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Rainbow Sheens and Headlines: Using news framing analysis to identify spatial patterns of oil spill communication in the Puget Sound region
Abstract:
<p class="Default">From high-profile events like the Exxon Valdez spill (1989) and the Deepwater Horizon explosion (2010) to everyday occurrences like a sheen running into a storm drain, oil spills are a uniquely visible type of pollution. Although high-profile incidents are well-ingrained in public consciousness, smaller events still have significant cumulative impacts, ranging from environmental to social to societal.</p><p class="Default">This project focuses on news coverage of oil spills in the Puget Sound region of the United States from 1990-2020, examining the language used in reporting through framing analysis. Newspaper articles are categorized according to frame (human interest, economic consequences, ecological consequences, government action/inaction, responsible party [RP] action/inaction, RP consequences), tone (catastrophizing, diminishing, neutral), and oil spill size (small, medium, large, multiple, potential, unknown).</p><p class="Default">Oil spill reports from the National Response Center are mapped to compare newspaper coverage to spill report clusters. Spill report clusters are observed near urban waterways, larger cities, industry, military sites, marinas, tribal land, and coastlines. Media coverage of oil spills varies geographically and temporally. The tone analysis draws on methodology of past analyses of newspaper coverage of incidents or crises, but changes the spectrum of tone from positive-negative to catastrophizing-diminishing. This project contributes to the literature on Puget Sound and its urban waters and presents a novel approach to mapping oil spill clusters.</p>
Keywords: Oil spills, Puget Sound, content analysis, framing analysis, spatial patterns, communication
Authors:
Leah C Shamlian, University Centre of the Westfjords; Submitting Author / Primary Presenter
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Rainbow Sheens and Headlines: Using news framing analysis to identify spatial patterns of oil spill communication in the Puget Sound region
Category
In-Person Paper Abstract