201. 'A Night of Shame': A Quantitative Content Analysis of Newspaper Narratives of the Mass Molestation Event in Bangalore, India
- Author
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Diwanji, Vaibhav Shwetangbhai, Saleem, Awais, and Lee, Jaejin
- Subjects
Bangalore, India -- Social aspects ,Content analysis (Communication) -- Methods -- Research ,Mobs -- Sexual behavior ,Newspaper publishing -- Research ,Sex crimes -- Media coverage ,Research ,Sociology and social work ,Women's issues/gender studies - 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. Keywords: Sexual crimes against women, Gender-based violence, Gender and communication, Representation, Framing, Quantitative content analysis, Newspapers narratives, Responsible journalism, The 'Night of Shame' in Bangalore Drawing on a quantitative content analysis of 299 newspaper articles, this research systematically examines the frames in print news coverage of the mass molestation [...]
- Published
- 2021