Mapping Frames in Environmental Communication: Content Analysis of Down To Earth Magazine

Abstract

The rising importance of environmental concerns has made environmental communication a relevant area of study. One of the core objectives of environmental communication is to prioritize environment in the agenda of public discourse. In communication studies media framing is considered as an extension to the agenda setting. While agenda setting is more concerned about repeated delivery of message to prioritize an issue in public attention, framing focuses on how and with which effect these issues are seen by public. To study frames in media content, magazine provides opportunity of investigation since this medium is less explored in the environmental communication context. Also as compare to other news media, magazine provides much opportunity to writer/reporter to express their views, explore various angle and present the multiple perspectives in a story. This increases the higher probability of inclusion of different frames in the media content. This research paper provides an insight on media framing in environmental communication with the help of content analysis research method. Total 480 cover stories of prominent environmental magazine Down To Earth have been selected for the purpose of this research. The research objectives of this study are; 1). To explore the availability and extent of various frames and sub frames in the covers stories of DTE. 2). Toexamine the function and usage of these frames in the cover stories. This exploration is important to identify the presence and prevalence of frames in the content of media and its role in environmental communication discourse.