What Sort of Frame Analysis?

I elected to do a qualitative, code-based frame analysis. The predominant reason for this choice was that a qualitative frame analysis was simply the method which best suited the research question; a question centering on what constitutes the portrayal of domestic terror in the Canadian news media.15 _{The necessary inquiry is one probing the}

15 _{A secondary reason is my prior experience and comfort with qualitative research. However, if the}

research question would have been significantly better served by using a quantitative or mixed methods research design, I would have chosen to investigate, develop, and execute a design of this nature. Ensuring the method is complimentary to the research question and the spirit of one’s inquiry is more important than choosing a method one has firsthand experience with.

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qualities of the frames and the processes by which they are created.

I used Reese’s (2010) study on the news media’s framing of the War on Terror as a basis for comparison and, to a significant degree, an inspiration. Not only was his subject matter similar to mine, I identified with many of Reese’s (2010) theoretical standpoints and approaches to research. His methods were similar to mine, having selected a sample of 226 news texts from USA Today which featured the War on/against Terror(ism) as part of the headline or main text (Reese, 2010, p. 29). I was somewhat more stringent with article criteria, as Reese (2010, p. 29) “didn’t make any distinctions between editorials or news articles”, whereas I purposefully weeded out strictly-opinion articles. Naturally, Reese had more articles, which may have led to different advantages.

Reese (2010, pp. 18-21) views frames as existing in a “web of culture”, and employs a grounded, qualitative methodology of frame analysis. He rejects what he surmises as a traditional “how” orientation (i.e., framing effects analysis) in favour of an emphasis on the “what” of frames and framing (i.e., identifying frames in their cultural environment). Reese ‘s (2010, p. 19) method emphasizes the importance of identifying framing devices, which he exemplifies as “specific linguistic structures such as

metaphors, visual icons, and catchphrases that communicate frames”. I, too, have placed an emphasis on uncovering framing devices, which the next two chapters will explore in more detail. Additionally, Reese (2010, pp. 19-20) continues,

… the what of framing (analysis) leads the researcher to examine latent aspects of the text, such as reasoning devices (e.g., problem definition and moral

evaluation…) as well as specific keywords that constitute the concepts underlying frames (e.g., the words game and competition are integral discourse elements of a strategy frame in political campaign news…).

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some of the most foundational, if subtle, supports for any given frame. Furthermore, the latent aspects are harder to isolate, and thus stand to be more likely to go unquestioned (unnoticed even) by the audience. “If the what of frames are explored,” Reese (2010, p. 20) tells us,

it encourages an analysis that delves into the contextualization of topics – social, historically, culturally – and urges the framing researcher to look closely at the particular features of the frame… the specificity that is engendered by the what of a framing study helps in the end to uncover the culturally relevant and resonant theme that illuminates unique social and political understandings. And these are the sorts of frames that have the greatest implications for understanding the how of framing.

In the case of my research (and Reese’s), the social, historical, and cultural

contextualization of frames is a highly potent topic, considering the far-reaching and broadly impactful nature of modern terrorism.

Finally, Reese (2010, p. 21) offers a helpful metric for assessing the significance of frames, saying that, “the significance of frames increase as they become more

overarching and broadly reaching”. Of course, “the bigger the frame… the more difficult it can be to isolate and measure the social influence process [i.e., the how]” (Reese, 2010, p. 21). The difficulty of measuring the social influence of frames is certainly something I struggled with in the early stages of this thesis. While I wanted to investigate social effects and discuss them in comparison with the frames I discovered, I lacked the time and resources to conduct the additional studies that would be necessary to gather any real data on public opinion/social effects.

However, I diverge from Reese (2010) in that I choose to also acknowledge what he considers to be the how of framing. Reese (2010, p. 20) describes the how as a process-centric approach, conceiving of frames as “strategic resources, constructed and

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wielded by an individual or group”. While I am, of course, limited in my conclusions to the data in my news article database, which mostly offers information on the what of frames, in analyzing and discussing the frames I uncovered, it became worthwhile to talk about the potential intersections between the interests of powerful groups (such as

privileged speakers) and the narratives espoused or disregarded by the news media. Such discussion is informed partially by the latent aspects of frames, including inexplicit but prominent framing devices, partially by my research into the history of terrorism, and partially by the theoretically-versed sociological imagination.

My frame analysis is based on a thematic content-analysis-style coding. Thematic coding means that codes were developed to reflect themes found in the articles. Codes became more defined as the analysis progressed; Chapter 4 (analytical techniques) goes into more detail regarding the processes of coding and frame development. My unit of observation was words/sentences/references. However, holding to the qualitative nature of the thesis, the emergent themes made up my unit of analysis. Like Reese (2010, p.29), I approached frames as being “embedded across a body of discourse and speakers” – as a result, the frames I accepted as most salient were those which popped up across a wide variety of articles, events, and contexts. Definitions and examples are available for review in Chapter 5 (data analysis) and in Appendix A.

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