Framing Occupy Central: a Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage Mengjiao Yu University of South Florida, [email protected]
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Scholar Commons | University of South Florida Research University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 10-28-2015 Framing Occupy Central: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage Mengjiao Yu University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Journalism Studies Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Scholar Commons Citation Yu, Mengjiao, "Framing Occupy Central: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage" (2015). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6055 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Framing Occupy Central: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong, American and British Newspaper Coverage by Mengjiao Yu A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts School of Mass Communications College of Arts & Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Scott S. Liu, Ph.D. Justin Brown, Ph.D. Roxanne Watson, Ph.D. Date of Approval: October 22, 2015 Keywords: content analysis, Hong Kong, news framing, Occupy Central, the framing theory Copyright © 2015, Mengjiao Yu Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Wenli Li. Thank you for comforting me when I’m sad, lifting me up when I’m down, and guiding me when I’m lost. Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Scott Liu, for his excellent guidance and infinite patience throughout the entire research process. His advice not only gave me the needed impetus to complete the research, it also broadened my perspective on the issues involved. I would also like to thank my committee members, Drs. Edward Schneider, Roxanne Watson, and Justin Brown, for their help during the research process. Special thanks go to Dr. Brown for agreeing to join the committee during the final stage of the process. Many thanks go to all other professors in the USF school of mass communications. I must also thank William Clark and Jack Wong, for helping me with the coding of news articles and their constructive comments and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, Dong Xue, Yan Tang, and Yunjie Wang, who assisted me when I met my bottleneck and accompanied me when I was in plight. Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................................v Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 Purpose of Study ..................................................................................................................2 Chapter Two: Literature Review .....................................................................................................3 Frame and Framing ..............................................................................................................3 Framing the News ................................................................................................................7 Background of the Hong Kong Protests ............................................................................11 Political Factors .................................................................................................................12 Economic Factors ...............................................................................................................15 Chapter Three: Research Hypotheses ............................................................................................18 Chapter Four: Methodology ...........................................................................................................23 Data Sources ......................................................................................................................23 Coding Scheme ..................................................................................................................24 1. Valence Frames of the Protests ..........................................................................24 2. Valence Frames of the Protesters .......................................................................25 3. Valence Frames of the HK Government ............................................................25 4. Framing of News Censorship .............................................................................26 5. Mentioning of Politically Sensitive Issues .........................................................26 Chapter Five: Results .....................................................................................................................28 Intercoder Reliability .........................................................................................................28 Hypotheses Testing ............................................................................................................29 H1. Valence Frames of the Protests .......................................................................30 H2. Valence Frames of the Protesters ....................................................................32 H3. Valence Frames of the HK Government .........................................................35 H4. Framing of News Censorship ..........................................................................38 H5. Mentioning of Politically Sensitive Issues ......................................................41 Chapter Six: Discussion .................................................................................................................45 i Chapter Seven: Conclusions ..........................................................................................................50 References ......................................................................................................................................52 Appendix A. Timeline : Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Movement ..............................................59 Appendix B. Hong Kong Profile ...................................................................................................62 Appendix C. Content Coding Scheme ...........................................................................................69 Appendix D. Coding Examples .....................................................................................................73 ii List of Tables Table 1. Distribution of Newspaper Stories ...................................................................................24 Table 2. Intercoder Reliability .......................................................................................................29 Table 3. Chi-Square Test: Valence Frame of the Protests .............................................................30 Table 4. Crosstab: Valence Frame of the Protests .........................................................................31 Table 5. Chi-Square Test: Valence Frame of the Protesters ..........................................................33 Table 6. Crosstab: Valence Frame of the Protesters ......................................................................34 Table 7. Chi-Square Test: Framing of HK Government ................................................................36 Table 8. Crosstab: Framing of HK Government ............................................................................37 Table 9. Chi-Square Test: Framing of News Censorship ..............................................................39 Table 10. Crosstab: Framing of News Censorship ........................................................................40 Table 11. Chi-Square Test: Politically Sensitive Issues Mentioning .............................................42 Table 12. Crosstab: Politically Sensitive Issues Mentioning .........................................................43 iii List of Figures Figure 1. Valence Frame of the Protests ........................................................................................32 Figure 2. Valence Frame of the Protesters .....................................................................................35 Figure 3. Framing of HK Government ..........................................................................................38 Figure 4. Framing of News Censorship .........................................................................................41 Figure 5. Mentioning of Politically Sensitive Issues .....................................................................44 iv Abstract Grounded in framing theory, this thesis presents a quantitative content analysis of newspaper reporting of the Hong Kong protests, also known as the Occupy Central Movement or the Umbrella Revolution, between September 28 and December 11, 2014. The political, economic and legal implications involved have made the protests one of