2010 - Public Relations Society of America

“Shoreham Board Begins a Hunt for Alternatives” and the Wall Street Journal’s “GE Sees $100
Billion in 1998 Revenue Due to Quality Control, Asia investment.” Lastly, a Wall Street Journal
story coded as a proliferation frame package relates to more recent political activity – “Leading
the news: Bush spells out reasons Iraq is still a threat . . .has yet proven it has given up its quest
for nuclear power”.
Discussion
The thrust of this study focuses on whether or not the newspapers in question employ
some dominant frame packages over other dominant frame packages when reporting on nuclear
energy. Although differing in frequency of utilization, the newspapers represented in this study
possess a commonality in the types of dominant frames packages employed. Significant
dominant frame packages among the four newspapers include human/health, proliferation,
procedural, and marketplace. While the procedural frame package was more likely to appear
prior to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the proliferation frame packaged was more likely to appear
after the Kyoto Protol. Over time, the sustainable frame package demonstrated increased
significance.
Stories identified as having either the human/health or proliferation frame packages were
more likely to have an anti-nuclear tone. Stories identified as having either the sustainable or
marketplace frame packages were more likely than expected to be pro-nuclear in tone.
This study found only 6.8% of the news articles referenced alternative energy sources
when reporting on nuclear energy. A significant relationship was not found in reporting nuclear
energy in conjunction with alternative energy sources, which most often are referred to as
“green” energy sources. However, significance was demonstrated for the sustainable frame
package overtime as well as the story element global energy.
While the use of framing as a news reporting tool is acknowledged, the amplification of
frames and subsequent creation of dominant frames packages within the news over time is
perhaps less understood. This study empirically demonstrates the amplification of frames and
subsequent creation of dominant frame packages over time. The findings show that newspapers
employ the same types of frames packages, but to varying degrees. This illustrates the
pervasiveness of framing packages within the news and strengthens the argument for framing
effects. Furthermore, framing packages for an issue appear to co-exists, creating a rank order of
important frames, instead of only one dominant framing package. The significant dominant
frame packages revealed in this study reflect objective analysis of news reporting techniques.
Theoretical implications
Successful frames are defined by salience, resonance, and persistence. The dominant
frame packages revealed within this study – proliferation, health, procedural, and marketplace –
may be deemed successful because of the salience, and endurance or amplification of these
frames over 18 years within four media outlets. The theoretical underpinnings of framing are
reinforced through the identification of dominant frame packages which occurred independently
yet simultaneously among the four newspapers. The majority of news articles originated with
the respective reporter’s newspaper. Had the majority of news articles been identified as
Associated Press wire stories, then presumably it could be argued that the wire service had
standardized reporting for nuclear energy. However, given that the four newspapers in this study
employ the same dominant frame packages does substantiate the function of intermediate agenda
setting, where media outlets influence one another (Roberts, 1997).
The results indicate that any framing effects stemming from the four dominant frame
packages may be confounded by frame parity (Entman, 2004). As the sustainable frame package
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