UK Media Coverage Research Articles

Tracing the Flow of Climate Change Frames: Intermedia Agenda Setting Between Twitter and News Media in the US and the UK

This study integrates agenda setting and framing theory to explore the transmission of climate change frames between newspapers and Twitter in the US and the UK. A set of computational methods was applied to identify five prevailing climate change frames—cause, impact, action, real, and hoax—in 230,000 tweets and 20,000 news articles from 2016 to 2021. At the cross-national level, a symmetrical relationship was found on Twitter between the US and the UK, which indicates their mutual influence on social-media discussions of climate change. Within each country, the US news media had a stronger agenda-setting influence on public climate change discussions on Twitter, whereas news coverage and social-media discussions in the UK were relatively isolated. The use of the cause frame in the US media coverage often led to the presence of the hoax, action, impact, and cause frames in Twitter conversations, whereas the action frame in the UK media coverage led to the presence of the hoax, real, and impact frames in Twitter discussions. The findings have implications for the dynamics of framing processes that shape public attention and the understanding of climate issues cross-nationally.

Cheering and Jeering on the Escalator to Hell: One Year of UK Media Coverage on the War in Ukraine

Abstract While there is a common awareness of wartime media censorship in both Ukraine and Russia, there has been less research on Western media coverage and expert analysis of the war in Ukraine. This essay considers the extent to which a skewed and partisan version of the war’s evolution has been presented in UK media. Five stages are identified in the emergence and evolution of a British meta-narrative on the war in Ukraine, replete with ‘cheering’ and ‘jeering’, that works against a realistic understanding of the war’s nature and reasonable consideration of possible future scenarios. It is argued this coverage has sidestepped critical questions of the war’s stage-by-stage escalation and has essentially avoided serious debate of the risks, costs and benefits of such a course.

The Influence of Media Coverage on UK Refugee Policy from the Perspective of Multiple Sources Theory

At this time in history, there have never been as many people displaced. How the problem has developed and expanded, as well as how media portrays refugees, are actively shaped by journalists, giving nations a unique cognitive platform to handle refugee issues and introduce policies in line with those needs.An important tool for dissecting the policy process and its policy implications, the multi-source theory analytical framework can provide new explanatory perspectives to explain the relationship between media coverage and the development of refugee policy in the UK. The paper assesses the driving role of media feedback mechanisms in the development of UK refugee policy using the issue, policy, and political source streams of the multi-source stream theory framework, using UK media coverage of the refugee Olympic delegation since 2016 as a vehicle. The issue stream, which uses media feedback as a cognitive mechanism, is not the main driver of the UK refugee policy agenda; the political and policy streams are more critical drivers in the government's policy development.

Men’s Football Fandom and the Performance of Progressive and Misogynistic Masculinities in a ‘New Age’ of UK Women’s Sport

This article offers an original contribution as the first to focus empirically on men football fans’ attitudes towards women’s sport in a ‘new age’ of UK media coverage, in which women’s sport has experienced a significantly increased and more positive media profile. We draw on online survey responses from 1950 men football fans of different age groups from across the UK. Our methodological approach used techniques emerging out of the principles of grounded theory. We develop a new, three-fold, theoretical model, covering men football fans’ attitudes to women in the sports nexus and men’s performances of masculinities. Our findings show evidence of a change in attitudes towards women in sport, with men performing progressive masculinities. However, there were also signs of a backlash against advances in gender equality, with men performing overtly misogynistic masculinities and covertly misogynistic masculinities.

English

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the only country to ban women from driving until a royal decree changed this in June 2018. The controversy before and after the ban gained media attention and is the foundation for this study, examining how US and UK media covered the women driving ban. Framing theory and thematic analysis were used to examine 80 articles randomly chosen from 10 prominent and most trusted US and UK news outlets before and after the ban. The study found that the majority of the coverage was supportive of women driving before and after the ban in the KSA, but coverage of KSA women vividly shifted after lifting the driving ban. Western ideologies and perspectives, present in most articles, did not consider the main differences between cultures. False information and exaggerations in some articles provided inaccurate information about women in the KSA.   Key words: Saudi women, framing theory, thematic analysis, US and UK media coverage.

The UK media coverage of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak

This article addresses one question: how is the coronavirus outbreak and its management in China reported in the UK media in general, and on the Internet in particular? It does so by examining how the online versions of the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Mail reported on the coronavirus outbreak in China, but more importantly, on how China handled it, over a 20-week timeframe. The sentiment analysis and thematic analysis show that although the selected media are of different types in the United Kingdom, the themes and topics are not substantially different from each other. This implies that the general media-consuming public in the United Kingdom would regard China’s handling of the virus as largely negative or neutral. However, the ways of discussing and presenting those topics were subject to variation between the publications, which in turn is reflected in the attitudes and perceptions of their readers.

Unreported world: A critical analysis of UK newspaper coverage of post‐disaster events

This paper assesses the extent to which a disparity exists in post‐disaster reporting of global North and global South events in UK newspapers, how that disparity manifests itself, and the consequences of that disparity. A critical discourse analysis was used involving a documentary analysis of UK national newspaper articles published on two disasters, Hurricane Harvey in the USA and the South Asian monsoon, in 2017. A reporting bias was found in favour of the number of articles published, the length of those articles, and duration of coverage for the global North disaster. Language used and imagery evoked also differed considerably. Whereas UK media coverage of the global North focused on shared cultural, economic and political values, coverage of the global South emphasised difference, reinforcing an “us” and “them” mentality based on the poor alignment of national/political interests. Such disparities are deeply problematic for informing the public about global matters of concern, creating empathy between nations, and building support for collective action.

The news prism of nationalism versus globalism: How does the US, UK and Chinese elite press cover ‘China’s rise’?

China has regularly claimed to have been intentionally and systematically misrepresented by Western media. That said, their general characterization of China is said to see improvement with the initial impetus coming from Beijing’s hosting of Olympic Games in 2008. China’s representation in Western media has now entered what many observers considered to be an ‘age of uncertainty’, and it differs greatly from China’s projected self-image. This study examines US, UK versus Chinese media coverage of ‘China’s rise’ from 2009 to 2017. Our analysis entails a 2.2 million-word corpus of news texts retrieved from six leading national newspapers. A combination of computer-assisted corpus linguistics methods with critical discourse analysis was used to identify and compare linguistic elements as well as the structural dimensions that denote the journalistic positioning across large corpora. We argue that the globalist positioning stands in a dialectical relationship to the nationalist positioning. Globalism may be used to frame press narratives when it is viewed as suiting national interest, and this dynamic differs between the United States, the United Kingdom and China.

Religious motifs within reporting of the 7/7 London bombings in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Poland: A transnational agenda-setting network study

Existing studies have examined the significance of UK media coverage of the 7/7 London bombings. This article seeks to widen this analysis by exploring the coverage of 7/7 in the leading newspapers of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Poland comparatively using a new agenda-setting perspective that is grounded within network analysis. The study is devised to respond specifically to the contrasting arguments about the influence of media globalization versus religion and ethnicity on this reporting. It finds that the diverse approaches to religion within the countries of the analyzed newspapers appear to mitigate the reproduction of shared religious narratives in this reporting. Nevertheless, the analyzed coverage does carry common attributes and these, it argues, can be explained broadly by the influence of a US-dominated ‘lens on terror’.

A review of UK media coverage of physical activity associated with the publication of special issues in a high-impact medical journal

The media is a substantial vehicle for conveying public health messages to the public. This study examined the extent to which the publication of special issues in a high-impact medical journal in 2012 and 2016 generated media interest in physical activity and health in the UK and explored the main issues that were reported. This is a systematic narrative review of print media. Relevant print news articles were identified by searching Factiva and Google News. The timeframe of each search was 2 weeks, using the publication date of each special issue as the anchor point. Overall, 20 articles were included in the analysis for 2012 and 37 articles for 2016. The news media coverage was encouraging for the profile of physical activity and health. In 2012 and 2016, common themes included the benefits of physical activity and the risks of being inactive, comparisons between mortality rates from physical inactivity and smoking and the recommended volume of physical activity to benefit health. The profile given to an issue through prestigious scientific publication is one of the levers for community attention and policy change. Efforts are needed to further use the media for improving policy, practice and public awareness, which are antecedents to population health change.

Two-Level Games beyond the United States: International Indexing in Britain during the Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

This article uses an innovative international application of the media studies “indexing” hypothesis to highlight the need for Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) studies beyond the United States to apply Robert Putnam’s two-level game decision-making model slightly differently. Journalists’ tendency to cite sources they consider authoritative leads news media in weaker states to grant greater domestic political access to foreign leaders than do news media in stronger states. This opens the way for greater “reverberation”, in Putnam’s terms; direct foreign influence over domestic bargaining games. The article compares UK and US media coverage of three recent joint military operations, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, to show the international indexing effect at work. It then suggests how scholars using the two-level game model outside of the United States might amend their approach to make reverberation more significant.

Sentiment Analysis of the BBC's Digital Content during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Campaign

In Scotland, the UK's media's coverage of the Scottish independence Referendum 2014 remains controversial. This was probably most true of the coverage from the UK's public service broadcaster, the BBC. In fact, perceived bias in favour of the No campaign by the BBC resulted in several demonstrations against the organisation outside its Scottish headquarters. This paper presents empirical results of a word frequency analysis of BBC's reporting of the referendum campaign between June 2014 until the day of the referendum on the 18th September. It finds that while the BBC's digital content appears less subjective than other major news outlets, there is nevertheless evidence that suggests that the BBC's coverage, on the whole, was more favourable to the No campaign and offers an empirical explanation of why that might be the case.

Fabricated world class: global university league tables, status differentiation and myths of global competition

UK media coverage of global university league tables shows systematic bias towards the Russell Group, although also highlighting tensions within its membership. Coverage positions UK ‘elite’ institutions between US superiority and Asian ascent. Coverage claims that league table results warrant UK university funding reform. However, league table data for all years to 2012 (when major funding reforms were implemented – most radically in England) do not show either US superiority or Asian ascent. Citation bias defines media content. Text itself is structured by three discursive ‘ratchets’: highlighting US successes but never failures, rising Asian institutions but never falls, and claiming that UK results warrant the same policy irrespective of whether results improve or worsen. These combine with selective doubt by ‘elites’ who question but are not questioned. These four discursive mechanisms fabricate an illusory threat of global competition. This threat is then used to warrant neo-liberal policies at home.

International outlook - Partial victory simply not good enough.

IT IS rare that the question of who should lead health policy in the European Commission receives UK media coverage. But after incoming president Jean-Claude Juncker announced the portfolios of his fellow European commissioners in September, alarm bells were ringing.

Rainwater harvesting in the UK: Socio-technical theory and practice

There is currently a window of opportunity in the UK, with respect to promoting sustainable water management (SWM). Periods of alternating drought and flooding have brought water management issues to the fore of UK media coverage and policy development. Unchallenged reliance on the historic legacy of piped infrastructure is declining, as its resilience and adaptability in the face of climate change become increasingly questioned. Despite its prevalence in other countries and a recent surge in sales, rainwater harvesting (RWH) has yet to transition from niche to mainstream in the UK. This paper provides an overview of the development of a strategic framework for enabling RWH to transition from novel to mainstream, informed by a number of evidence bases and devised using insight gained through the application of a number of theories. Identified strategic areas for action include (i) Technical Relevance (product development); (ii) Social Receptivity (capacity building) and (ii) Institutional Commitment (support services).

Content analysis of UK media coverage of pharmacogenetics

BackgroundIn recent years, the analysis of media dialogue has been recognised in the literature as an important aspect within the area of health research. As patients are becoming increasingly self-educated...

Financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviour: an analysis of UK media coverage

Policies to use financial incentives to encourage healthy behaviour are controversial. Much of this controversy is played out in the mass media, both reflecting and shaping public opinion. To describe U.K. mass media coverage of incentive schemes, comparing schemes targeted at different client groups and assessing the relative prominence of the views of different interest groups. Thematic content analysis. National and local news coverage in newspapers, news media targeted at health-care providers and popular websites between January 2005 and February 2010. U.K. mass media. The study included 210 articles. Fifteen separate arguments favourable towards schemes, and 19 unfavourable, were identified. Overall, coverage was more favourable than unfavourable, although most articles reported a mix of views. Arguments about the prevalence and seriousness of the health problems targeted by incentive schemes were uncontested. Moral and ethical objections to such schemes were common, focused in particular on recipients such as drug users or the overweight who were already stereotyped as morally deficient, and these arguments were largely uncontested. Arguments about the effectiveness of schemes and their potential for benefit or harm were areas of greater contestation. Government, public health and other health-care provider interests dominated favourable coverage; opposition came from rival politicians, taxpayers' representatives, certain charities and from some journalists themselves. Those promoting incentive schemes for people who might be regarded as 'undeserving' should plan a media strategy that anticipates their public reception.

What are the drivers of the UK media coverage of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the inter-relationships and relative influences?

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in the UK receives intense media attention. The nature of coverage, political responses and solutions offered has been questioned and the relationship between health professionals, the media and government policy needs greater understanding. We identified 2880 articles on MRSA published in 12 UK newspapers between 1994 and 2005, compared with 21 articles in six major US newspapers. To investigate the relative influences and relationships further, 68 weeks of coverage from 1990 to 2004 were analysed. The dates were selected based on publication dates of the ten most frequently cited articles on MRSA according the ISI Web of Science portal of Department of Health press releases on MRSA since 1997. Within this period, 351 news articles were published with members of the public and politicians representing 60% of sources quoted. Scientific articles, even those with the highest number of citations, have negligible influence on newspaper coverage. Simple solutions quoted in the newspaper articles focused almost exclusively on cleaning. The UK press exhibits a high interest in MRSA compared with that of the USA. Healthcare workers, experts and professional bodies have criticised the nature of media reporting, but have had little influence or involvement in the press. This may facilitate journalists, celebrities, the public and politicians to drive these stories unchecked and allow politics to address only the simplistic solutions generated.

Modafinil in the media: Metaphors, medicalisation and the body

This paper uses UK media coverage of the sleep drug modafinil to investigate the medicalisation of sleep at a conceptual level. Using metaphorical frame analysis we investigate the conceptual links created in media discourse between sleep and health, and the body and technology in the UK. Using this novel analytical tool we explore under what circumstances modafinil is constructed as a necessary medical treatment or a (il)legitimate performance enhancement and, how in this process, various images of the body are constructed. We found that media discourse on modafinil was structured through four types of sleep discourse: patient, sports, recreational, and occupational. Each discourse was built up around the specific deployment of three central metaphorical frames ‘war’, ‘commodity’ and ‘competition’ that acted to construct the biological body in a particular way. How the body was framed in each discourse impacted upon how modafinil use was portrayed in terms of therapy or enhancement and the level of engagement with a medical rhetoric. This had distinct normative implications strongly influencing the legitimacy afforded to modafinil use in each domain. We argue that medical authority acts to legitimise modafinil use for repair, restoration and relief of suffering, whilst being deployed to pass judgment on its use in bodies already perceived as functioning normally. This leads us to conclude that conceptually, the acceptability of ‘enhancement’ is strongly tied to context of use and intricately related to medical social control.

Boundary-creating Processes and the Social Construction of Threat

Looking at the key theoretical approaches to the social construction of threat in the sociology of deviance and in political science, this article addresses the way boundaries between groups are created in different contexts. Comparison between UK media coverage of terrorists and football hooligans reveals that this is a rational process that draws boundaries on the basis of the position of the target group in the political field rather than the objective seriousness of the threat.