Qualitative Media Content Analysis Research Articles

Messaging Soleimani's killing: the communication vulnerabilities of authoritarian states

Abstract The capacity of authoritarian states to manipulate narratives and undermine the authority of western democracies is increasingly emphasized in International Relations research. Far less scrutiny has been paid to the ways in which the media environment creates communication vulnerabilities for these same repressive states. We address this research gap through a case-study of Persian-language commentary on the targeted assassination of Qasem Soleimani—a crescendo in the conflict between Iran and the United States. We examine how commentators on the two popular satellite channels interpreted Soleimani's killing and subsequent developments, and specifically, whether they rallied around the Iranian flag. The research method employed is qualitative media content analysis. The investigation reveals that the Islamic Republic did not benefit from a significant surge in patriotism among Iranian commentators; in fact, some openly applauded the attack. It was only when President Trump threatened to bomb Iranian cultural sites that the commentators rallied around the flag. The Islamic Republic faced a two-front narrative battle as communication attacks from within the national community intensified the information war with the US. The article concludes that authoritarian states are at a disadvantage when they require communication strategies beyond disinformation and distortion.

Canada\u2019s response to international travel during COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 a media analysis

BackgroundThe media play a critical role in informing the public about the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, international travel has been a highly contested subject at both the international and national levels. We examined Canadian media reporting on international travel restrictions during the pandemic, how these restrictions aligned with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), and how the narrative around international travel evolved over time.MethodsWe analysed articles from Canada’s top three national newspapers by circulation – The Globe and Mail, The National Post and The Toronto Star - published between Jan 1, 2020 - May 31, 2020. Our search yielded a total of 378 articles across the three newspapers. After removing duplicates and screening the remaining articles, we included a total of 62 articles for the analysis. We conducted a qualitative media content analysis by using an inductive coding approach.ResultsThree major themes were identified within the articles. These included: 1) The role of scientific and expert evidence in implementing travel restrictions; 2) Federal legislation, regulation and enforcement of international travel measures; and 3) Compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines in travel restriction policy- and decision-making. The federal government relied primarily on scientific evidence for implementing international travel restrictions and fully exercised its powers under the Quarantine Act to enforce travel regulations and comply with the IHR 2005. The government embraced a rules-based international order by following WHO recommendations on international travel, contributing to a delay in border closure and travel restrictions until mid-March.ConclusionThe media focussed significantly on international travel-related issues during the early phase of the pandemic. The dominant media narrative surrounded the need for earlier travel restrictions against international travel.

From Family Doctor to Healthentainment: Health Topics in the Italian Public Service from Neo-Television to Post-television

The paper analyses health and public health representation within RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) programmes in the shift from neo-television to post-television. To this purpose, it presents the result of a qualitative media content analysis on three different RAI programmes, attributable to different television genres and aired in the two periods considered. The analysis shows that in the shift from neo-television to post-television a recurrent genre arose which we call healthentainment: evolving from health representation to health storytelling, this genre integrates varied expert knowledge with new topics and new means of public involvement; flexible regarding information content, it is however firmly science-based.

Regulatory resistance to environmental law in rural Australia: land clearing, murder and the media

ABSTRACTIn 2014 an Australia public servant was killed in a confrontation over illegal land clearing. The perpetrator was a land holder with a history of non-compliance with environmental regulations and had been subject to a series of prosecutions. Political suggestions that the crime was somehow justified drew attention to the growing prevalence of law breaking linked to environmental law and policy in rural Australia. This paper investigated the social construction of both the crime and the community response through a qualitative media content analysis. Utilising the “Recipe for Criminalisation” framework developed by Amnesty International, the analysis identified a contest between media discourses of legitimacy in regards to the actions taken by the perpetrator, the public servant and ultimately, the regulatory framework itself. The analysis revealed that the link between media references to illegitimate legislation, excessive regulation, over-zealous compliance and strong social norms of rural independence and economic survival created a persuasive story of justified resistance to unwelcome environmental legislation in this case. Understanding how affected communities respond to instances of policy failure, civil and criminal law breaking and environmental compliance is a crucial factor in designing more legitimate and effective governance regimes. How media narratives are constructed, by whom and in whose interests remains an important analytic question for the study of resistance to environmental law and policy around the world.

(Lack of) Problematization of Water Supply Use and Abuse of Environmental Discourses and Natural Resource Related Claims in German, Austrian, Slovenian and Italian Media

The paper aims to trace back the environmental discourse on water supply and the risk of scarcity and to learn about media dealing with information about natural resources we cannot live without. Therefore, it presents a theoretical concept to identify the degree of problematization of resource related issues in the media and works out regularities of environmental discourses.
 
 Design: The presented data of a quantitative as well as qualitative media content analysis (Nvivo) of newspaper articles (n = 1745) published in Central Europe (Italy, Slovenia, Austria and Germany) focuses on the arguments and frames used in relation to the issue of water supply. Based on a theoretical model of public debates and discourses on CSR, sustainability and environmental issues (Bourdieu, 1991; May et al., 2007; Weder, 2012a, 2012b; Castello et al., 2013; Weder, 2015a), the underlying assumption is that only a high degree of problematization (variety and counter activeness of arguments) in the media represents a public discourse. 
 
 Findings: The results show that the main water supply related sub issues debated in the media are water privatization and management. Media discourses about water as a natural resource are dominated by economic frames, in particular arguments of corporations (particularly in Italy) and political actors (particularly in Austria). Accordingly, the lack of controversy and counterarguments as well as the homogeneity of frames show that the issue of water allocation and the risk of scarcity is not problematized in the media. 
 
 Implications: Working with the theoretical assumption of a high degree of problematization as condition for public discourses, the qualitative evaluation shows a non-existence of an environmental discourse on resources and sustainable ways of water allocation and usage. This puts the phenomenon of politicization, when environmental discourses are drawn to and used by another (i.e. the political) field, up for discussion with an “abuse” of environmental claims for specific political and economic interests as worst-case scenario.

Purple Visions of Blackness: Prince’s Expansion of the Depictions of Black Experiences Through his Music Videos

Childish Gambino’s music video for “This is America,” garnered national headlines for its controversial depictions of the Black experience in America. However the use of music videos by pop music icons depicting the Black experience is not new. Long before Gambino, Prince’s provocative attire, gender fluidity, and suggestive lyrics stretched the boundaries of what it meant to be Black in America. Although the themes of Prince’s music have been analyzed thoroughly, his visual depictions of Blackness have not been considered for exploration. This study uses an exploratory thematic qualitative media content analysis approach to discuss Prince’s depictions of Blackness and Black experiences as depicted in the seven music videos, written and directed by the artist, thus giving him complete artistic control and expression (Altheide & Schneider, 2013; Macnamara, 2005). This project concludes that Prince used his music videos to redefine depictions of Blackness, take political stances, and envision a new future for Black people. Prince’s music videos rebuke the tired troupes of the Black experience and offer an energetic, thought-provoking portrayal of Blackness as being multifaceted and complex, a tradition that has carried on in the music and music videos of Black pop artists who have followed since Prince.

Insights for public education provided by French media on ideas about prostate cancer - A media analysis study.

Background: This study explored the French media’s presentation of ideas and medical information about prostate cancer (PC) that may influence men’s understanding, attitudes and behavior. Methods: A qualitative media content analysis centered on PC information delivered by French professional media. The selected data were produced in the aftermath of the High Health Authority's decision in 2008 not to recommend systematic screening by prostate specific antigen(PSA) for men over 50. Source was the Media Archives of the French National Library. Content was analyzed from 15 television programs, 14 radio programs, and 55 articles from 35 popular French newspapers (online and printed, weekly and monthly) and 20 magazines. Audio content was narrated into textual form and submitted to manual coding along with the print content.Results: Television and radio content focused on the nature of PC, screening and treatment,and conveyed a gender-centric position linked to male sexuality and virility. Newspapers and magazines targeted the testing controversy, the lack of consensus among professionals, and scientific advances in screening and treatment.Conclusion: Media participation in the European testing debate is valuable for allowing patients to hear all opinions on PC risk factors. Debate on testing policy contributes to confusion and uncertainty regarding appropriate action.

Political Conditions for Electoral Accountability in Federalism

AbstractA theory of voting under federalism requires that attributions of responsibility moderate the strength of retrospective voting. Scholars have spotty evidence that voters do this but put this down to the effects of institutions and citizens’ capabilities. I show thatpoliticalvariation also affects electoral accountability. Using panel surveys across provincial and federal elections and qualitative media content analysis, I show that voters only live up to a federal theory of voting when governments make policy changes independent of the other level and those changes and their consequences are prominent in political discourse. Federal institutions affect electoral accountability through the politics that they generate.

Spectacular ‘nationism’ in modern Colombia: Mediating commitment to the military option

This article analyzes three commercials, part of the ‘Heroes in Colombia really do exist’ media campaign commissioned in 2004 as the country’s armed forces pursued the military option against leftist guerrillas. The author uses qualitative media content analysis, grounding his reading and interpretation of the commercials in a representation of their symbolic and historical environment, and he argues specifically that the commercials were/are spectacular vehicles of what he calls ‘nationism’ (not nationalism). The article thus contributes to our understanding of how meaning was mediated in the attempt to produce commitment to the military option in Colombia during the first decade of the 21st century.

Popular Media Portrayals of Inequity and School Reform in The Wire and Waiting for “Superman”

Two popular media forms are examined—the documentary film Waiting for “Superman” and the HBO television series, The Wire—that present distinct, and at times conflicting, depictions of how to address educational inequity. Qualitative media content analysis was used to analyze the two media documents and to situate them within broader popular media representations of school failure. Waiting for “Superman” depicted school choice and dismantling unions as one way to address school failure. The Wire, in contrast, suggested a more complex and uncomfortable portrayal of school failure where blame is not directed at teachers and schools exclusively, but instead encompasses a complex web of inequity due to bureaucracy, economics, culture, politics, and media coverage. The analysis suggests that media sources such as film and television can play a role informing the public on issues of school reform and should be critically examined as pieces of the larger puzzle of improving schools and addressing school inequity.

Reconstructing Urban Politics with a Bourdieusian Framework: The Case of Local Low-Income Housing Policy

This research aimed to reconstruct a local urban politics and develop a meso–micro-level model of urban politics through a case study, drawing on a Bourdieusian relational framework. To this end, it investigated the case of local low-income housing policy — inclusionary zoning — in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. It historicized the path of the local low-income policy issue through document analysis and qualitative media content analysis. Through multiple analyses, the study revealed that urban politics consists of complex interlinkages among stakeholders with shared values or interests from different social domains, created in order to dominate the policy issue. The study further investigated, on the basis of Bourdieu's concepts of capital and habitus, what elicited different political strategies from key community leaders.