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Abstract

On December 31, 2016 amidst New Year’s Eve revelry in Bangalore, India, about 700 young women faced a mass molestation. This research analyzed and compared 299 news articles (N=299) between January 1, 2017 and February 1, 2017 from three leading English language newspapers in India through a quantitative content analysis. Results indicated that there were differences in how the regional and national newspapers framed their stories. While national newspapers deployed the episodic frame in their news stories, the local newspaper used both thematic and episodic frames. The episodic frame focuses on individual events, whereas the thematic frame focuses on trends over time. Local newspapers discussed causes and attributions of responsibility more than national newspapers. National newspapers mostly used celebrity and official sources in their coverage, whereas local newspapers covered the testimonies of the victims and eyewitnesses more. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in this paper.

Author Biography

Vaibhav Diwanji is an Assistant Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. He has an MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Florida State University and an MBA in International Business and Marketing from Auckland University of Technology. His research interests include new media technologies, persuasion, media analysis, gender and communication, health communication, cross-cultural communication, and media framing and effects.

Awais Saleem is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at Lamar University. He worked as a print and broadcast journalist for more than a decade. During this time, he remained associated with mainstream media organizations in Pakistan, India, and the United States. His research interests are political communication, social media and emerging technologies, political economy of media, and agenda-setting. He teaches broadcasting writing and production courses.

Jaejin Lee is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication in the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University. She received her PhD from the University of Florida. She has an MAdv in Advertising from the University of Florida and a BA from Kyungpook National University. Her research interests include consumer behavior, strategic marketing communications, cause-related marketing, new media, and health communication. Her teaching interests include media consumer behavior, creative strategy, and foundations of integrated marketing communication.

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