The Final Phase: Framing Analysis

Many authors either define framing analysis as an activity or as a process. In the latter, framing analysis defines issues, makes moral decisions and supports processes

to make critical operational strategies, while in the former, it is offers approaches to selecting, presenting and emphasizing theories on what matters, what exists and what happens (Gitlin, cited in Matthes, 2009). As a process, framing analysis provides “Inferences that distinguish framing from themes, arguments, assertions and other under-theorized concepts” (Matthes, 2009: 350). Framing analysis links with the text extremely well because it connects the various sides of an issue by defining these results in specific explanations, assessments or resolutions. The words and images that make the frame can be distinguished from the rest of the news content and can stimulate support or disapproval of either side in a political conflict. This ability can be measured by cultural quality. Frames that employ more culturally resonant terms have the highest possible effect because they use words and images understood within a specific culture, which may also be emotionally charged. The importance of repeating framing words and images is reflected in the resonance of content and framing is intended to generate similar thoughts and feelings in the audience (Entman, 2003).

Previous literature has identified a handful of frames that occur commonly in the news. Neuman et al., (1992) discussed comprehensively several different types of frames dominantly used in news coverage in the U.S. These include conflict,

economic consequences, human impact, and morality frames. Based on these frames, Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) analysed five national newspapers and television news stories in the period surrounding the Amsterdam meeting of European heads of state in1997 and identified other new frames in order of predominance: attribution of responsibility, conflict, economy, human interest, and morality. These frames are explained in detail below.

1. Human interest: this frame “brings a human face or an emotional angle to the

presentation of an event, issue, or problem”. In covering a story from an alien culture, this frame heightens the psychological effects and exaggerates negative attitudes emanating from a particular event. This framing approach focuses on provoking emotional responses (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000, p. 95) of all kinds from the audience, sometimes at the expense of the actual facts of the case, as a consequence of journalists choosing to write a story from their own perspective.

2. Conflict: This frame is mainly concerned with analysing conflict within organizations, groups and individuals. Neuman et al. (1992) identified this frame as one of the most prominent in the U.S. news media. In Semetko and Valkenburg's (2000) study, this particular frame was ranked second most popular and was reported to be most used by so-called serious newspapers. This frame is used when journalists highlight differences in attitudes towards specific phenomena in society while at the same time relating these stories according to their own convictions.

3. Morality: this frame addresses events, problems and issues in terms of ethical and social conventions and religious convictions. Neuman et al. (1992) suggested that journalists often used this frame in an indirect manner by way of quotations or inference, rather than rely on journalistic norms of objectivity (Semetko and Valkenburg's, 2000). Moralistic quotations can have a strong impact that on the public by trying to influence them in a particular way and diverting them from the real meaning inherent in the event.

4. Economy: This frame covers events, problems and issues in terms of resultant

economic consequences of all kinds. Neuman et al. (1992) reported this frame as occurring frequently in the news. It draws attention mainly to economic aspects rather than to economic performance by using information that chooses to persuade the audience to think in a particular way according to the journalist’s perspective.

5. Attribution of responsibility: This frame is defined as “a way of attributing responsibility for [a] cause or solution to either the government or to an individual or group” (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000, p. 96). Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) identified this frame as being commonly used mainly in the serious newspapers. This particular frame deals with stories which draw attention to the behaviour of officials or official institutions, suggesting in many cases that they should take responsibility for their actions in some way.

In the coding categories and measures, one news article was the coding unit. The coding instrument comprised the name of the newspaper, the key words from the two case studies and the five aforementioned news frames. To measure the extent to which certain frames appear in news stories, the study used the coding scheme by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000), which consists of a series of 15 questions to which the coder

had to answer yes (1) or no (0). Each question was meant to measure one of the five news frames. Trained coders analysed all articles. Each coder coded the articles independently. For the inter-coder reliability test, two coders coded 60 news stories for two case studies. To achieve reliability and validity in this study a single frame was used IRR to produce two categorizations of the same objects. The extent to which these two categorizations coincide represents what is often referred to as inter-rater reliability. If it is rated high then both raters can be used interchangeably without the researcher having to worry about the categorization being affected by a significant rater factor (Gwet, 2014).

4.10.1 Rationale of framing analysis

In this study, the researcher analysed news stories according to one of four structural dimensions of news text conceived by Pan and Kosicki, (1993) as syntactical, script, thematic, and rhetorical. These dimensions provided a model consistent with a much larger framework of news discourse, which included cognitive activities of involved players in the process and the social-cultural contexts in which they operated. This study was not concerned with discourse analysis. News stories involving messages were analysed to explain the role of journalists in building the news. According to Matthes (2009), frames are conceptualized at different levels of abstraction including issue-specific or generic levels. The current study applied these two levels such that issue-specific frames analysed individual issues while generic frames rose beyond thematic limitations as they were identifiable from different issues. Iyengar's (1991) thematic and episodic frames are prime examples of this approach. The study also applied Semetko and Valkenburg's (2000) research method that postulated five generic frames including conflict, human interest, economic consequences, morality and responsibility for a holistic framing analysis.

The study used a quantitative rather than qualitative framing approach though many studies use the qualitative paradigm. This is because the study considered a considerably large sample to generalise its findings. A quantitative approach allowed an in-depth analysis of news stories by coding frames as variables in quantitative content analysis deductively and inductively. In inductive analysis, frames were derived from an initial exploratory analysis of the sample and defined in a codebook for quantitative content analysis. Thus, Iyengar's episodic and thematic framing approach was used in this study unlike other studies that use computer-assisted frame

analysis during frame mapping. In this approach, frames are assumed to be manifested in specific words so frames are identified by examining words that occur together using clustering techniques that do not have manual coding (Matthes, 2009). Thus, framing helped the researcher to understand the context of news stories in British newspapers as well as journalists writing stories about different cultures. Framing analysis helped identified the forms of representation of Saudi women in the news by acting as a conceptual model that uses computer technology.

Frame analysis facilitates culture interpretation and in mass communication research, it holds a special place between discourse analysis and content analysis by linking qualitative and quantitative methods (Janssen, 2010). However, the approach is more culturally obligated than content analysis because it can be used as a tool to determine how people interpret content of messages. It helps the researcher to,“[g]rasp the fears and pains of a class, a community or a nation, and then shape their understanding of a problem" as Janssen asserted (2010: 27).

Framing analysis has limitations in terms of identifying and choosing the code for the content analysis. To overcome this, Matthes and Kohring, (2008) suggested previous organisation and selection of news stories for analysis, as Entman, (1993) believed that frame analysis is particularly able to link ideas. This study applied this technique to framing analysis not only as an empirical technique but also as a method of shedding light on associations within discourse (Reese, 2007). Single frame elements were grouped together in a systematic way in order to create unique patterns and enhance frame analysis reliability as suggested by Matthes and Kohring, (2008) who believe that this method is suitable, stating:

“The method is more valid for two reasons. First, operationally defining the elements that constitute a frame should lead to a deeper understanding of what is really measured. In fact, the operationalization of the frame is completely tied to its theoretical definition, and it is quite easy to find different frames in different phases of media coverage. Second, the crucial advantage of our method is that frames are not subjectively determined but empirically suggested by an inductive clustering method. Moreover, cluster analysis offers criteria for the number of frames. Last but not least, we posit that this method makes the identification of new frames easier because the influence of coded schemata decreases.”( 2008: 275).

Kitzinger (2007) identified framing through quantitative and qualitative forms of analysis. This study used content and critical discourse analysis, which starts with a close reading of each text, and questions were asked help to use specific question and themes present in each article, identifying how certain frames were constructed and privileged through discourse and ideology.

Kian et al. (2011) analyzed media framing of athletes by coding descriptors used articles on the U.S Open. The study aiming to explore framing differences in gender- related sport coverage by Internet Sites and Newspapers, while this study seeks the kind of frame.