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Tallinna Ülikooli üliõpilaste 2015/2016. õppeaasta PARIMAD TEADUSTÖÖD / Artiklite kogumik HARIDUSTEADUSED data cOllectiOn and Sampling
Mixed methods approach was used in the study. e quantitative research was conducted in the form of frame analysis of online articles from the websites of Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR), Õhtul- eht, and Postimees. Altogether, 152 online media texts from the period of 9-23 September 2015 were analyzed. e qualitative research measured the understanding of the refugee question based on the coverage of online news media. Seven semi-structured in-depth interviews including a content analy- sis were carried out to determine whether readers detected speci c frames in the online articles and whether their perception on the migration crisis was in correlation with the most salient frames. All interviewees were current Tallinn University students who read online news media at least once a week and had followed the coverage of the refugee crisis.
reSultS
framing in Online articleS
In the quantitative data analysis, frames derived from the nature of articles, which were divided the- matically into eight categories: EU politics; migration to Europe; Estonian politics; asylum seekers in Estonia; migration to Estonia; societal issues; opposing views; and military con ict. Based on these categories, on the main spokesperson in the article and their position to the migration crisis, 13 di er- ent news frames were identi ed and divided into ve substantial news clusters:
1) Political and informative: straight news account, political process, decision maker 2) Opinion: forecast, authoritative reaction, ordinary voices, historical outlook
3) Representation of “others”: dehumanization, societal polarization
4) Positive outlook: success story, humanization
5) Negative outlook: blame game, con ict
43.4 per cent of all the articles utilized the „opinion” news cluster with the most applied frame „au- thoritative reaction”. e second most referenced news cluster was „negative outlook” (21.1 per cent) with „con ict” frame as the most utilized frame. e third most applied news cluster was the “political and informative” framework with 18.4 per cent, but the third most used news frame was „blame game” from the „negative outlook” cluster. e study identi ed that the most used frames were either neutral or negative, while positive framing was applied the least by journalists.
When analyzing each online news website seperately, articles published on the website of ERR applied the most neutral framing as „opinion” and „political and informative” frames were more frequently used. Both Õhtuleht and Postimees applied „opinion” and „negative outlook“ news clusters the most. However, the frames applied in the online articles of Õhtuleht were more negative whereas the neutral framing was the most characteristic to the articles of Postimees. But, in comparison to the two other media outlets, Postimees had more positive framing than negative.
cOntent analySiS
In the qualitative research, interviewees were rst given one article from each source using di erent frames, themes and positions towards the issue based on the results of quantitative frame analysis.
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