Hero, Charity Case, and Victim: How U.S. News Media Frame Military Veterans on Twitter

Abstract

Commenters often criticize the mass media for providing audiences a narrow and inaccurate representation of U.S. military veterans. This study examined the claim by researching how regional news publications in the 50 states represented veterans on Twitter. A quantitative content analysis documented the presence or absence of characteristics in 1,460 tweets that employed the terms veteran or veterans. Data were examined using cluster analysis. Three frames emerged. The most prevalent frame, labeled charity, highlighted instances in which veterans received assistance from charitable organizations and others. The second frame, hero, contained references to honor, World War II, and content that would elicit pride from audience members. The third frame, victim, highlighted the mistreatment of veterans by the military and/or society, mental health issues, politics, and the Gulf War. Results suggest U.S. news consumers are provided a narrow representation of what it means to be a veteran.

“Hero-Worship” or “Manipulative and Oversimplifying”: How America’s Current and Former Military Service Members Perceive Military-Related News Reporting

“…Even when portrayals are well intentioned, such stereotypical depictions can be inaccurate or not representative of actual individual experiences and can "homogenize" veterans (Kleykamp & Hipes, 2015, p. 352). For example, research shows that military service members are often framed as stoic, heroic, patriotic, or dedicated (Webber & Long, 2014; see also Kelly, 2013;McClancy, 2013;Pitchford-Hyde, 2017;Woodward et al, 2009), hypermasculine (Young, 2003; see also Achter, 2010;Christensen, 2008;Drew, 2004), or even superhuman (Chrisinger, 2016;Parrott et al, 2018). Similarly, some have noted the sentimental (McWilliam & Bickle, 2017) and nostalgic (Rech, 2014) nature, or manufactured structure (King, 2010), of much coverage focused on the war experiences of veterans and service members.…”

“…In other instances, veterans and service members are framed quite differently (McCartney, 2010), and coverage sometimes portrays them as being damaged, disillusioned (McClancy, 2013), charity cases, victimized, broken, disabled, traumatized (Chrisinger, 2016;Huebner, 2011;Parrott et al, 2018;Pitchford-Hyde, 2017;Schuman et al, 2016), part of an "at-risk population" (Kleykamp & Hipes, 2015, p. 349;Millar, 2016;Parrott et al, 2018), suicidal (Schuman et al, 2016;Sisask & Värnik, 2012), or even, at times, dangerous (Chrisinger, 2016;Hoit, 2012).…”

“…Yet, such portrayals can also be personally and professionally hurtful. Notably, such portrayals are often at odds with the way in which many veterans see themselves and characterize their military experience (National Veterans Foundation, 2016;Parrott et al, 2018;Pew Research Center 2011), and have been shown to cause the general public to develop a very narrow understanding of veterans (MacLean & Kleykamp, 2014;Kleykamp & Hipes, 2015;Wilbur, 2016), and even diminish employment opportunities for veterans reentering the civilian workforce (Hunter, 2017).…”

Military Culture and Post-Military Transitioning Among Veterans: A Qualitative Analysis

“…Volunteerism has been shown to associate with decreased feelings of depression and increased help seeking behaviors among veterans enrolled in postsecondary education (Albright et al, 2019). Some work has also been done suggesting that mass media provides a narrow representation of what it means to be a veteran (Parrott, Albright, Dyche, & Steele, 2018;Parrott, Albright, Steele, & Dyche, in press), perhaps further creating barriers to successful integration. By increasing their activity and exposure in the community, veterans may promote community members' awareness of military culture and encourage more accurate perceptions of military culture in the community at large.…”

The Stigmatized Hero? A Review of UK Opinion Polls and Surveys on Perceptions of British Veterans in UK Society

“…Thus, the depiction of veterans as victims that was found to be a common theme in media (c.f. Parrott, Albright, Dyche & Steele, 2018;Pinder et al, 2009) may resonate with publicly pertinent perceptions of veterans. In this sense, it may be possible that societally pertinent conceptualizations of veterans as being damaged victims may be related to influences from media.…”