Thematic Frames Research Articles

Framing Human-Crocodile Conflict: A Quantitative Content Analysis on detik.com Online Media

Human-crocodile conflict (HCC) is an important yet under-researched aspect of human-wildlife interactions in Indonesia with significant consequences for conservation efforts and public awareness. This study used a quantitative framing method with a content analysis approach based on 168 news articles published by detik.com in 2024 to examine how human-crocodile conflict was portrayed in this one of Indonesia's leading online media. Four variables were analyzed: news source, tone, frame type, and use of thematic versus episodic framing. The findings showed a strong reliance on government sources (79.16%), with insignificant representation of non-governmental perspectives. This resulted in narrow narrative coverage. News coverage was dominated by negative reporting, particularly in government-sourced stories (sentiment score: -0.50), perpetuating fear-based stereotypes about crocodiles. The most common frames were attribution of responsibility (34.0%) and human interest (30.1%), while thematic frames were rare (14.3%), indicating a preference for episodic and event-driven reporting over systemic analysis. These patterns suggest that the media on detik.com often reinforces sensationalism at the expense of balanced conservation messages. The study underscores the need for more inclusive, science-based reporting to foster coexistence and support effective conflict mitigation.

Framing Migrant Workers: A Content Analysis of Qatar Media Coverage of Migrant Workers During the 2022 FIFA World Cup

ABSTRACTObjectiveThis study investigates how local Qatari media framed issues related to migrant workers during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with a particular focus on the types of frames employed and the sources cited.MethodsUsing a mixed‐method approach, the study examines 52 news articles from two Qatari news outlets—The Peninsula and Doha News—published between November 1 and December 31, 2022. Framing was analyzed at the paragraph and story levels across five predefined categories (responsibility, conflict, morality, economic consequences, and human interest), alongside sourcing patterns and episodic versus thematic frames, allowing for statistical analysis of framing patterns.ResultsThe analysis finds a dominant use of responsibility and conflict frames, with minimal use of morality and human‐interest frames. Government officials were the most frequently cited sources, and coverage was overwhelmingly episodic. These patterns reflect alignment with official narratives, consistent with the indexing hypothesis.ConclusionQatari media coverage of migrant workers during the World Cup privileged government perspectives and conflict‐driven narratives while marginalizing human‐centered or ethical considerations. This framing likely influenced public understanding of migrant labor conditions and highlights the need for broader media accountability and inclusion of diverse voices in future reporting.

South Asian Print Media and Climate Discourse: A Framing Analysis of COP28 and COP29

Aim of Study: The current study examines how South Asian media (leading English newspapers) framed the climate change news stories, columns, and editorials during the international global climate change summits (CoP 28 and CoP 29). Methodology: This study examines the use of episodic and thematic frames in environmental and climate change reporting by Dawn (Pakistan), The Times of India (India), and The Daily Star (Bangladesh) through content analysis. A total of 568 articles from these English newspapers published during the periods surrounding the COP 28 (Dubai, 2023) and COP 29 (Baku, 2024) events were analyzed. The study applies agenda-setting theory to explore media influence on public perception and policy discourse. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data. Findings: The findings indicate that episodic frames dominated coverage (55.3%) compared to thematic frames (44.7%), with The Times of India (India) contributing the highest number of news items/ articles. Conclusion: Coverage was more extensive for COP-28 compared to COP-29, with themes such as climate finance and GHG emissions dominating press coverage. These framing patterns reflect climate vulnerability, government model, political systems, priorities, and media strategies of selected countries. The study highlights regional inequality in climate journalism and climate coverage. It suggests the need for more balanced, context-driven thematic framing to address climate emergencies effectively. These insights are significant for researchers, media practitioners, and decision-makers planning to enhance public engagement, climate communication, and promote cooperation in the South Asian region.

Cognitive Framing in Climate Change Debates: A Discourse Analysis of Media and Policy Texts

How the public perceives climate change and the actions taken to address it are significantly influenced by how the issue is framed in discourse. This study employs Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis (Cognitive CDA) to examine the mental frameworks present in media and policy texts related to climate change. By analyzing a broad collection of international media articles and policy papers, the research identifies recurring themes such as “climate crisis”, “economic opportunity”, and “natural disaster”. These thematic frames shape public understanding, often amplifying urgency and emotional response. The study explores how such heightened rhetoric can be leveraged to foster unity rather than division. Additionally, it investigates the tension between the discourse of urgency and the presentation of viable solutions, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach. Ultimately, this research contributes to the development of effective communication strategies that support long-term, sustainable policy objectives, ensuring that climate discourse encourages meaningful action rather than polarization.

News Framing of Israel Gaza Conflict: Fox News vs TRT World

The Israel-Palestine conflict dates back a long way, and it has always been covered by the media in whatever format was available at the time. This research article analyses the framing of most recent Israel Gaza conflict, which started in October, 2023, by Fox News and TRT World news. The research uses framing theory as a theoretical model; the study tends to examine how news is delivered to us by using thematic frames and word choices with help of content analysis. The research is conducted from October 7th, 2023 to April 30th, 2024. By systematic sampling 140 news were randomly selected, 70 from each channel and 10 from each month. The results showed TRT News gave more pro-Palestinian agenda whereas Fox News was identified giving pro-Israeli agenda. Conflict frame was discussed highly by each channel but with different views Fox discussed conflict frame more than TRT. The human interest, risk, social, diplomatic, morality frames were discussed more by TRT than Fox mostly discussing peace for Gaza and its suffering.

Framing and stereotyping of two frontline presidential candidates in Nigeria’s 2019 general election: evidence from Nairaland virtual community

ABSTRACT Contributing to the extant literature on media political discourse, this article examines Nigerians’ use of language in framing and stereotyping two frontline presidential candidates, Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, in the 2019 general election. Data were purposively sampled from Nairaland and classified into twelve comment types according to their thematic frames. Following a descriptive analysis, and using van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse studies and Entman’s framing theory, we find that Nairaland netizens’ language practices demonstrate dichotomous framing and stereotyping of a negative “them” and positive “us” through the deployment of multiple discursive strategies: name-calling/abusive labelling, metaphorisation of political actors and pronominal selection. These strategies signify divergent political perceptions about the two candidates and their supporters. We conclude that Nairaland is a sociocultural site that enables Nigerian youth to express their political thoughts in terms of their preferred presidential candidates and political parties.

Material Experimentation in the Architectural Design Studio: An Experimental Pedagogical Model for Incorporating Craft Mediums into Studio Education

The architectural design studio, with its dynamic and expanding scope, challenges traditional academic boundaries and bridges academia and practice by providing an integrated structure. A pedagogy based on experimentation transforms the studio into a laboratory where research and design merge, exploiting the unpredictable benefits of hands-on experience. Accordingly, this study explores experimental pedagogical fictions and tools aimed at integrating material experimentation into studio education, expanding its scope to encompass various craft mediums. It adopts a descriptive and exploratory qualitative methodology, combining theoretical and practice-based methods. It takes atelierz, a vertical architectural design studio, as a case study. Firstly, drawing on Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of creative experimentation, a philosophical interpretation of the pedagogical fiction of the studio is made on contexts, tools, and actors. Secondly, focusing on the experimental possibilities offered by tools of installations and prototypes, and analyzing their pedagogical use in the architectural studio, the thematic frames of materials, methods and tools, interdisciplinary connections, engagement modalities, and field of discovery are used to evaluate material experimentation. Based on two semesters of atelierz’s visual and physical outputs and process documentation, the findings demonstrate the impact of installations and prototypes on understanding, designing, and applying materials, developing technical skills, transforming non-disciplinary knowledge, mediating exploration, and structuring specialized field of inquiry. This research highlights the pedagogical value of material experimentation and contributes to architectural education by providing knowledge and experience of the studio fictions developed, the pedagogical tools employed within these fictions, and their use for material experimentation.

Journalistic Ethical Practices Across Borders: Framing Analysis and Ethical Reflection on China Daily's Coverage of the MU5735 Air Crash

Air crash reporting is one of the types of disaster news, which should follow the ethical guidelines of journalism. Under the theoretical perspective of Zang Guoren's three levels of news frame analysis, China Daily's news about the MU5735 air disaster presents the unique frame of China's mainstream foreign propaganda media in reporting China's sudden disaster events with various thematic frames and effective textual applications. Using frame analysis and case study analysis as research methods, the study explores the characteristics and ethical performance of China Daily's frames of reporting on the MU5735 air disaster. The study finds that China Daily's coverage of the disaster demonstrated the media's distinctive value stance and basically adhered to the ethical principles of journalism in disaster reporting, while at the same time there was a lack of constructive discourse.

MEDIA FRAMES AND NARRATIVES ABOUT DRUGS AND ALCOHOL: HOW MEDIA SHAPES PUBLIC PERCEPTION

Objectives. The objectives of this research paper are to identify the frames used by online journalists in covering the acts of violence done by teenagers involving alcohol and/or drug consumption, study realised during the two publicized events with the aim to analyze the similarities and the differences during the media coverage of these incidents across in both cases. Material and methods. The research used the narrative analysis in order to examine how online media presented violent acts by teenagers under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The analysis focused on identifying key narrative structures, such as characters, conflicts, and themes, in 60 online news articles. The sample included the coverage of two widely publicized events in Romania: the “Medusa operation” (20 articles) and the 2 Mai commune accident (40 articles), published between January 2023 and September 2024. The selection was based on media attention and relevance to drug or alcohol consumption. Results. The analysis partially confirmed the first hypothesis, with episodic frames prevailing only in the 2 Mai commune accident, while the “Medusa Operation” was framed thematically, focusing on institutional actions. The second hypothesis was not confirmed, as both cases shared common themes around the criminalization of drug use without case-specific narratives. Conclusion. The media’s tendency to oversimplify narratives by focusing on general themes and stereotypical portrayals limits public understanding of the complexities of drug use among adolescents, missing opportunities to discuss prevention and rehabilitation. Keywords: narrative analysis, episodic frames, thematic frames, public perception, youth drug use.

Arab Websites and Sustainable Development: Framing Content and News Coverage 2024

The research aims to identify the framing of Arab news websites for sustainable development during the first half of 2024 by measuring the differences between the Egyptian Al-Ahram website and the Emirati Al-Bayan website. The research used the comparative content analysis methodology based on the framing theory. The research discovered the existence of diversity in sustainable development issues, but the Al-Ahram website gave priority to the issue of climate change, while the Al-Bayan website focused on the issue of energy. The government support frame for sustainable development dominated news coverage, and official sources constituted most of the frames in both websites. Arab websites also relied on episodic frames more than thematic frames.

Staging the Lie: The Impact of Framing and Content on the Visibility of Fake Business News

What drives the visibility of fake business news? We investigate this timely question by analyzing the framing and content of fake news targeting Fortune 500 companies. Our research reveals that fake business news employing episodic frames—characterized by highly dramatized and unambiguous information—gains more visibility than thematic frames, regardless of an organization’s reputation, its web or media visibility. Additionally, we find that fake news about corporate governance is particularly visible because it presents a detailed narrative about unmet organizational obligations, reducing the ambiguity of the message. In contrast, fake news about corporate social responsibility does not show this effect. These insights enrich existing literature by demonstrating that the visibility of fake news in social media depends not only on emotional dramatization but also on detailed portrayal. In the business context, fake news is an emotionally and cognitively driven phenomenon depending on stylistic and content frames to enhance its visibility.

Refugee Crisis, News Crisis: The Framing of Episodic and Thematic Articles

A main tenet of 21st Century journalism is to engage the public with highly informative and affective content. Through sociological journalistic processes of creating news content, however, audiences may lose the ability to completely conceptualize the level of human suffering observed in the coverage of refugee crises. This experimental survey tested the use of episodic and thematic frames in formatting American news articles about the Syrian refugee crisis of migrants landing on Grecian shores. It found that episodically framed articles increased moral understanding among Americans, as well as overall engagement in the crisis event. Respondents, however, were not more likely to participate in civic engagement about the refugee crisis with others. The results suggest that the use of episodic frames in the construction of refugee news articles may engage audiences more in the issue, however, alone are not enough to affect behavioral outcomes such as discussion. Further research should investigate the implications of framing choices made in the presentation of news stories about important issues such as mass human migrations. Keywords: framing, news, refugee, diaspora

Tweets, Triumphs, and Tensions: A Machine Learning Approach to Decoding Multi-Tier Thematic Framing of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Social Media

The current study explored the thematic framing of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on X (Twitter), examining how these thematic frames and audience engagement varied across various content creator tiers—mega, macro, micro, and nano content creators—throughout the year surrounding the event. Through the lens of the framing theory, we employed LDA topic modeling and identified three dominant thematic frames: athletic achievements and competition results, international participation dynamics including boycotts and diplomatic engagements, and geopolitical undertones reflecting on the host nation and global conflicts. A noticeable relationship between thematic frames and engagement levels was observed consistently across creator tiers, with athleticism and contest outcomes garnering sustained attention, underscoring its pivotal role in event discussions. Moreover, our findings revealed unique engagement patterns across creator tiers. Mega creators amplified reactions to sports achievements. Macro creators displayed varied engagement, suggesting responsiveness to ongoing events. Micro creators saw fluctuating engagement with a focus on geopolitical issues. Nano creators actively engaged with both sports achievements and political discussions. Overall, the study illuminates the complexities of media representations and audience perceptions, while dissecting the impactful role played by different tiers of content creators in driving public engagement with a global sporting spectacle.

From ceremonial to social interventionism: An examination of media coverage of Ghana’s Second Lady, Samira Bawumia

This research analyzed media framing of Ghana’s second lady, Samira Bawumia. Although the office and stature of the second lady has evolved over time, there is a clear paucity of literature investigating how such a high-profile personality has been covered in the media. A media framing analysis of news reports revealed six frames in the coverage of the second lady. These include spousal frame, which was the most predominant, followed by the social intervention frame, the political frame, policy frame, ceremonial frame and fashion frame. The tone of coverage was largely positive while thematic frames dominated as compared to episodic frames. A significant finding from the study was that the media ignored divergent sources with experts and civil society minimally sourced stories while non-sourced stories were prevalent. This study demonstrates that while media coverage is improving in terms of the tone and direction of coverage for high profile female personalities, more needs to be done in terms of training and capacity building to improve the nature of gender-based reportage.

Catch me if you can: how episodic and thematic multimodal news frames shape policy support by stimulating visual attention and responsibility attributions

Using media coverage of animal welfare as an example, this study examines how the perception of multimodal news frames shapes recipients’ visual attention, attributions of responsibility, emotions, and policy support. To investigate the mechanisms of multimodal-episodic versus thematic framing, we combined eye-tracking measurements with a pre-post survey experiment in which 143 participants were randomly assigned to an episodic or a thematic multimodal framing condition. The results show that episodic multimodal frames are viewed longer than thematic frames, elicit stronger individual and political responsibility attributions, and increase political support for stricter animal-welfare laws. Understanding multimodal framing as a multistep process, a serial mediation model reveals that episodic frames affect viewing time, which leads to stronger attributions of political responsibility and, in turn, stronger policy support. Our results support the idea of a complex interplay between subsequent stages of information perception and processing within a multimodal framing process.

Public health framing of firearm violence on local television news in Philadelphia, PA, USA: a quantitative content analysis

BackgroundFirearm violence is an intensifying public health problem in the United States. News reports shape the way the public and policy makers understand and respond to health threats, including firearm violence. To better understand how firearm violence is communicated to the public, we aimed to determine the extent to which firearm violence is framed as a public health problem on television news and to measure harmful news content as identified by firearm-injured people.MethodsThis is a quantitative content analysis of Philadelphia local television news stories about firearm violence using a database of 7,497 clips. We compiled a stratified sample of clips aired on two randomly selected days/month from January-June 2021 from the database (n = 192 clips). We created a codebook to measure public health frame elements and to assign a harmful content score for each story and then coded the clips. Characteristics of stories containing episodic frames that focus on single shooting events were compared to clips with thematic frames that include broader social context for violence.ResultsMost clips employed episodic frames (79.2%), presented law enforcement officials as primary narrators (50.5%), and included police imagery (79.2%). A total of 433 firearm-injured people were mentioned, with a mean of 2.8 individuals shot included in each story. Most of the firearm-injured people featured in the clips (67.4%) had no personal information presented apart from age and/or gender. The majority of clips (84.4%) contained at least one harmful content element. The mean harmful content score/clip was 2.6. Public health frame elements, including epidemiologic context, root causes, public health narrators and visuals, and solutions were missing from most clips. Thematic stories contained significantly more public health frame elements and less harmful content compared to episodic stories.ConclusionsLocal television news produces limited public health coverage of firearm violence, and harmful content is common. This reporting likely compounds trauma experienced by firearm-injured people and could impede support for effective public health responses to firearm violence. Journalists should work to minimize harmful news content and adopt a public health approach to reporting on firearm violence.

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.

“Speak For Yourself”: Fox Sports 1, Reframing Sporting Conservatism, and “Sticking to Sports” in the Age of Trump

This article analyzes the Fox Sports 1 sports debate program Speak for Yourself. The article analyzes the thematic frames the show utilizes to espouse and reinforce sport as a site of conservative value-making and male bonding. In using an interracial male pairing of Colin Cowherd and Jason Whitlock, the show mimics similarly popular debate programs on rival network ESPN, such as Pardon the Interruption and First Take. However, Whitlock in particular advances a unique brand of Black conservatism, and his clashes with progressive activists and other black guests represent intraracial tensions among Black sport media members. This paper argues Speak for Yourself brings Newscorp’s conservative messaging to a nominally apolitical space in sport media.

“Teen Fled Danger into the Arms of Death”: The Political Agenda Setting Effect of Australian News Media Framing of Violence Against Women

News framing of violence against women (VAW) has important implications for public understanding of this epidemic problem in Australian society, and in turn, politicians’ impetus to act. This article uses a frame-building model to analyze media reporting of three cases of VAW. The murder of Eurydice Dixon, who was killed by a stranger, was framed thematically and received substantial media attention. Conversely, Larissa Beilby and Qi Yu, who were killed in incidents of domestic violence (DV), were framed episodically and received less coverage. The impact of this differential media attention is compared to public and political responses to theorize that thematic frames create a larger political agenda-setting effect, despite DV presenting a larger societal problem than stranger violence.

AGENDA SETTING AND FRAMING DURING THE FIRST WAVE OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWS IN GREEK MEDIA

Objectives. Drawing heavily on theories focusing on the ways media represent health issues, and more specifically pandemics, the current research seeks to scrutinize the information conveyed by the Greek media to the public regarding the coronavirus pandemic. It also explores the ways that agenda-setting and framing affect the representations of the coronavirus pandemic. These two (agenda setting and framing) are highly influential concerning the conceptualization of a crisis. Material and methods. The research method implemented is quantitative content analysis. For the scope of the current research, 2389 research units (TV bulletins news items and online news articles) were gathered and analyzed. This research covers, in temporal terms, the period during which the Greek media started focusing on the coronavirus issue in tandem with the developments of the coronavirus crisis worldwide and in Greece, namely from February 1st until April 30th, 2020. Results. Our results showed that the time period (either before or after the announcement of the first death in Greece due to the pandemic) was a crucial factor in the media coverage of the pandemic. Second, pandemic issues were presented through thematic frames, which outweighed the episodic ones. Finally, the Greek media were found to place more emphasis on governmental measures decided during the pandemic compared to personal and social precautionary measures. Conclusions. The media coverage of the pandemic increased dramatically after the announcement of the first death in Greece. In this rationale, the media of our research increased significantly both the time (TV news bulletins) and extent (news sites) of the coverage of the pandemic. Thus, the event of the first death announcement appears to constitute an important milestone and can be used as an independent variable for the examination of the coverage of the pandemic in different countries/media systems. Apart from that, we have seen a prevalence of thematic and human-interest frames. Keywords: health communication, COVID-19, pandemics, agenda setting, news framing, media