Framing Celebrity Miscarriage: a Textual Analysis
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
FRAMING CELEBRITY MISCARRIAGE: A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS Thesis Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts in Communication By Meagan Pant UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio May 2021 FRAMING CELEBRITY MISCARRIAGE: A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS Name: Pant, Meagan Elizabeth APPROVED BY: Chad Painter, Ph.D. Committee Chair Assistant Professor James D. Robinson, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor Professor Jennifer K. Ptacek, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor Assistant Professor ii ABSTRACT FRAMING CELEBRITY MISCARRIAGE: A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS Name: Meagan Pant University of Dayton Advisor: Chad Painter, Ph.D. Textual analysis of four articles in which celebrities discuss their miscarriages, published in popular women’s magazines between 1987 and 2017, finds the coverage serves the media’s core function of generating empathy and creating a public conversation, both of which are important for advancing social norms surrounding taboo topics such as pregnancy loss. However, the analysis reveals that the news coverage can be inadequate in fully communicating the emotional and medical realities of miscarriage. The framing makes salient the sadness women feel and recognizes their grief through exclusive use of familial language instead of clinical terms for the baby, but it leaves silent medical details important to understanding pregnancy loss. The coverage also exclusively uses episodic framing, focused on the individual women without broader context from sources like doctors, which encourages readers to view miscarriage as an individual issue rather than one that could be affected at the societal level through research, health care practices or public policy. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………..…………………………………………… iii INTRODUCTION…………………...…….……………………………………………..1 LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………..…….………..…...….. 5 METHOD…………………………………………………………….………………… 14 FINDINGS……………………………….…………………………………………….. 20 DISCUSSION……………………………………...…………………………………... 42 REFERENCES………………………………………..………………………………... 53 iv INTRODUCTION Miscarriage is a common, yet under-acknowledged, pregnancy outcome (Cleveland Clinic, 2012; Bardos et al., 2015). Because it is little discussed in modern society (Bansen & Stevens, 1992), women are often unprepared for the emotional effects of such a loss (Broquet, 1999). Celebrity accounts of miscarriage shared through popular news outlets can lessen feelings of isolation among women who have suffered miscarriage (Bardos et al., 2015). It is therefore worth examining these news articles to study how celebrities talk about miscarriage. The purpose of this research is to examine news framing of celebrity miscarriage to better understand what messages women receive about pregnancy loss. Miscarriage, commonly defined as a pregnancy loss in the first 20 weeks, occurs in 10% to 20% of known pregnancies (Cleveland Clinic, 2012). Still, people believe miscarriage is a rare outcome and can be caused by things such as stress or a woman lifting a heavy object — both incorrect assumptions (Bardos et al., 2015). Miscarriage is not commonly talked about in American society partly because of “our culture’s discomfort with death” (Bansen & Stevens, 1992, p. 89). There are not universal customs to acknowledge the loss (Friedman & Cohen, 1982) — company bereavement policies do not always address miscarriage and memorial services or funerals are not routinely held. Women often do not exhibit any physical signs they were pregnant when the miscarriage occurs (Bansen & Stevens, 1992), so they must make their own decisions about whether and when to disclose the loss (Bute, 2009). Many women report these factors contribute to feelings of guilt, isolation, depression, and stigma (Bansen & 1 Stevens, 1992; Bardos et al., 2015; Bommaraju et al., 2016; Broquet, 1999; Madden, 1994; Whiteford & Gonzalez, 1995). Along with societal norms that encourage women to stay silent about a loss, it is also important to recognize that miscarriage is private health information. Communication privacy management theory states private information is “owned” by an individual, meaning that person has the “right to regulate access and protection” of it (Petronio & Steuber, 2014, p. 219). Sharing that information — with another person or with the public — risks making a person feel “vulnerable” (Petronio & Steuber, 2014, p. 3). The concept of privacy can also be explained with the idea of concentric “circles of intimacy” (Hodges, 1994). In the smallest, innermost circle, a person is alone with information, feelings, and thoughts they have not shared with anyone (Hodges, 1994). The next outer circle is when that person shares information with one other trusted person, such as a spouse (Hodges, 1994); outside of those circles is the one with family or other close relationships (Hodges, 1994); and so on. People want to control these circles; in fact, “control over our circles of intimacy is necessary if we are to have some control over who we are” and how others see us (Hodges, 1994, p. 200). However, when it comes to privacy, celebrities “must waive all but the narrowest measure of privacy” (Hodges, 1994, p. 207) as their appeal to fans depends on fans knowing personal information about them. For private women and celebrities alike, disclosure of miscarriage is further complicated by the fact that the loss is sometimes connected to issues of infertility. In that case, a woman may be revealing details about her partner’s private medical information as well as her own (Steuber & Solomon, 2011). It is also important to consider that while miscarriage is private information, it does coincide with 2 what people generally consider public information, including whether or not a woman has children (Bute, 2009). Although many factors encourage women not to talk about miscarriage, a growing number are going public with their stories, including celebrities. Actress Demi Moore wrote about blaming herself for her miscarriage in her 2019 memoir, Inside Out (Itzkoff, 2019). TV personality Meghan McCain, daughter of former U.S. Sen. John McCain, wrote about her desire to grieve publicly in a 2019 New York Times op-ed (McCain, 2019). These accounts and others from famous women are worth examining because of the para-social relationship — or “seeming face-to-face relationship” (Horton & Wohl, 1956, p. 215) — people feel with celebrities. Some women who have lost a pregnancy say celebrities’ stories of miscarriage helped lessen feelings of isolation (Bardos et al., 2015). Additionally, celebrity disclosure of health information is important because researchers have shown these accounts can drive people to seek information on the topic or even schedule doctor’s visits or tests (e.g., Ayers et al., 2016; Brown & Potosky, 1990; Juthe et al., 2015). Brown and Potosky (1990) connected an increase in colorectal cancer screenings and calls for information to the Cancer Information Service of the National Cancer Institute to news of former President Ronald Reagan’s colon cancer surgery in 1985. Cram et al. (2003) found a significantly higher number of people had colonoscopies in the nine-month period following television host Katie Couric’s live colonoscopy on the Today Show in 2000. Juthe et al. (2015) showed a massive increase in people seeking information on breast cancer after actress Angelina Jolie revealed she had a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer because of her BRCA1 mutation in 2013. Ayers et al. (2016) reported a record number of online searches on HIV after 3 actor Charlie Sheen made public his HIV-positive status in 2015. Larson et al. (2005) found at least a quarter of respondents to their survey said a celebrity endorsement of cancer screening made them more likely to get tested. Furthermore, Beck et al. (2014) found that collectively, celebrities’ disclosures have not only led people to seek information or act, but they have impacted public policy and fundraising. Celebrity disclosures of miscarriage also lead more people to discuss pregnancy loss on social media, including disclosing their own miscarriages and expressing feelings of grief, anger, and isolation (Cesare et al., 2020). Not all studies focus solely on the positive effects of celebrity health disclosures. Bute et al. (2016) found that when journalist and reality TV star Giuliana Rancic spoke about her infertility and breast cancer treatment to educate others and decrease the stigma around both topics, some online commenters questioned whether she was just using her health struggles to increase her fame, and some criticized her for using expensive treatments that do not reflect an average person’s experience with either health issue. This study, recognizing the important role celebrities and the media play in forming public perception of health issues, will add to the scant literature on miscarriage communication through a qualitative examination of how celebrity accounts of pregnancy loss are framed in popular news outlets. This research will not only add to the health care communication field, it will provide valuable insight for women and health care practitioners on how women might understand and process a miscarriage. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW Framing theory Framing research examines how issues are covered in the media (Weaver, 2007) to determine whether that affects the way people understand those issues (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). Journalists inevitably frame stories through the choices they have to make when reporting: What information