University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2008 Controversy in the Coalfields: vE aluation of Media and Audience Frames in the Print Coverage of Mountain Justice Summer Amanda B. Womac University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Womac, Amanda B., "Controversy in the Coalfields: vE aluation of Media and Audience Frames in the Print Coverage of Mountain Justice Summer. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/442 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Amanda B. Womac entitled "Controversy in the Coalfields: vE aluation of Media and Audience Frames in the Print Coverage of Mountain Justice Summer." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication and Information. Mark Littmann, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Edward Caudill, Dorothy Bowles Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Amanda B. Womac titled “Controversy in the Coalfields: Evaluation of Media and Audience Frames in the Print Coverage of Mountain Justice Summer.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science, with a major in Communications and Information Sciences. __________________________ Mark Littmann, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: _________________________ Edward Caudill _________________________ Dorothy Bowles Accepted for the Council: __________________________ Carolyn R. Hodges, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) (Original signatures are on file with offiical student records.) CONTROVERSY IN THE COALFIELDS: EVALUATION OF MEDIA AND AUDIENCE FRAMES IN THE PRINT COVERAGE OF MOUNTAIN JUSTICE SUMMER A Thesis Presented for the Masters of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Amanda B. Womac May 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Amanda Womac All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Marti and Bill Womac, and my grandmother, Miriam Womac, for their continuous support throughout my academic career, and to my sister, Emily Womac for always being there. I would also like to dedicate this thesis to my partner and biggest fan, John Johnson. Thanks for the support and love that helped me achieve my goals. And last but not least, I dedicate this thesis about Mountain Justice Summer to the Movement. Thanks for your work! iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank everyone who helped me complete my master‟s of science degree in journalism. I thank Dr. Mark Littmann for his continuous and enthusiastic support of my work as both an academic and environmentalist. I would like to thank Dr. Edward Caudill and Dr. Dorothy Bowles for serving on my committee. For taking the time to help me code all the articles in my evaluation, I thank my friend Lawrence Ferris. I would also like to thank Bob Muenchen in the Statistical Consulting Center with whom I would have never made it through my analysis. I thank my family and friends whose support and encouragement has made this work possible. And finally, I would like to thank all the volunteers and community members and activists who work every day to stop mountaintop removal. Thank you for your work. iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to evaluate the media and audience frames used in print media coverage of Mountain Justice Summer and mountaintop removal. The study synthesizes aspects of framing theory of media effects as described by other media scholars in an attempt to create a working model to evaluate media and audience frames. As this study will show, the media use an overall negative frame in the coverage of Mountain Justice Summer, but also have an overall negative frame in the coverage of mountaintop removal. Based on these findings, the study suggest activists with Mountain Justice Summer helped to frame the issue of mountaintop removal by staying on message, and the overall source for negative perception of activists came from industry representatives or community members. Evaluation of audience frames shows an overall positive perception of Mountain Justice Summer activists and opposition to mountaintop removal. This finding suggests a weak connection between media frames and audience frames, but also allows for further evaluation of the framing theory of media effects. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Background ....................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Literature Review .............................................................................................. 5 The Framing Theory of Media Effects ............................................................................ 5 Media and Audience Frames ......................................................................................... 10 Frames as Dependent and Independent Variables ......................................................... 15 The Framing Process ..................................................................................................... 17 Framing Theory versus Agenda Setting ........................................................................ 19 The Power of Frames .................................................................................................... 21 Movements and Media .................................................................................................. 24 Media Coverage of Environmental Movements ........................................................... 28 Media Coverage of Mountaintop Removal ................................................................... 31 Print Media and Issue Salience ..................................................................................... 33 Reporting on the Environment ...................................................................................... 34 Chapter 3: Methods ........................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 4: Findings ........................................................................................................... 42 Media Frames ................................................................................................................ 42 Protest/Arrest Frame .................................................................................................. 42 Legal Frame ............................................................................................................... 46 Industry Frame ........................................................................................................... 52 Education Frame ........................................................................................................ 54 Mountain Justice Summer Information Frame .......................................................... 57 Community Activism Frame ..................................................................................... 59 Government Frame .................................................................................................... 59 Media Outlet and Section .............................................................................................. 60 Media Outlets ............................................................................................................ 60 Sections ...................................................................................................................... 64 Audience Frames ........................................................................................................... 70 Letters to the Editor ................................................................................................... 70 vi Editorials .................................................................................................................... 73 Public Opinion and the Environment ............................................................................ 75 Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussion ................................................................................. 77 Media Frames of Mountain Justice Summer................................................................. 77 Media Frames of Mountaintop Removal ...................................................................... 80 Audience Frames ........................................................................................................... 81