The news is in the frame: A journalist-centered approach to the frame-building process of the Belgian Syria fighters

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the genesis of frame-building based on the early coverage of the Belgian Syria fighters in the four leading newspapers in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. For a period of 6 weeks, a frame analysis of news stories was linked to reconstruction interviews with reporters and supplemented by newsroom observations and in-depth interviews with superiors. The findings show that the framing of ‘new’ events on the public agenda stems from familiar frames about related events. More than being only a selection criterion, news values are equally added to the news story in retrospect, in line with the applied frame, which implies that the newsworthiness of the story may be increased by the way it is told. When journalists report an exclusive story, they remained closer to the frame as it is presented to them by their main sources.

Issue and game frames in the news: Frame-building factors in television coverage of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum

“…Empirical studies taking such an approach have revealed that the frames adopted by journalists are influenced, at the individual level, by journalists’ goals and perceptions of their professional roles ( Bartholomé et al, 2015 ; Castelló and Montagut, 2011 ; Kothari, 2010 ; Tandoc, 2015 ); at the routines level, by established news values and/or practicalities of newsgathering ( Bartholomé et al, 2015 ; Boesman et al, 2017 ; Johnson and Fahmy, 2010 ; Tandoc, 2015 ); at the organizational level, by editorial policies and the degree of freedom journalists have to define their topics ( Kothari, 2010 ), the production context ( Castelló and Montagut, 2011 ), and the views of owners, peers and chief editors ( Tandoc, 2015 ); at the social institution (or extra-media) level, by the frames promoted by their sources ( Boesman et al, 2017 ; Hanggli, 2012 ; Hanggli and Kriesi, 2010 ; Kothari, 2010 ; Tandoc, 2015 ); and at the social systems level, by frames which are culturally familiar because they have been previously used in public debate on other topics ( Boesman et al, 2017 ). Others found further connections between different levels, arguing that external forces put pressures on the organizational level, which in turn are passed on to newsrooms ( Colistra, 2012 ).…”

“…This body of work has provided significant insights into how frame building works in different national contexts ( Bartholomé et al, 2015 ; Castelló and Montagut, 2011 ; Colistra, 2012 ; Tandoc, 2015 ), as well as into how issue-specific frames emerged in the coverage of specific stories ( Boesman et al, 2017 ; Hanggli, 2012 ; Kothari, 2010 ). This article contributes to this growing body of knowledge by focusing on two generic frames ( De Vreese, 2012 ): it explores which factors may contribute to the prominence of the strategic game and the issue frame in the coverage of the final stages of a referendum campaign.…”

Threatening criminals and marginalized individuals: Frames and news conventions in reporting of radicalization and violent extremism

“…The items in this category included several definitions of radicalized individuals – from ‘terrorists’ to ‘regular human beings’. Like the items concerning political solutions, the presence of these stories shows that Norwegian nationals travelling to join conflicts abroad were not purely portrayed as threatening criminals, thereby indicating some variety and conflicting perspectives in the construction of the topic (see Boesman et al, 2017; Fangen and Kolås, 2016).…”

“…As opposed to the other thematic categories, in which judicial and political elites acted as primary definers, the main sources in these stories were the family and friends of the individuals depicted, making up 42.5 percent of quoted sources within this category. Furthermore, these stories were largely initiated by reporters themselves, complying with generic ways of framing issues (see Boesman et al, 2017; Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000).…”

Framing the news on the Syrian War: A comparative study of antiwar.com and cnn.com editorials

“…Other studies investigate the framing of Syrian refugees in the media of different countries such as Turkey (Şahin and Yücel, nd) or the framing of the Belgian Syria fighters on four newspapers in Belgium (Boesman et al, 2017). Elsamni (2016) focused on the framing of Arab refugees on CNN and believed that less neutral images of this group were presented.…”