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Framing Homelessness As Crisis: a Comparative Content Analysis of Local Media Reports on Portland's Tent Cities Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Summer 9-29-2017 Framing Homelessness as Crisis: A Comparative Content Analysis of Local Media Reports on Portland's Tent Cities Katrien Cokeley Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Mass Communication Commons, Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons, and the Sociology Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Cokeley, Katrien, "Framing Homelessness as Crisis: A Comparative Content Analysis of Local Media Reports on Portland's Tent Cities" (2017). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3943. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5827 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Framing Homelessness as Crisis: A Comparative Content Analysis of Local Media Reports On Portland’s Tent Cities by Katrien Cokeley A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In Sociology Thesis Committee: Amy Lubitow, Chair Robert Liebman Daniel Jaffee Portland State University 2017 ABSTRACT This content analysis of mainstream and alternative news narratives interprets the use of the crisis media frame, and describes the relationship between local policy initiatives, media discourse and public opinion on tent cities, organized by people experiencing homelessness in Portland, Oregon. Framing homelessness and housing as a crisis intensified the public debate, attested by an increase in mainstream media reports on tent cities, and by controversial policy changes that addressed the individually-experienced traumatic impacts of the City‟s anti-camping ordinance, as well as the systemic lack of affordable housing and emergency shelter. Media discourse related to city-sanctioned tent cities blurs the lines between Shanto Iyengar‟s episodic and thematic media frames because of the simultaneous acknowledgement of individual and systemic circumstances. The crisis frame is a discursive mechanism in the production of knowledge on homelessness and housing, and is considered as an integral characteristic of Henri Lefebvre‟s conceptual model of socio-spatial production, which describes the interdependency between discourse, practice and meaning in the material and symbolic production of space. i DEDICATION for Marraine, Your love and strength live on in Lennard and Cleo ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Most importantly, I thank Amy Lubitow, Bob Liebman and Daniel Jaffee, who were a great source of support as thesis committee members and academic advisors. I am grateful for their encouragements that guided me through my graduate studies and this thesis. I commend other faculty members, including but not limited to Charles Heying, Jose Padin, Lindsey Wilkinson, Maura Kelly and Melissa Thompson, as well as graduate students and staff at PSU‟s Sociology and Urban Studies departments for maintaining a collaborative pursuit of shared learning. Special thanks to Bahar and Kris for your expertise, as well as to my cohort for our memorable discussions in and outside of seminars. I wish all of you well! Exclusive gratitude is reserved for the professors at Western Oregon University who introduced me to perspectives from sociology and geography, and who continue to inspire my interest in theories and research studies that promote social justice and advocacy. Immense thanks to Dean Braa, Maureen Dolan, Peter Callero, and Shaun Huston for your confidence, and for teaching the value of critical consciousness. Last but not at all least, my dear family and friends: Bedankt, mama en papa, Sophie, Kurt, Jens, tante, nonkel, Peter, Veronique en Siebe! Ik mis jullie elke dag, maar voel jullie dichtbij, ondanks de meer dan 8.000 kilometer afstand tussen ons. We hebben allemaal enorme obstakels doorstaan de laatste jaren, en hoop dat dit een bewijs is van doorzet en liefde. Nate, I adore you and your love of life, peace, music and food that gets me through seemingly any obstacle and doubt. Thanks for walking along with me. Jake, Lia, Jamie and Jill – I love you all very much. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... i DEDICATION................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY…............................................................................. 29 CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……………………...................... 45 CHAPTER IV: HOMELESS TENT CITIES IN CONTEXT......................................... 90 CHAPTER V: FINDINGS............................................................................................ 108 CHAPTER VI: DISCUSSION......................................................................................120 CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSIONS................................................................................ 140 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................146 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Description of thematic and episodic media frames and examples from Portland local news sources.......................................................................15 Table 2: Distribution of news articles on homeless tent cities by year and name of publication ………………………………………………………………38 Table 3: Distribution of articles by news source, representing homeless tent cities as systemic issues or as crisis situation…………………………………117 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Hypothetical analytical model for content analysis of local news stories on Portland homeless tent cities.................................................................... 44 Figure 2: Total count of articles for thematic and episodic media frames..............110 Figure 3: Distribution of news articles by media source and year of publication...113 Figure 4: Prevalence of episodic and thematic media frames.................................114 Figure 5: Distribution of news articles framing homelessness as crisis or as systemic issue.........................................................................................................117 Figure 6: Analytical model for the crisis media frame recognizing systemic and individual needs.......................................................................................122 vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The local context of homelessness in Portland is shaped by urban development strategies that produce a lack of sufficient affordable housing stock and create barriers for long-term solutions that address the needs of people who are impacted by extreme poverty. Inflated land and property values within the city‟s Urban Growth Boundary limit the efficient allocation of government subsidies that could potentially increase access to housing for those who cannot afford market-rate prices of real estate or rental properties within the city and metropolitan region. A 2015 report commissioned by the Portland Housing Bureau recognizes the aggravated effect of urban development on homelessness: “Certainly for those without income or without housing, the impacts of the market are dramatic” (Portland Housing Bureau 2015). A long-term commitment to provide subsidized housing as a public service offers fewer incentives for the private sector than guaranteed short-term profitable returns on capital investments in commercial land and properties. An affordable home is defined as “a housing unit with a regulatory agreement tied to the deed that requires affordability for an established income level for a defined period of time”, a provision that limits capital mobility but that improves the social mobility for people priced out of the market. Congruent with the reluctance of the private market to commit to the production or preservation of affordable housing stock, city and county governments are impacted by federal policies that have de-emphasized public housing in favor of subsidizing individual assistance programs for specific subpopulations of unsheltered people that fit 1 official definitions of homelessness. Federal funds of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) support the Continuum of Care program organized by the City of Portland and Multnomah County, and are distributed based on the results of bi-annual point-in-time counts of sheltered and visible unsheltered people, who must meet the criteria specified by the HUD definition in order to receive services. The current definition identifies disabled and chronically homeless individuals for targeted transitional housing programs, but it is a modified version of a former interpretation of homelessness that resulted in an underestimation of the homeless population. The City of Portland states that a 14% decrease in homelessness between
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