Framing Public Discourse on Physician-Assisted Suicide: Analysis of Newspaper Coverage and Death With Dignity Press Releases.

This study content analyzes press releases developed by the Death with Dignity National Center and newspaper coverage from The New York Times and The Washington Post to code for the frames in discussion of physician-assisted suicide. The Death with Dignity National Center is an Oregon-based advocacy group in favor of legalized physician-assisted suicide and takes responsibility for the successful passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Like many interest groups, the Death with Dignity National Center attempts to manipulate or inspire news coverage of its cause via several methods. This includes appealing directly to news organizations through press releases. Analysis reveals several significant correlations between how the press releases and newspaper coverage framed physician-assisted suicide. Both the releases and the coverage framed the issue to be about conflict, political consequences, big government, patient rights, or legality, and utilized these frames in similar ways. This study represents a new line of framing theory research in that it explores content through the traditional method of analyzing for frame frequency but also suggests integrating frame attributes - namely, frame valence and levels of substance - into this analysis. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]