Crisis Frame Dynamics: Frame Diversity in News Media and the Role of Governmental Actors

Abstract

This study aims to understand the dynamic evolvement of frames in news media coverage of the Ebola crisis (2014–2015) and their interplay with narratives put forth in press releases from governmental organizations (GOs). An automated content analysis was applied to U.S. newspapers and GOs’ press releases on the Ebola epidemic. Time series analyses illustrate how the scope of frames in news media becomes narrower (decreased diversity) with the presence of immediate and problem-focused crisis frames and wider (increased diversity) with more progressive frames. Additionally, the results imply that a level of shared interpretation (frame alignment) between media and GOs fosters the openness of news media for a variety of frames, which in turn might lead to a communicative shift that eases the crisis atmosphere.

Dynamics of Networked Framing: Automated Frame Analysis of Government Media and the Public on Weibo With Pandemic Big Data

“…According to Schultz and Raupp (2010), crises trigger "sensemaking and sensegiving processes" in which actors engage in framing to impact the crisis interpretations and reality constructions (p. 113). Frame alignment measures the extent to which different actors demonstrate similarity in framing over time (Gerken & van der Meer, 2019). Frame alignment thus captures the dynamic, evolutionary nature of phenomena as frames of actors interacting with each other result in mutual borrowing, convergence, and eventual alignment (van der Meer et al, 2014).…”

“…To capture the complex dynamics of different actors’ framing in a turbulent media ecology, we use frame alignment (i.e., the extent to which different actors demonstrate similarity in framing) and frame diversity (i.e., the heterogeneity of frames for each actor). Whereas frame alignment allows media and the public to negotiate meanings and coordinate collective responses (Gerken & van der Meer, 2019; van der Meer et al, 2014), public frame diversity, observable in people’s creation and amplification of frames counter to elite ones, allows the public to demonstrate discursive resistance and contest what issues mean (Kwon et al, 2017; Molina, 2019). Measuring the shift of frame alignment and frame diversity helps unpack the dialectical relationship between government media and the public in various social media contexts.…”

An analysis of general-audience and Black news sites’ coverage of African American issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Such a frame refers to the adverse effects of a pandemic on society and the economy (Oh et al, 2012). The salience of consequence frames or negative outcomes in a news coverage can impact how seriously public evaluates a pandemic (Gerken & van der Meer, 2019; Kilgo et al, 2018).…”

A Multilevel Perspective to Social Media Influentials’ Frame Building Across Crises

“…Most research on social media and crisis communication focuses on how people respond to organizations’ crisis response strategies delivered through different mediums using experiments (Austin et al, 2012; Kim & Cameron, 2011; Liu et al, 2016). Amid the emerging information and communication technologies and increasingly interconnected social media users, scholars have begun to study how influential content creators, including both organizations and individuals, strategically frame an actual crisis on social media (Gerken & van der Meer, 2019; van der Meer, 2018). However, many studies are based on a single case of crisis (Cheng & Cameron, 2018), such as a hurricane or a corporate crisis (Jin, 2020; Lachlan et al, 2016; Mak & Song, 2019), which largely limits the ecological validity of the findings.…”

“…begun to study how influential content creators, including both organizations and individuals, strategically frame an actual crisis on social media (Gerken & van der Meer, 2019;van der Meer, 2018). However, many studies are based on a single case of crisis (Cheng & Cameron, 2018), such as a hurricane or a corporate crisis (Jin, 2020;Lachlan et al, 2016;Mak & Song, 2019), which largely limits the ecological validity of the findings.…”