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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
Literature review
Theories on intercultural communication, representation and phenomena like
stereotypes, prejudices, ethnocentrism and discrimination offer quite a few
explanations (Shadid, 2003). The overall conclusion of various American of European
publications is according to Shadid (2003), that media directly or indirectly play a
central role in the dissemination and continuation of negative representation.
Journalists have fiercely denied these conclusions and state that they only cover facts,
events and views expressed in the society.
Shadid (2003) points out that mass media not only influence society, but society most
certainly influences mass media. So the smallness and multilingual context of the
Aruban and Curaçaoan societies, the Western-European character of the Netherlands,
the so-called equal constitutional partnership as formulated in the Kingdom Charter, the
constitutional reform of the Netherlands Antilles, the increased self confidence of
Aruban and Curaçaoan politicians and the fierce political discussions in the
Netherlands about immigration and identity, shape the context for the newspapers
under study.
Media coverage of the relations between Aruba, Curaçao and the Netherlands concern
mostly the political encounters and research has shown that discussion in the news
between political entities often reduces complex substantive political debate to overly
simplistic conflict (Cappella & Jamieson, 1997).
2.1 Framing analysis
Entman (1993) defines framing as selecting “some aspects of a perceived reality to
enhance their salience in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition,
causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (Entman,
1993, p. 53)
Framing theory suggests that the mass media do even more than create saliency.
Iyengar and Kinder (1987) state that by selecting what to include and what to exclude
from a story a story is framed and news media may even limit or define the story’s
meaning (Iyengar & Kinder, 1987). In that regard frames can help identify issues,
shape public opinion and according to Tuchman “narrow the available political
alternatives” (Tuchman, 1978, p. 156).
According to framing theory, the way issues are shaped in the media can contribute to
stereotypical portrayals. Media frames also reflect broader cultural themes and
discourses, as well as they reflect the journalist’s emphasis or silence in their
expression of an issue. Scheufele argues that while mass media play a major role in
the construction of social reality, interaction between texts and recipients limits media
effects (Scheufele, 1999).”Not only unconscious worldviews, but also conscious
responsible journalism and political agendas affect the framing of issues in media
discourses” (Mahony, 2010, p. 743).
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