Frame Analysis
Write a well-constructed essay on framing within a current social movement. This task will require spending some time studying the web sites, social media, advertisements, news coverage, etc. that pertain directly to the movement you choose.
The essay should be structured around a comparison of sources. Examples:
movement vs. countermovement
movement vs. corporate-sponsored media
media coverage from two different politically aligned outlets (e.g. CNN vs. Fox)
moderates vs. the radical flank
Describe how the framing strategies vary across the two groups or contexts that you examine. Then, discuss which group’s frame is more conducive to attracting supporters? Why or why not?
The paper MUST contain:
a paragraph naming your sources and explaining how/why you chose them (four or five sentences),
Numbers (e.g. how many articles did you read? How many used each framing strategy that you describe, etc.),
Direct quotes illustrating the various framing strategies that you discuss.
The paper will primarily be graded according to two criteria:
How thoroughly and accurately you incorporate course materials and concepts.
The extent to which you use concrete evidence. Examples of concrete evidence include, for example:
Direct quotes or images from your data (e.g. websites, news sources, social media)
Counts (numbers) indicating how often you see a particular frame (e.g. “across the sources I examined 15 news articles, 12 of them referred to bodily harm” or “10 referred the protests as “mostly peaceful”).
In addition to the lectures, the following sources should be useful:
Snow, et al. “Frame Alignment Processes” (Ares)
*Xu, Kaibin, 2013. “Framing Occupy Wall Street: A Content Analysis of The New York Times and USA Today.” International Journal of Communication, Vol.7:2412-2432.
Keck, Margaret and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, Ch 1.
**In terms of how to organize the paper, you might want to borrow Xu’s paper as a model.