Media Framing Research Articles

Framing Russia-Ukraine War in the Newspapers of Bangladesh: A Topic Modeling Approach

Background: Media coverage consistently exerts a significant influence on the formation ofthe public's opinion, especially framing the war. Media framing refers to the deliberateselection and presentation of information in a manner that influences people's perception andreaction to specific aspects of an issue. The major objective of this study was to investigatehow Bangladeshi Print media frame the Russa-Ukraine Conflict (RUC) during the conflictperiod. Methods: The study comprised of scrapped data from the online version of twonewspapers the Daily Star (n=1135) and New Age (n=728) news items related to the RussaUkraine conflict from 24 February 2022 to 24 February 2023. The news stories were scrapedutilizing Python’s web scraping package Beautiful Soup. The data is analyzed adopting theLatent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling technique to determine the dominantframings like top keywords, top key phrases, and the most highlighted topic of the RussaUkraine war. Results: The frequency analysis of the Daily Star showed Ukraine (n=7,112)and Russia (n=5,884) being the most frequently used words, similarly New Age depictedUkraine (n=4,901) and Russia (n=3,655) as both newspaper’s top two mentioned words:Ukraine and Russia, were the same. The ‘United States’ was the top and second most usedkey phrase in New Age and The Daily Star, correspondingly. Surprisingly, Daily Starmentioned ‘United States’ (n=487) and ‘Joe Biden’ (n=211) in a notable amount though theUnited States was not a direct part of the conflict. The topic analysis showed that the topic –‘Military confrontations between Russia-Ukraine’ (frequency =513) and the topic- ‘Russiaand Ukraine’s military clashes’ (frequency= 421) had the utmost priority in the coverage ofthe Daily Star and the New Age, respectively. Conclusion: It was evident from our findingsthat Unites States, Joe Biden, western, sanctions, European Union, security council, BlackSea etc. topics were got much attention in compared with the sufferings of the victims, pricehike, energy crisis etc. topics.

Beyond Borders: Unveiling the Media Representation of Zuzana Čaputová in Czech Online News

This study underscores the influential capacity of transborder media communication in transcending geographical and political barriers, profoundly influencing political inclinations, voter behaviour, and public sentiment in neighbouring countries. The study specifically evaluates the portrayal of Zuzana Čaputová in Czech online media. Transborder communication between linguistically similar nations can result in distinctive representations of political figures from adjacent countries. Therefore, analysing this communication is crucial for comprehending the dynamics between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It also contributes to a broader understanding of transregional media narratives in Central and Eastern Europe. The research identified various thematic lines in the media representation of Čaputová, including comparison, fashion, personality, values, expertise, and a line of defenders, where commentators counteract hoaxes. Additionally, the study acknowledges that media framing is not gender-neutral and examines transborder communication from this perspective. The discussion provides a comprehensive overview of Čaputová’s media representation and her perceived role in the public and political spheres.

International Framing Competition Over the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ): A Comparison Between the American and Russian Media Framings

This article analyses the framing approaches of the Voice of America and Sputnik in the context of international framing competition since these are significant public diplomacy channels for the foreign policies of the United States and Russia. The paper questions how VOA and Sputnik frame the YPJ women by considering those countries’ policy objectives in Syria. Thematic content analysis and Robert Entman’s framing approach were applied. The paper indicates that there is a connection between policies of US and Russian governments during the Syrian civil war, particularly towards ISIS and framing tendencies of those government-sponsored media outlets over the YPJ women. While there was a consensus over the responsible agent (ISIS), framing competition has seen through factors affecting problem definition, solutions to this problem and moral justifications for the solution.

Analisis Framing Pemberitaan Tragedi Kanjuruhan Malang pada Media Online Detik.com dan Kompas.com

This study aims to analyze the media framing of Detik.com and Kompas.com regarding the Kanjuruhan football riot tragedy in Malang at the end of 2022, with a focus on identifying the framing and media ideologies reflected in online reporting. The research employs the approach of the theory of social reality construction, with data collection through observation, documentation, and a literature review of 20 news articles covering the period from October 2 to October 14, 2022. The research findings reveal that Detik.com emphasizes framing news around the victims, attempting to convey empathy for them, and its reporting tends to be brief and less in-depth. On the other hand, Kompas.com is more oriented toward the development of events and problem resolution, with more informative and comprehensive reporting. The media ideology of Detik.com is more pronounced in its focus on the perspectives of the victims and the quantity of reporting, whereas Kompas.com emphasizes the development of issues and the government's role in resolving the case, with reporting focused on facts and data.

Right up their street? News media framing of the protest activities of far-right movement parties

AbstractFar-right parties have increasingly emphasised their movement-like characteristics as a novel mobilisation strategy. Existing studies of these so-called ‘far-right movement parties’ have concentrated on their internal organisation and communications to understand how they mediate between a movement and party identity through their own actions. Yet research is lacking on how this identity is constructed and presented by the news media: a crucial interface between institutional politics and public opinion. This paper pursues this enquiry with a comparative analysis of the newspaper coverage of two prominent cases—the German AfD and UKIP—and asks how coverage of their increasing involvement in protests has varied cross-nationally and evolved over time. The analysis reveals the relative salience of the protest activities of the far-right, along with the associated social movement actors, issues and frames used in the reporting. It shows that far-right party protest receives a low level of attention and tends to be accompanied by delegitimising framing, particularly when associated (extremist) movements are also present. In both cases analysed, a critical juncture generated increasing attention to far-right party protest, but also more delegitimising frames. The study provides new insights into the structures and processes which influence how the media has responded to the new far-right ‘movement party’ form in Europe, with implications for our understanding of contemporary far-right mobilisation strategies.

Mapping Media Framing and Politics: A Bibliometric Analysis Across the Globe

Mapping Media Framing and Politics: A Bibliometric Analysis Across the Globe

Verging war between two atomic nations: Delineating coverage of India–Pakistan water dispute in global press

Arguably, journalistic practices should outline conflict reporting with a balanced approach to elicit non-violent responses. To date, no study has unfolded the coverage of the Indo-Pak potential war fueling “water dispute” by underpinning the theoretical notion of war and peace journalistic practices. Thus, drawing an analogy to war and peace journalism model, this article examines the media framing of the India–Pakistan water dispute in the USA, Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani newspapers. The study used a content analysis method to examine the use of framing techniques in newspapers. Findings supported that the global press' framing of the water dispute between India and Pakistan was dominated by war frames compared to peace frames. The Indian press used more war frames among the four countries while covering water disputes between rival nuclear neighbors. Moreover, it was found that the USA and Chinese press gave negligible coverage. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Media Frames of the Operation of JTF and the Implications for Civilian Involvement in the Fight Against Terrorism in North-East, Nigeria

This research, which examined newspaper framing of the operations of Civilian JTF in combating terrorism in North-East Nigeria between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019, was aimed at filling the gap in existing literature on newspaper framing of civilian efforts in combating terrorism in Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to find out the dominant frames and sources of news frames used in reporting civilian JTF's involvement in fighting terrorism as well as the interpretations that media frames gave on the issue. Using framing theory, the work undertook a content analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis (involving textual analysis) of four national newspapers: Vanguard, Punch, Daily Trust and Leadership. These newspapers were chosen because they have national spread and are regularly published over a period of time. Using simple random sampling, the study sampled a total of 432 issues of the selected newspapers and found that the reports from the selected newspapers on the involvement and operations of civilian JTF in combating terrorism in Nigeria were frequent. Out of the 432 issues of the selected newspapers, 309 (71.5%) issues were on the topic under study. It also found that the newspapers did not give prominence to the issue under investigation as the majority (68.2%) of the news items were hidden in inside pages. In addition, it was also found that the newspaper emphasized the military/government frame. Findings from the textual analysis revealed that the sampled newspapers all gave different manners of approach in their interpretation of the involvement of the Civilian JTF in the fight against terrorism, which resulted in emerging thematic frames such as: Victory frame, Fear frame, Relief frame and Strategy frame. Therefore, the work recommended that Nigerian newspapers should not only increase their reportage of governments/civilian efforts at combating terrorism but also place news items on terrorism prominently. It equally suggested that the press should improve their investigative reporting so as to help the government and civilian efforts in combating terrorism.

Media Framing of African Refugee Migration to Europe: An Analysis of Narrative Constructions From Selected Global Media Houses in 2023

The framing of migrants from Africa to Europe on the global media is complex and quite obscure. The manner in which media tells a story is quite critical as it has the potential to influence the discernment of the public from different parts of the world. The main goal of the study was to examine how the global media houses portrayed African migrants to Europe in 2023.This was guided by two specific objectives:To examine the global media outlets' coverage of African refugee migration to Europe and to analyze the language used by the media to describe African refugees, assessing for bias, stereotypes, or stigmatization. The study was guided by the framing theory. The study employed a qualitative method design to conduct a detailed analysis of media framing surrounding African migration to Europe. Data was collected from all the global media houses with a sampling frame from three major media houses which included: The Cable News Network (CNN), The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Eastern Africa. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings indicated that, how global media houses cover the migration of people from Africa to Europe exposes the intricate narrative formed by a variety of both negative and positive views. While the CNN and BBC comprise varied perspectives to the issues, The Eastern Africa gives insight into the regional circumstances surrounding the migration problem as well as the humanitarian concerns. Across all the examined media houses (CNN, BBC, The Eastern Africa), there is an inclination towards portraying the African migrants in negative light, underscoring their impact on destination states. There were instances of Bias and stereotypes that could potentially lead to stigmatization. The study recommended that there is need for balanced reporting from media houses, there needs for some ethical considerations in reporting and that media houses should mainly focus on their role of creating awareness and advocacy.

Sarcasm or sexism? Media framing of Duterte’s misogynistic speeches

ABSTRACT This article examines the media framing of authoritarian leaders’ misogynistic speeches from the case of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. Existing literature has discussed Duterte’s strategic use of misogynistic language and women’s responses to his speeches, but little research has examined how the news media framed his behavior. We conduct a qualitative media content analysis of 265 reports from seven domestic news media outlets about three incidents of Duterte’s public speeches: fantasizing about raping an Australian missionary woman, threatening to attack female rebel soldiers’ vaginas, and denying women’s eligibility for the presidency. We find that the news media tends to underreport the incidents despite variations across different media. In particular, the media tends to frame Duterte’s speeches as (1) feminist issues rather than human rights issues, (2) sarcastic jokes rather than genuine misogyny, and (3) individual deviation rather than structural problems. As the first systematic study of variations in news reports on Duterte’s misogynistic speeches, this article expands the literature on media representations of political leaders’ misogynistic behavior in consideration of local contexts from non-Western societies.

Contesting Narratives: A Comparative Analysis of Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri Print Media Framing of the Abrogation of Article 370

The revocation of Article 370 by the Indian government in August 2019, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status, dramatically exacerbated tensions in the long-standing Kashmir conflict. This decisive unilateral action triggered a harsh security crackdown and communications blackout in the Kashmir Valley. Given the disputed territory's centrality to Indo-Pak relations and regional stability, the framing of this pivotal event by Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri media assumed immense geopolitical significance. This study comparatively examined the dominant frames employed by elite English newspapers in all three stakeholder regions - The Hindu in India, Dawn in Pakistan, and Kashmir Times representing the local Kashmiri press. Underpinned by framing theory, a deductive qualitative content analysis revealed starkly divergent framings aligned with the respective nationalistic stances. The findings expose how media outlets strategically amplified certain aspects while marginalizing others to promote polarizing master narratives reflecting national interests regarding the Kashmir dispute. The implications underscore media's power to construct contested realities serving partisan interests in protracted geopolitical conflicts. To uphold ethical journalism principles, prevent further escalation, and promote inclusive human rights framing, the study recommends transnational collaboration between Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri outlets rooted in objectivity and impartiality.

Framing of the Belt and Road Initiative by Selected India Online Newspapers

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched by China in 2013. The Chinese government perceives this initiative as an economic cooperation effort aimed at addressing obstacles that impede development. The intricacies of the China-India relationship have caused India to perceive the BRI from a distinct perspective. The role of relationship type as an external factor in the frame-building process has been neglected until now. This study aims to determine the influence of China-India relationship types on the five generic frames formulated by Semetko and Valkenburg in 2000. The relationship types include cooperation relationship, competition relationship, and friction relationship. The frames under consideration encompass the responsibility frame, human interest frame, conflict frame, morality frame, and economic consequences frame. The study employs quantitative content analysis as its methodology, utilising this approach to analyse news articles sourced from selected India online newspapers, namely The Times of India, The Hindus, and Hindustan Times. A total of 658 news articles were selected in online newspapers, covering the period from September 2013 to September 2022. This study found that relationship types indeed play a significant role in the frame-building process. Cooperation relationship had a very weak positive correlation with the responsibility frame; the competition relationship had a very weak negative correlation with the responsibility frame and a weak negative correlation with the conflict frame; the friction relationship had a weak positive correlation with the conflict frame. Overall, it can be concluded that the highlighted relationship types do indeed influence the framing of news. Keywords: Media framing, frame building, belt and road initiative, China-India relationships, India online newspapers.

Narrative Building by Baloch Separatist on X: A Thematic Analysis

This research investigates the techniques applied to X by Baloch social media activists associated with separatist ideology. In this era of technology, 5th generation warfare is believed to create more ripples. This study analyses how particular issues are highlighted using tools of 5th-generation warfare for building desired narratives. Qualitative content analysis is adopted for this research. Content posted by X accounts of 10 activists affiliated with Baloch separatist ideology is selected for analysis. Contemporary data from 3 months is collected through an online tool (www.allmytweets.net). Codes/Themes are extracted from the data to understand the queries developed. This research discusses the issues that Baloch separatists select to present in media, the sentiments they attach to emotionalize them with intentions to gain audiences' attention and the media frames used by the activists to build a desired narrative. The research argues that the issues; are moulded around the violation of human rights and exploited to build anti Pakistan narrative. World powers and international organizations are urged to take action and help them for freedom from the forceful occupation.

Who is to blame? Stories of European Union migration governance in Italian, Maltese, and Spanish newspapers

AbstractWhile scholars have investigated how media frame human mobility and securitize irregular border crossings, little research has been dedicated to how European Union (EU) actors are portrayed in media coverage of migration across the Mediterranean. By integrating framing into narrative analysis through the Narrative Policy Framework, our article fills this gap. Specifically, we provide a content analysis of Italian, Maltese, and Spanish newspapers and identify the key narratives underlying the portrayal of specific EU actors. We show that, overall, lack of EU solidarity is the prevalent issue in Italian, Maltese, and Spanish newspapers alike, followed by the alleged inefficiency of EU actors. Accordingly, the EU and its key actors are regularly narrated as either villains, responsible for the crisis and deserting member states in need of solidarity, or as weaklings unable to take effective action. These narratives appear remarkably consistent across countries, over time, and newspapers with different ideological orientation.

Framing the wild: A qualitative analysis of environmental news coverage during the 2020 coronavirus lockdowns

News media coverage of the natural world frames perceptions and policies related to the environment. Studying its reporting brings insight for how meaning is assigned to humanity’s relationship with nature and wildlife. Through qualitative content analysis, this study examines digital articles on the environment, published from March to December 2020, amidst mass lockdowns due to the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Claims about the impact of humanity being locked down were analysed using framing theory. Findings revealed four major frames generated in connection to (1) wildlife behaviour, (2) a new normal post-COVID, (3) climate change being displaced and (4) human–nature symbiosis. The results of qualitative inquiry offer a more nuanced understanding of how media frames the complex human–nature relationship, which tends to feature negative and hostile associations. This furthers the notion that such framing can limit perspectives, even if unintended, and arguably weakens viewing our relationship with nature as symbiotic.

Victim blaming and character assassination: Media framing of controversial issues of Bangladesh

News framing plays a significant role in creating and diverting perceptions on controversial issues in Bangladesh. The study examines three selected occurrences involving renowned personalities to discover the factors that contribute to the sensationalization of news information. The research posits theme-based criteria that influence news framing and investigates how controversy spreads via conventional and internet media. According to the study, online news portals participate in more news framing than conventional media. Victim blaming and character assassination are frequent framing strategies utilized in the online domain. The framing factors include misleading headlines, improper wording, and distortion of context. Thematic analysis of the study finds nine variables responsible for framing disagreement in the media, three of which constitute a basic pattern for framing disputes. The study emphasizes the possibility of news framing interfering with an individual's personal and professional life, as well as the importance of responsible journalism that promotes factual reporting while avoiding framing elements that can lead to victim blaming, character assassination, and sensationalism. Overall, the study adds to the current literature on news framing by offering insights into the thematic factors that can greatly influence framing debate. The study's findings might be useful for media practitioners and policymakers in Bangladesh and abroad since they give a better knowledge of the mechanics of framing disputes in the media. The report also recommends more research on news framing and its influence on public perceptions and attitudes toward contentious subjects.

Linguistic Analysis of News Title Strategies in Media Frame—A Case Study of “The Mueller Investigation” in the News Titles of The New York Times and Fox News

Linguistic Analysis of News Title Strategies in Media Frame—A Case Study of “The Mueller Investigation” in the News Titles of The New York Times and Fox News

The Royal Treatment

The Royal Treatment

Challenges of #bodypositivity: Social media and hashtag activism

ABSTRACT Fat liberation movements seeking to dismantle systematic discrimination against fat bodies have been active in the U.S for over 50 years. Body positivity specifically has gained immense traction in the last decade. Recently, body positivity has been used more widely to, supposedly, individually challenge general ideologies that value thinness and fitness. Utilizing 200 posts from Instagram and 200 videos from TikTok, we examine the ways that social media frames body positivity and is an important vector for sending messages regarding ideal bodies. We find that body positivity discourse on social media is fragmented. While messages of “self-love” abound, those who are afforded self-love are those who still maintain somewhat hegemonic body standards. Additionally, we find that body positivity is also often linked to bodily changes rooted in weight loss and healthism, appropriating the original meaning of #bodypositivity particularly through the use of hashtags to influence social media algorithms.

Geopolitics of mobile masses: refugee and tourist metaphors in Finnish-Russian bordertown media

This paper examines the discourses on mobile others as objects of massification or likened to natural forces. By creating a dialogue between theories of crowds/masses and popular geopolitics, we examine how a local media frames the actual, imagined and absent border crossings of refugees and tourists when a voluminous mobile group disappears in tandem with an emerging unease about a new mobile group. We focus on the freesheet Imatralainen, published in a South Karelian Finnish-Russian bordertown that has been a tourist destination since the late eighteenth century but where invisible geopolitical tension is part of everyday life. Our discourse analysis shows that from the Crimean crisis to the migrant ‘crisis’ (2014–2016), local media have frequently portrayed Russian tourists and non-European migrants via a natural force rhetoric while viewing both refugees and tourists as potential resources or burdens. The mobility of others can represent itself as an external threat, and it can be taken as a perspectival threatscape that opens space for geopolitical issues amplified or transformed through the idea of masses and crowds into potential local issues. The article contributes to tourism geographies and the geopolitics of mobilities literature by evaluating the potential of classical crowd theories for understanding how threatscapes relating to the refugee-tourist nexus are made and manipulated by linguistic collectivisation, silencing and dehumanisation. We argue that more attention should be given to the role of the local in shaping the popular geopolitics of mobilities that construct, sustain and fabricate discourses of ‘otherness’ and massification.