Human Interest Frame Research Articles

Calm During the Storm: Micro-Assemblage, Meteorology and Community Building on a Local Independent Weather Blog During Hurricane Harvey

ABSTRACT During Hurricane Harvey, a local weather blog heavily emphasized risk and meteorological data without defaulting to disaster or human interest frames common in mainstream news coverage of severe weather. Journalists routinely articulated uncertainty, delineating what was likely and what was possible, while imagining community through personal expression and shared experience. Space City Weather’s coverage of the record-breaking hurricane offers a unique case study of micro-assemblage, a process of content hybridization incorporating the acceptance and rejection of traditional journalism practices, emerging digital media techniques, unfiltered scientific expertise and media framing. Case study analysis provides a foundation for further study of local and independent weather blogs while building scholarship on micro-assemblage and hybrid digital media.

Whose stories are told and who is made responsible? Human-interest framing in health journalism in Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

Human-interest narratives are journalistic tools to captivate and engage the audience, influence public opinion and bring revenue to media organizations. This paper analyses how human-interest narratives are used in contemporary health journalism across media systems and health systems. Based on a comparative content analysis of Norwegian, Spanish, U.K. and U.S. newspapers (2016–2017), it studies how human-interest stories are contextualized, health problems explained and responsibility attributed. The article reveals a complex picture of the role of human-interest stories in health coverage. In line with expectations, the study finds that human-interest stories do tend to emphasize individual biomedical treatment of illness and to privilege idealized victims who fit the routines of dominant media dramaturgy. In contrast to theories that consider personalization of news as an individualization of responsibility and dumbing down of public debate, however, the study finds that human-interest narratives are also used to explain health as a structural phenomenon and a collective responsibility, appealing to political intervention and accountability of health authorities. Such claims are more prominent in European human-interest health stories and less frequent in the more strongly commercialized U.S. health and media system.

Framing of FeeMustFall students' protest by Daily Dispatch Newspaper and the effect on readers’ perceptions

This article sought to examine the framing of FeeMustFall protest by Daily Dispatch Newspaper (DDN) and its effect on readers' perceptions. This study adopted a mixed method of research, wherein a quantitative content analysis was used to explicate the frames of FeeMustFall stories reported by DDN while a focus group discussion, a qualitative method, was used to assess the effect of framing of FeeMustFall students' protest stories on readers’ perceptions. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed through content analysis of the DDN while qualitative data collected through focus group discussions were analyzed thematically. Content analysis of 31 FeeMustFall stories reported by DDN showed that 45.16 per cent (14) of the stories were categorized as conflict frame (CF), 29 per cent (9) as attribution of responsibility frame (ARF), 16 per cent (5) as human interest frame (HIF) while 6.45 per cent (2) and 3.23 per cent (1) were categorized as economic consequence frame (ECF) and morality frame (MF), respectively. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions revealed that the type of news frame used for the presentation of FeeMustFall protest stories influenced the thoughts and perceptions of readers on the issue as the news frames generated similar audience frames.

The effects of infotainment on public reaction to North Korea using hybrid text mining: Content analysis, machine learning-based sentiment analysis, and co-word analysis

This study proposes alternative measures of infotainment’s effects on audience perception and reception of news on social media, focusing on infotainment coverage of North Korea. We determine the elements of framing strategies and narrative styles in facilitating public attention, positive and negative responses, and engagement in news content. We used the YouTube application programming interface to collect data from VideoMug, Korea’s most popular YouTube channel, run by the Seoul Broadcasting System. We examined 23,774 replies commenting on North Korea-related video clips from July 1, 2018, to May 17, 2019. The findings show that entertainment and human interest frames were effective in drawing public attention to news coverage about North Korea. Using humor and colloquial language facilitated public attention (both positive and negative) and public engagement. Over half (59.55%) of the comments generated positive emotions; less than one-third generated negative emotions (31.41%); and a few generated neutral ones (9.03%). The infotainment approach helped make South Koreans’ attitudes toward North Korea and inter-Korean relations more positive. A small number of users who served as top authorities were extremely partisan and conducted intense debates about infotainment practices. This study’s hybrid analytical framework using computerized text mining techniques offers both theoretical and methodological insights into the function of infotainment in the context of social media.

Framing of the U.S.’ 2016 Presidential election: a content analysis of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaign speeches

ABSTRACT The study investigated generic and non-generic media frames in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaign speeches. Comparing the two political actors’ usage of frames in their campaign speeches revealed that Trump utilized economic consequence, conflict, attribution of responsibility, and negative campaign frames significantly more than Clinton. On the other hand, Clinton employed social inclusion, human interest, positive campaign, and mixed campaign frames substantially more than Trump. Clinton did not exclude any group in her speeches. The two political actors’ use of human interest, morality, positive campaign and mixed campaign frames are analogous. The generic frame pattern in political campaign speeches is comparable to generic frames in media contents.

The Effects of Framing on Oil Pollution as Covered by Print Media: A Case Study of Nigerian Newspapers

Incidents of oil pollution has become a reoccurring decimal over the last twenty decades in most countries of the world. The controversy over who is responsible for the massive oil pollution witnessed in some oil-producing countries globally has amplified tensions between significant stakeholders in those countries. The issue of oil pollution in Nigeria and Ghana, for instance, has caused ecosystem degradation, the devastation of means of livelihood of local communities, and the death of aquatic organisms such as fish. Our study investigated the effects of the five news frames identified by Semetko & Valkenburg (2000); responsibility, economic consequences, conflict, human interest, and morality. Through content analysis, our study analyzed 531 newspaper stories on oil pollution in Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region from 2014-2018. The results indicated that overall, the effects of the human interest frame usage were more prevalent in The Daily Sun newspaper than the other two papers, The Guardian and The Punch, within the study period. This was followed by economic consequences, responsibility, conflict, and morality frames. Also, the study revealed that the effects of the differences in the frequency of using the frames in the coverage of oil pollution in the three selected papers varied significantly.

Comparative analysis of CNN coverage of weather-related disasters in USA, Japan, and India

Previous research studies have investigated news media coverage of weather-related disasters. However, little is known about how CNN, a broadcast enterprise with global reach, has covered and framed weather disasters happening in a Western country and an Asian country. Thus, the present study used a qualitative method to analyze how CNN covered and framed weather-related disasters in the USA, Japan, and India. Five news frames provided the theoretical framework. The findings show that CNN used responsibility and morality frames differently in its coverage of weather-related disasters in the three countries. This suggests that CNN might have different expectations about audiences. In frame building, factors like audience expectations influence media frames. There were no differences in the economic consequences and human interest framing of weather-related disasters in the three countries. Conflict framing was not present in CNN coverage of weather-related disasters in any of the three countries. The study recommends that CNN in particular and news media in general provide more coverage and in-depth analysis on the audience so that they can have a deeper understanding of weather-related disaster issues.

Content Analysis of Frames Used in Op-Ed Coverage of Armed Conflicts between Pakistan and India

This paper analyses how Pakistani print news media framed two armed conflict that occurred between India and Pakistan post-Pulwama attack in 2019 using five framing categories; conflict, morality, responsibility human interest, and solution. Using census approach subset of data; 282 opinions and editorials were collected from a population of 1,321 published number of items. Results from content analysis showed that media published a significant amount of content in editorials and opinions regarding armed conflicts. Content analysis disclosed that Pakistani print media placed emphasis on the use of conflict frame, and the use of human-interest frame was seen slightly low in numbers across all the newspapers during framing of Balakot airstrike and Pakistani retaliation after the Pulwama attack. However, there was no significant difference found between framing categories used by print news media. Findings are discussed in the context of journalistic priorities in selecting specific frames during framing of armed conflicts that holds national and international prominence.

Framing the Trump Administration’s “Zero Tolerance” Policy: A Quantitative Content Analysis of News Stories and Visuals in US News Websites

ABSTRACT A quantitative content analysis was employed to study how websites of newspapers (The New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal) and cable news (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News) framed the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy in stories (N = 477) and visuals (N = 501). Overall, Attribution of responsibility was the most used frame and the news content was much more thematic then episodic, with the exception of the Human interest frame. The New York Times and the Washington Post used more frequently the Morality frame, while CNN and MSNBC had more Human interest stories and The Wall Street Journal focus more on the Economic frame. Crime was prominent only on Fox News. The visuals predominantly focused on immigrants in shelters and children stopped at the border, and they portrayed more negative than positive emotions. Fox News was the only news outlet to publish images of immigrants trying to force the border and to release more visuals of men alone. CNN and MSNBC used more frequently images of immigrants looking directly at the camera. Surprisingly, The New York Times, whose stories criticized the policy, published the lowest number of images portraying children behind bars.

News framing of the Euromaidan protests in the hybrid regime and the liberal democracy: Comparison of Russian and UK news media

This study examines and compares news framing of the protests in Ukraine from 30 November 2013 to 26 February 2014, encompassing three news sectors in the hybrid regime setting of Russia and the liberal democracy of the UK. Following Godefroidt et al.’s (2016) approach in their article in International Communication Gazette 78(8), the findings suggest that, while the Russian media used economic consequences and morality frames in the reporting of the protests reflecting the country’s political rhetoric on Ukraine, the British media preferred a human-interest frame and delivered a primarily one-sided coverage. The confrontational interpretations of the crisis by the Russian and UK media revealed an illiberal trend in both the hybrid regime and the liberal democracy.

Framing terrorism: A comparative content analysis of ISIS news on RT Arabic and Sky News Arabia websites

Abstract This study compares RT Arabic and Sky News Arabia websites in their coverage of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria violent organization known as ISIS from 1 June 2014 until 30 June 2016, in terms of framing type and the image reflected about ISIS. The quantitative content analysis of the news articles shows similarities and few differences in the news coverage of ISIS. The study suggests that RT and Sky News share a few features in framing ISIS but still differ significantly. The two websites adopt mainly the conflict frame in presenting ISIS issues; however, they report ISIS differently when it comes to violence and human interest frames. The findings also reveal that RT and Sky News differ partially in the image reflected about ISIS on their websites. RT has exaggerated ISIS’s image more distinctly than Sky News. Besides, even though threat is the most dominant discourse about ISIS in the two websites, RT promotes ISIS as powerful and exaggerates its strength in its coverage more than Sky News.

Western and Chinese media representation of Africa in COVID-19 news coverage

ABSTRACT In news production and dissemination, media represent communities, countries, and continents by constructing concepts, images, and identities as viewed by selected information sources. It is often assumed that foreign countries are labelled ‘Others’ by global media and misrepresented. This study aims to explore how differently Western and Chinese media source and frame events in Africa. Comparative content analysis of news coverage of COVID-19 prevention in Africa revealed that Western media used African official, African non-official, and Western non-official channels as information sources whereas Chinese media mainly used African and Chinese official sources. The result demonstrated that Western media covered events in Africa in Conflict, Negativity, Human interest, Impact, Eminence, and Novelty frames in positive, neutral, and negative tones whereas Chinese media covered mainly in Impact, Eminence and Novelty frames mostly in positive tone. Overall, the results suggest that Western media coverage of the events is not predominantly negative; and Chinese media coverage is uncommonly affirmative. The findings also suggest that sourcing shapes frames, tones, and representation of ‘Others’ by news media.

Sustainable development goals and media framing: an analysis of road safety governance in Bangladeshi newspapers

This paper seeks to explore how Bangladeshi newspapers frame road safety governance. It investigates the prevalence of five news frames—responsibility, conflict, human interest, economic consequence and morality, in news stories on road safety in Bangladesh. Taking a deductive approach to qualitative content analysis, a total of ninety three (93) news stories from July 29 to August 30, 2018, were analyzed from four Bangladeshi newspapers. The findings suggest that the most common frame in news stories on road safety was the attribution of responsibility frame, followed by the conflict frame and human interest frame, respectively. In most of the cases, the government was seen as responsible for the problem, rather than the individual actors. It is argued that each of the frames can construct a distinct picture of the reality in which road safety is positioned and influence the policy preferences of the audience.

The Ongoing Debate on Chinese Primary Education: A Framing Analysis of Malaysian Newspapers

In Malaysia, Chinese vernacular education has been a highly contested and much debated political issue in the mass media. This study examines how Malaysian newspapers framed Chinese primary education for a 3-year period (2015–2017) which is before the 2018 election. Findings showed that, the proximity of election has led to a surge in news reporting about Chinese primary education. Political considerations remain central in mainstream newspapers’ reporting in which official sources are dominant in shaping public understanding of the issue. Alternative newspapers serve as a counter-establishment platform through active participation of readers in public debate. A responsibility frame dominates the news coverage of Chinese primary education in both types of newspapers. Nevertheless, the alternative newspapers tend to focus on the conflict aspect of the issue by foregrounding discord between ruling and opposition politicians as well as intra- Barisan Nasional (BN) disputes. Through human interest frame, the mainstream newspapers emotionalize the issue to obtain readers’ attention. This study concludes that varying reporting strategies adopted by Malaysian newspapers can impact readers’ evaluation of education policy issues. The implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are also discussed.

The Political Reform and the Amharic Biweekly Reporter: The Editorial Contents of the Reporter Newspaper in Ethiopia from 2017 to 2019

This research examines the agenda and frames used by the Reporter newspaper editorial coverage of issues and actors before and after the reform in Ethiopia. The study applies quantitative content analysis method and examined 99 (Period 1 = 57 and Period 2 = 42) editorials in all periods. The source of data and the period of data collection were purposely selected. The results indicated that societal issue, government and party issues were frequent in both periods. Professional journalist was the only Author in both periods. More government criticism and more reforms were mentioned before the reform. Compared with editorials published before and after the reform, noticeable changes were observed in government critique, attribution of responsibility frames, human interest frames and economic issue frames. However, content selection, sources of information, mentioned reforms, conflict relationship frames and ideological frames didn’t have relationship with date of publication. Finally, the Reporter editorials coverage did change significantly in many respects, although it is difficult to determine the causes of the changes-economic factors, reduced political control, social changes or globalization forces.

Media Coverage of Malaysian Airline Flight MH370: A Preliminary Study on the Framing of the Crisis in the Malaysian Mainstream and Alternative Newspapers

This study proposes to investigate and compare the coverage of the disappearance of Malaysian airline flight MH370 by Malaysian mainstream and alternative newspapers – the Star newspaper and Malaysiakini . The MH370 crisis in March 2014 is considered as the greatest aviation crisis in the history of Malaysia in view of its magnitude, and attracted massive local and international media coverage. It presented Malaysian authorities with new form of challenge, resulting to various criticisms from aviation, media and crisis communication experts over the manner in which information regarding the crisis were handled by the Malaysian Airline (MAS) in particular, and the Malaysian government in general. On the other hand, the role of the media during crisis is not only to provide information regarding the crisis, but also to act as the peoples’ advocate by providing avenue for public engagements and discussions. However, the ability of the media to play this role depends to a certain extent on ownership, and to a large extent on the degree of freedom it enjoys in a country. Through quantitative content analysis, the study compares the framing of the crisis by the selected newspapers, the sources of information for their news stories, and slants of the news. The study found among others that while the mainstream newspaper; the star provided more of general and limited viewpoints with concentration on the human interest frame, the alternative newspaper; Malaysiakini has more critical news reports with focus on the attribute of responsibility frame. KEYWORDS Crisis; Framing, MH370; newspaper coverage; Press freedom

War and Journalism: Framing the Syrian and Yemen War Through the New York Times Online News Coverage

This study, based on a quantitative and qualitative approach of content analysis, aims to understand the image of Arab-Muslims in times of crises and wars and how they are presented through the American press. In particular, the study is concerned with analyzing the news coverage of current Arab issues by the New York Times Online (NYT). The study answers a number of questions about how the New York Times Online produced stories and news related to the Syrian war (SW) and the Operation Decisive Storm (ODS) in Yemen, in terms of news processing and media frames.Results revealed that overall, the perceptions of news-sources trends in the NYT regarding the two issues (SW and ODS) can be described as negative trends. Furthermore, the analysis framing perspective indicated that the NYT was more likely to use emotional features than substantive features to cover all the two issues. The type of frame most used in covering the SW was limited frame, conflict frame, general frame and human-interest frame, while framing type related to the ODS, the most frame used were conflict frame, human-interest frame and limited frame. Keywords: journalism, war, news coverage, framing, Syria, Yemen, New York Times DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/88-03 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

War and Journalism: Framing the Syrian and Yemen War Through the New York Times Online News Coverage

This study, based on a quantitative and qualitative approach of content analysis, aims to understand the image of Arab-Muslims in times of crises and wars and how they are presented through the American press. In particular, the study is concerned with analyzing the news coverage of current Arab issues by the New York Times Online (NYT). The study answers a number of questions about how the New York Times Online produced stories and news related to the Syrian war (SW) and the Operation Decisive Storm (ODS) in Yemen, in terms of news processing and media frames.Results revealed that overall, the perceptions of news-sources trends in the NYT regarding the two issues (SW and ODS) can be described as negative trends. Furthermore, the analysis framing perspective indicated that the NYT was more likely to use emotional features than substantive features to cover all the two issues. The type of frame most used in covering the SW was limited frame, conflict frame, general frame and human-interest frame, while framing type related to the ODS, the most frame used were conflict frame, human-interest frame and limited frame. Keywords: journalism, war, news coverage, framing, Syria, Yemen, New York Times DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/88-03 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

Northwest Passages: Framing by Local, National and Public Media in Canada's Arctic

ABSTRACT During the summer of 2016, the largest cruise ship ever to transit the Northwest Passage traveled through the Canadian Arctic, carrying more than 1,600 passengers and crew. That event resulted in a tremendous influx of tourists, considering the population the entire territory of Nunavut is only 36,000. This study examines how local media played a critical role in representing local community values in coverage of that remarkable cruise. The complete English Canadian textual coverage of the voyage by three media segments was compiled: local media, national media, and a national public broadcaster. A framing analysis revealed significant differences in how each of the three media segments frames the news. Local media placed significantly more emphasis on political, bureaucratic, and environmental frames than did national media, yet used human interest frames at about the same frequency. Furthermore, local media's selection of frames was more diverse than was evident in coverage from national media or the public broadcaster. In addition, the study reveals that the public broadcaster frames stories independently of local and national media, a finding which serves to emphasize the distinct value of each media segment in forming complete coverage of this story.

Print Media and the Political Reform in Ethiopia

This research examines the agenda and frames used by the Reporter newspaper editorial coverage of issues and actors before and after the reform in Ethiopia. The study applies a quantitative content analysis method and examined 99 (Period 1 = 57 and Period 2 = 42) editorials in all periods. The source of data and the period of data collection were purposely selected. The results indicated that societal issues, government, and party issues were frequent in both periods. The professional journalist was the only Author in both periods. More government criticism and more reforms were mentioned before the reform. Compared with editorials published before and after the reform, noticeable changes were observed in government critique, attribution of responsibility frames, human interest frames and economic issue frames. However, content selection, sources of information, mentioned reforms, conflict relationship frames, and ideological frames didn’t have relationship with the date of publication. Finally, the Reporter editorials coverage did change significantly in many respects, although it is difficult to determine the causes of the changes—economic factors, reduced political control, social changes or globalization forces.