the attitudes in the coverage, with mainly negative narratives about fossil fuels and more positive narratives about renewable energies, which contributed to public opinion manipulation and energy decision-making. This study opens up perspectives for future research on media emotions and rhetorical appeals as powerful manipulation means in applied linguistics, rhetoric, and journalism.

A Text Analysis of News Media Framing of Government Response to the 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake

ABSTRACTThe February 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake had a profound impact on political, economic, and social life in Türkiye. Despite criticism about government disaster response, the government of Türkiye won an election 3 months later. We examine variance in media coverage of government disaster responses with Structural Topic Modeling of 12,268 articles in five pro‐ and anti‐government newspapers in Türkiye (Anadolu Ajansi, Hurriyet, Sozcu, Cumhuriyet, and Posta) between the February earthquake and the May election. We identify five general topical themes in the data: emotion, science, information provision, government response, and the economy. We conduct sentiment analysis and find little direct criticism of the government's responses, although anti‐government newspapers are more negative on topics related to building structures and damage. The general pattern of positive sentiment among all newspapers regarding government responses to the earthquake may help us understand why the disaster was not as consequential for the election outcome as some observers expected.

THE LANGUAGE OF LUCK: AN EXPLORATION INTO MEDIA DISCOURSE ON GAMBLING IN ROMANIAN NEWS OUTLETS

The issue of gambling has become a widely discussed topic. In Romania, this discussion has gained momentum due to public concerns about excessive and unmarked advertising, as well as the proximity of gambling halls to public institutions and schools, posing a risk to young people. Mass-media also plays a crucial role in shaping and directing public opinion. Therefore, this research uses a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative methods with qualitative methods in order to closely examine how the media constructs its narratives about gambling and the individuals involved in such practices. This paper takes into account the predominant frames used in online media coverage of gambling in the general news websites Libertatea and Adevărul and the tabloids Click and Cancan, along with prevailing sentiments and narratives in each case. By using a Media Frames Corpus, the study unveils prevalent themes such as “Policy prescription and evaluation,” “Crime and punishment,” and “Public figures and celebrities”. Notably, sentiment analysis uncovers a pervasive negative tone across all sources, with Click exhibiting the highest negativity. It has further yielded results that showcase general news websites’ focus on legal and regulatory aspects, and tabloids’ tendency to expand on anecdotal, sensational or tragic stories.

Framing victims and perpetrators: Local and international reporting on the International Criminal Court case against Dominic Ongwen

Building on research on victims and perpetrators of political violence and their depiction in the media, this article highlights the conceptual and practical challenge of specifying the process by which individuals acquire a morally ambiguous or ‘complex’ status in conflict. The authors conduct a content analysis of English-language print reporting on Dominic Ongwen’s International Criminal Court case and ambiguous status as a child soldier and victim–perpetrator. They identify important variation in how different news media frame the processes through which an individual becomes a victim–perpetrator and how these depictions relate to understandings of agency as well as transitional justice and post-conflict societal transformations. The article presents a framework for understanding how individuals are seen as ‘turning’ from one category of conflict-affected individual to another category as depicted in the news media.

“What we ordered”: A multimodal framing analysis of the memetic representation of the Obidient movement in Nigeria

Abstract This study undertakes a multimodal framing analysis of the Obidient movement in Nigeria, with a view to exposing how Internet memes are deployed to advertise Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria’s 2023 election. Forty memes were purposively sampled from Nigerian WhatsApp platforms and data were analysed qualitatively using aspects of Kress and van Leeuwen (2006. Reading images: The grammar of visual design, 2nd edn. London: Routledge) grammar of visual design and Kuypers (2002. Press bias and politics: How the media frame controversial issues. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009. Framing analysis. In Kuypers Jim (ed.), Rhetorical criticism: Perspectives in action, 181–204. London: Lexington Books) rhetorical framing analysis. The findings reveal that the meme producers employed contextual variables such as labels, metaphors, visuals, salience and keywords to frame Peter Obi, the Obidient movement and the LP as a valid alternative in the presidential election. The study also shows the deployment of semiotic concepts such as salience, social distance, attitude and framing to positively represent the Obidient movement and Obi. The study concludes that the text producers deploy memes to portray the Obidients and the Labour Party presidential candidate as victims of an incredible electoral process, and that the memes are created to reveal broader socio-cultural realities, especially the predominance of religious and ethnic politics in the Nigerian context.

Securitizing Russian-speakers in Estonia and Latvia: The Frame-Policy Nexus before and after Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract The securitization of Russian-speakers has been central to nation-building in Estonia and Latvia since they regained their independence in 1991. Securitization at the levels of discourse and policy varies over time as a result of historical legacies, Russia’s kin state activism, and the minority protection requirements of European institutions. This article introduces a typology that links discursive frames with policies to map securitizing trends in Estonia and Latvia after the Soviet collapse: securitizing exclusion — less accommodating policies are justified by presenting the minority as a threat to the state or core nation; securitizing inclusion — more accommodating policies are justified to “win over” the minority in order to decrease the threat; and desecuritizing inclusion — more accommodating policies are justified on grounds of fairness or appropriateness without reference to security. The utility of the typology is demonstrated by analyzing frames in the public broadcast media and recent policy developments in Estonia and Latvia immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The analysis points to increasing convergence across countries in favor of securitizing exclusion. The analysis points to increasing convergence across countries in favor of securitizing exclusion. We conclude by evaluating these trends in light of minority mobilization and recent data on support for the active defense of the state among Russian-speakers and titulars.

Lexicalisation in Media Reports of Recurrent Diphtheria Outbreak in Nigeria: Implications for Health Communication

Linguistic studies on media coverage of pandemics and outbreaks in Nigeria, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola, and Lassa fever, have been extensive. However, the linguistic analysis of media reports on the diphtheria outbreak remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining the lexical choices employed in framing the diphtheria outbreak in Nigeria. Twenty articles from four popular Nigerian newspapers – The Punch, The Guardian, The Vanguard, and The Premium Times – were examined to discover the prevalent frames and associated lexical choices. The articles were collected between January and August 2023, a significant period marked by the resurgence of the disease and extensive reporting on its impact on victims. Using frame theory and lexical priming theory as analytical frameworks, the study identified frames such as health crisis, victim, government response, global aid and response, vaccination shortfall/hesitancy, public health awareness, past antecedent, and collaborative effort. Common lexical choices included terms like “deadly,” “surge,” and “critical situation,” which emphasize fear and urgency. This emotive tone is used purposefully to attract readers’ attention and prime them to interpret the outbreak as an urgent public health issue. Frames like Public Health Awareness and Government Response are concerned with informing the public. Several other frames, most notably Vaccination Shortfall/Hesitancy and Collaborative Effort, serve as a rallying cry. They highlight the need for increased vaccination coverage, collaboration among stakeholders, and public participation in health measures. Through framing and lexical choices, the media shapes public opinion, influences perceptions, and guides individual and collective responses to health issues like the diphtheria outbreak. The relevance of this study lies in its contribution to understanding how media framing and lexical choices impact public health communication, ultimately aiding in more effective health crisis management and public engagement strategies.

Variations in media framing of movements in China, France, and the U.S.: An intersectional approach.

Current literature often links contentious protests with media hostility, showing that news outlets typically portray protests involving disruption or violence in a negative light. Contesting this literature, this work introduces an intersectional approach-focusing on geopolitics, protest goals and actions-to theorize divergences in the media framing of protests that entail violence. To illustrate these divergences, we use mixed methods-network analysis and content analysis-to examine an original dataset on U.S. media coverage of three large movements in different countries. These movements share similarities in their anti-status quo goals and contentious actions but differ in geopolitical locations: one taking place in the U.S., the second in a U.S. ally country, and the third in a non-ally country. As the first to apply network analysis in movement-media studies, this comparative study contributes to a systematic examination of media framing variations both within and across social movements. This work also complicates our understanding of violence and media representation by introducing a theoretically-informed approach that considers multiple factors simultaneously.

Framing Migration Through the Crisis Era 2015–2022: A Content and Semantic Network Analysis of the Greek Press

Since the 2015 refugee crisis, when over 850,000 refugees and migrants reached European shores, migration has sparked intense political and social debates that dominate Europe’s political and media agenda. As a key entry point for refugees and migrants, Greece plays a central role in this ongoing crisis. This study examines how migration has been framed in three major Greek news outlets from 2015 to 2022. This study is groundbreaking as it goes beyond analyzing how mainstream media portray migration, migrants, and refugees. It also examines how the media frame the rhetoric and actions of far-right and right-wing populist parties in relation to migration, offering a more comprehensive and nuanced perspective. Analyzing 9840 opinion articles, it identifies two dominant frames: (a) a ‘political threat’ frame, reflecting concerns over the rise of the far-right in Europe driven by anti-migration rhetoric, and (b) a dual ‘security-humanitarianism’ frame, highlighting tensions between security needs and the imperative to uphold the human rights of refugees and immigrants, reflecting broader societal anxieties. The existence of a political threat frame and a dual-identity frame leads to question the prior conceptualization of security threats and strictly segregated frames in prior literature regarding established framing practices on migration.

The Media Framing and Discursive Meanings of the ‘Semonyeo’ Cases in the Korean Press: An Analysis of the Five Major Daily Newspapers

The Media Framing and Discursive Meanings of the ‘Semonyeo’ Cases in the Korean Press: An Analysis of the Five Major Daily Newspapers

City Beautification And The Cry Of The Marginalized; Media Framing Of Resettlement Issues In English Newspapers

City Beautification And The Cry Of The Marginalized; Media Framing Of Resettlement Issues In English Newspapers

Manipulative Messages in 'Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee, and Jessica Wongso': A Case Study of a Netflix Documentary

This research examines the presence and implications of manipulative messages in the Netflix documentary "Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee, and Jessica Wongso." By using framing analysis on the film, this research highlights how these messages shape the audience's perception and understanding of the events. The filmmaker's stance on the case attempts to present both sides of the case fairly, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions. This film portrays Jessica with nuance to consider the possibility that Jessica is both a perpetrator and a victim of the system and excessive media coverage. Furthermore, this research explores the cultural and societal contexts that have influenced the production of the documentary film, revealing how these factors contribute to the overall message. These findings indicate that the film director presents a perspective that attempts to view Jessica as a victim of media pressure and a legal process deemed unfair. Interviews with legal experts, Jessica's friends, and scenes showing the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the presented evidence also contribute to the narrative that Jessica might be innocent and instead a victim of unbalanced media framing. Until the year 2024, Jessica was declared free. This release marks a long-awaited victory for justice. This documentary film plays a significant role in raising public and judicial system awareness about the potential injustices that can befall an individual. This research is not merely entertainment, but rather an important medium that can contribute to voicing injustice and striving for justice in complex and controversial cases.

Media Reality Construction of Refugees Rohingya

In the news published by Republika.co.id, Kompas.com, and Kumparan.com, it was reported that Rohingya refugees who came to Aceh to get help and protection surprised the people of Aceh. Of course, the arrival of Rohingya refugees in Aceh raises various opinions from the people of Aceh itself. This research focuses on analysing the construction of reality from the news media using Robert N. Entman's framing analysis. This research aims to find out how Republika.co.id, Kompas.com, Kumparan.com media frame the reality related to the news of Rohingya refugees in Aceh. The methodology used for this research is by conducting a qualitative approach with Robert N. Entman's framing analysis model, by looking at the selection of issues and emphasis on aspects with Entman's four models, namely problem identification, diagnosis of the cause of the problem, moral judgement, and problem solving recommendations. The results show that Republika.co.id sees more through the Islamic view of the presence of Rohingya refugees based on religious principles. Kompas.com sees based on the view of Nationalism towards the condition of the Acehnese people from the arrival of Rohingya refugees in Aceh. Kumparan.com sees the issue as news that can increase the amount of income and readers, so each media has its own views on the issue. Researchers also present the ideology of each media so that it can influence the news text produced. This analysis focuses on the role of the media in presenting news in controversial issues so that it can affect news value