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Bowman, N. D., Lewis, R., & Bryand, M. (2012, May). The morality of
                    May 2, 2011: A content analysis of US headlines regarding the death of Osama
ICA 2012 Phoenix    bin Laden. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International
                    Communication Association, Phoenix.




                                   (about) a year
                                   ago, either
                                   ‘We Got the
                                   Bastard’ or
                                   ‘He Died’
  Bowman, Bryand (WVU)
           Lewis (Texas)
Overview
• “Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American
  people and to the world that the United States has
  conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,
  the leader of al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who was
  responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent
  men, women, and children” ~Barack Obama




5/23/2012             (c) ND Bowman, 2012                2
Overview
• While bin Laden’s death was pervasive in
  world headlines on Monday, 2 May 2011…
• …cursory readings reveal anecdotal variance
  in the framing of the event




5/23/2012          (c) ND Bowman, 2012          3
Overview
• News largely broke via social
  media (Parr, 2011) in advance
  of press conference
• 95% US public approval of
  “military action;” support in
  different shapes and sizes
• Newspapers were not a
  primary source of early
  information, but rather
  (re)affirmation after-the-fact
5/23/2012             (c) ND Bowman, 2012   4
Morality and News Framing
• News is a morality play (Altheide, 1997)
      – Iraqi Revolution  ‘no fear’
      – War on Drugs  impurity, disorder
      – 2012 Election  Matter of Faith




5/23/2012               (c) ND Bowman, 2012   5
Frames and Audience Reaction
• Use of news frames can influence audiences
  responses to news and events
      – Weighting of justice > care (Lind, 1996)
      – “good” or “bad” news as a function of moral
        salience (Zillmann et al., 1998)
      – Reactions to “Hot-Button” issues a function of
        moral considerations of intended audiences
• Producers are aware of these moral
  considerations, and frame content accordingly
5/23/2012                (c) ND Bowman, 2012             6
Audiences and Morality
                                          MIME (Tamborini, 2011)




5/23/2012           (c) ND Bowman, 2012                    7
Current Study
• Can Δ in framing of OBL coverage be
  explained as a function of moral subculture?
• Content analysis of N = 403 US newspaper
  front pages from 2 May 2011 (72% AP)
      – Two coders analyzed:
            • Headlines
            • Subheads
            • Photography


5/23/2012                   (c) ND Bowman, 2012   8
Current Study
• Five moral foundations from MIME/MFT coded for:
      –     Presence or absence
      –     Adherence or violation*                             Foundations are:
      –     Benign or charged*                                      Harm/Care
      –     Proportion of page devoted to OBL                  Fairness/Reciprocity
                                                                 Ingroup/Loyalty
• Moral subculture of audience                                  Authority/Respect
                                                                  Purity/Sanctity
      – Political ideology
             • 2008 election results
             • Adelman (2004) conservative and liberal rank survey
      – Dominant faith/religion (Albion College Survey)
      – Story source
5/23/2012                          (c) ND Bowman, 2012                           9
Adelman (2004)




   5/23/2012     (c) ND Bowman, 2012   10
You can’t hide
How we killed bin Laden
bin Laden killed by US
Many cheer death of al-Qaida
leader nearly 10 years after 9/11
Results
• Newspapers
      – All 50 states represented
            • (n = 1 in Vermont; n = 40 in California)
      – n = 270 stories sources to AP
      – 63% (n = 253) from liberal regions
      – 66% (n = 262) Catholic; 29% (n = 115) Baptist
      – Circulation
            • M = 71K, Min = 4118, Max = 915K,
              Mode = 15000, Med = 35K

5/23/2012                       (c) ND Bowman, 2012      17
Results – General Presence
Tables 1 & 2. Moral foundations represented in US newspaper
                                                                                                          Pattern of
headlines surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden.
                                                                                                          distributions for
                                                Coding Category                   Binomial Test
                                                                             (against .50 distribution)   subheads is
Presence of foundation                Absent                  Present                                     nearly-identical
               Harm/Care                  36                      365                 p ~ .000            to what is
     Fairness/Reciprocity                 371                     31                  p ~ .000            reported here.
          Ingroup/Loyalty                 335                     66                  p ~ .000
        Authority/Respect                 378                     24                  p ~ .000
            Purity/Sanctity               400                    2                    p ~ .000
                                                    Coding Category                     Chi-square Test
                                                                                           (against .50       Proportion of
                                                                                          distribution)
                                                                                                                 front-page
Foundation Vector             Charged            Benign        Benign      Charged
                              violation         violation     upholding   upholding
                                                                                                          coverage devoted
            Harm/Care            13               352              0         0              p ~ .000
                                                                                                            to OBL was M =
  Fairness/Reciprocity           0                 0               23        8              p = .007      54.9% (SD = 26.9);
      Ingroup/Loyalty            0                 0               63        3              p ~ .000           Mode = 20%,
     Authority/Respect           0                 0               23        1              p ~ .000        Median = 57.5%
        Purity/Sanctity          0                 1               1         0              p ~ 1.00


5/23/2012                                                   (c) ND Bowman, 2012                                        18
Results – Liberal vs. Conservative
Headlines
                                                                   Liberal Rank                  Conservative Rank
                                                                  All           AP only   All                   AP only

Presence of foundation (n = 141, 62)a
                                                   Harm/Care     -.21*          -.22+     .18*                    .13
                                          Fairness/Reciprocity    .15+          .22+      -.13                   -.13
                                              Ingroup/Loyalty    -.16+           -.10     .16+                    .09
                                            Authority/Respect      .01           .04      -.01                   -.06
                                               Purity/Sanctity   -.105          -.193     .106                   .196
Foundation vectorb
                                     Harm/Care (n = 125,57)       -.07           -.16       .07                  .16
                              Fairness/Reciprocity (n = 16,5)     .56*            n/a     -.65*                  n/a
                                  Ingroup/Loyalty (n = 25,9)       .07            n/a      -.08                  n/a
                                Authority/Respect (n = 10,4)      -.50            n/a       .50                  n/a
                                     Purity/Sanctity (n = 1,1)     n/a            n/a       n/a                  n/a
Subheads
Presence of foundation (n = 114, 62)
                                                   Harm/Care       .12           .13      -.12                   -.11
                                          Fairness/Reciprocity    -.02           -.03      .01                    .02
                                              Ingroup/Loyalty      .04           .04      -.03                   -.02
                                            Authority/Respect      .07           .02      -.08                   -.04
                                               Purity/Sanctity    -.10            n/a      .10                    n/a
Foundation vectorb
                                        Harm/Care (n = 98,42)     -.08           -.13      .06                   .10
                             Fairness/Reciprocity (n = 39,16)      .37**         n/a      -.38**                  n/a
                                 Ingroup/Loyalty (n = 82,39)       -.07          .19       .06                   -.21
                               Authority/Respect (n = 50,24)       .28*          .26      -.28*                  -.26
  5/23/2012                                             (c) ND Bowman, 2012                                         19
                                      Purity/Sanctity ( n = 1)      n/a          n/a       n/a                    n/a
Discussion
• Δ in moral subcultures qua political
  ideology was associated with differential
  framing of a prominent news story
      – Conservatives focused on harm/care
        violations (“killing” and “slaughtering”) and
        ingroup/loyalty (“Americanism”)
      – Liberals focused on justice restoration and
        fairness (Obama and “Justice has been
        done.”)
• Patterns in-line with known moral code
  variance between “reds” and “blues”
  (Graham et al., 2007)

5/23/2012                        (c) ND Bowman, 2012    20
Future Research
• Expand beyond print newspapers
      – Less institutionalization = More framing?
• Expand beyond US/domestic coverage
• Replications considering other events
      – More distal events (eg: Qadafi, Arab Spring)
      – Less ubiquitous events (eg: abortion, gay rights)
• Closer examination of story text


5/23/2012                 (c) ND Bowman, 2012               21
Thank you!
• In progress research, so for information:
  Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
  Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu
  @bowmanspartan




5/23/2012           (c) ND Bowman, 2011       22

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The Morality of May 2, 2011: A Content Analysis of US Headlines Regarding the Death of Osama bin Laden

  • 1. Bowman, N. D., Lewis, R., & Bryand, M. (2012, May). The morality of May 2, 2011: A content analysis of US headlines regarding the death of Osama ICA 2012 Phoenix bin Laden. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association, Phoenix. (about) a year ago, either ‘We Got the Bastard’ or ‘He Died’ Bowman, Bryand (WVU) Lewis (Texas)
  • 2. Overview • “Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who was responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children” ~Barack Obama 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 2
  • 3. Overview • While bin Laden’s death was pervasive in world headlines on Monday, 2 May 2011… • …cursory readings reveal anecdotal variance in the framing of the event 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 3
  • 4. Overview • News largely broke via social media (Parr, 2011) in advance of press conference • 95% US public approval of “military action;” support in different shapes and sizes • Newspapers were not a primary source of early information, but rather (re)affirmation after-the-fact 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 4
  • 5. Morality and News Framing • News is a morality play (Altheide, 1997) – Iraqi Revolution  ‘no fear’ – War on Drugs  impurity, disorder – 2012 Election  Matter of Faith 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 5
  • 6. Frames and Audience Reaction • Use of news frames can influence audiences responses to news and events – Weighting of justice > care (Lind, 1996) – “good” or “bad” news as a function of moral salience (Zillmann et al., 1998) – Reactions to “Hot-Button” issues a function of moral considerations of intended audiences • Producers are aware of these moral considerations, and frame content accordingly 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 6
  • 7. Audiences and Morality MIME (Tamborini, 2011) 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 7
  • 8. Current Study • Can Δ in framing of OBL coverage be explained as a function of moral subculture? • Content analysis of N = 403 US newspaper front pages from 2 May 2011 (72% AP) – Two coders analyzed: • Headlines • Subheads • Photography 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 8
  • 9. Current Study • Five moral foundations from MIME/MFT coded for: – Presence or absence – Adherence or violation* Foundations are: – Benign or charged* Harm/Care – Proportion of page devoted to OBL Fairness/Reciprocity Ingroup/Loyalty • Moral subculture of audience Authority/Respect Purity/Sanctity – Political ideology • 2008 election results • Adelman (2004) conservative and liberal rank survey – Dominant faith/religion (Albion College Survey) – Story source 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 9
  • 10. Adelman (2004) 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 10
  • 12. How we killed bin Laden
  • 13.
  • 15. Many cheer death of al-Qaida leader nearly 10 years after 9/11
  • 16.
  • 17. Results • Newspapers – All 50 states represented • (n = 1 in Vermont; n = 40 in California) – n = 270 stories sources to AP – 63% (n = 253) from liberal regions – 66% (n = 262) Catholic; 29% (n = 115) Baptist – Circulation • M = 71K, Min = 4118, Max = 915K, Mode = 15000, Med = 35K 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 17
  • 18. Results – General Presence Tables 1 & 2. Moral foundations represented in US newspaper Pattern of headlines surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden. distributions for Coding Category Binomial Test (against .50 distribution) subheads is Presence of foundation Absent Present nearly-identical Harm/Care 36 365 p ~ .000 to what is Fairness/Reciprocity 371 31 p ~ .000 reported here. Ingroup/Loyalty 335 66 p ~ .000 Authority/Respect 378 24 p ~ .000 Purity/Sanctity 400 2 p ~ .000 Coding Category Chi-square Test (against .50 Proportion of distribution) front-page Foundation Vector Charged Benign Benign Charged violation violation upholding upholding coverage devoted Harm/Care 13 352 0 0 p ~ .000 to OBL was M = Fairness/Reciprocity 0 0 23 8 p = .007 54.9% (SD = 26.9); Ingroup/Loyalty 0 0 63 3 p ~ .000 Mode = 20%, Authority/Respect 0 0 23 1 p ~ .000 Median = 57.5% Purity/Sanctity 0 1 1 0 p ~ 1.00 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 18
  • 19. Results – Liberal vs. Conservative Headlines Liberal Rank Conservative Rank All AP only All AP only Presence of foundation (n = 141, 62)a Harm/Care -.21* -.22+ .18* .13 Fairness/Reciprocity .15+ .22+ -.13 -.13 Ingroup/Loyalty -.16+ -.10 .16+ .09 Authority/Respect .01 .04 -.01 -.06 Purity/Sanctity -.105 -.193 .106 .196 Foundation vectorb Harm/Care (n = 125,57) -.07 -.16 .07 .16 Fairness/Reciprocity (n = 16,5) .56* n/a -.65* n/a Ingroup/Loyalty (n = 25,9) .07 n/a -.08 n/a Authority/Respect (n = 10,4) -.50 n/a .50 n/a Purity/Sanctity (n = 1,1) n/a n/a n/a n/a Subheads Presence of foundation (n = 114, 62) Harm/Care .12 .13 -.12 -.11 Fairness/Reciprocity -.02 -.03 .01 .02 Ingroup/Loyalty .04 .04 -.03 -.02 Authority/Respect .07 .02 -.08 -.04 Purity/Sanctity -.10 n/a .10 n/a Foundation vectorb Harm/Care (n = 98,42) -.08 -.13 .06 .10 Fairness/Reciprocity (n = 39,16) .37** n/a -.38** n/a Ingroup/Loyalty (n = 82,39) -.07 .19 .06 -.21 Authority/Respect (n = 50,24) .28* .26 -.28* -.26 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 19 Purity/Sanctity ( n = 1) n/a n/a n/a n/a
  • 20. Discussion • Δ in moral subcultures qua political ideology was associated with differential framing of a prominent news story – Conservatives focused on harm/care violations (“killing” and “slaughtering”) and ingroup/loyalty (“Americanism”) – Liberals focused on justice restoration and fairness (Obama and “Justice has been done.”) • Patterns in-line with known moral code variance between “reds” and “blues” (Graham et al., 2007) 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 20
  • 21. Future Research • Expand beyond print newspapers – Less institutionalization = More framing? • Expand beyond US/domestic coverage • Replications considering other events – More distal events (eg: Qadafi, Arab Spring) – Less ubiquitous events (eg: abortion, gay rights) • Closer examination of story text 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2012 21
  • 22. Thank you! • In progress research, so for information: Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D. Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu @bowmanspartan 5/23/2012 (c) ND Bowman, 2011 22